Department of Health Cancels Preventive Services Task Force Meeting

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the health secretary has the power to appoint members to the task force.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington, in an undated file photograph. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has canceled a meeting of a preventive services panel that issues health care mandates. The meeting was slated to take place on July 10.

An HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email on July 9 that the meeting is no longer taking place. The spokesperson declined to say why the cancellation occurred.

Several members of the panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), referred requests for comment to the panel’s media contact, who declined to comment.

It’s the first action by HHS with regard to the task force since a majority of the Supreme Court in June ruled that the health secretary’s appointment of task force members is constitutional.

Plaintiffs in a legal case had argued that the task force members are principal officers under the U.S. Constitution and would therefore require appointment by the president and confirmation by the Senate.

The argument rested in part on the fact that, under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, health insurers must cover services that are rated “A” or “B” by the task force.

“The Task Force members are removable at will by the Secretary of HHS, and their recommendations are reviewable by the Secretary before they take effect. So Task Force members are supervised and directed by the Secretary, who in turn answers to the President, preserving the chain of command in Article II [of the Constitution],” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority. “Therefore, under Article II and this Court’s precedents, the Task Force members are inferior officers. As a result, appointment of Task Force members by the Secretary of HHS is consistent with the Appointments Clause.”

Recommendations from the panel, which was established in 1984, had been advisory before the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

In the wake of the ruling, some conservatives called for Kennedy to end the panel. Joseph Addington, an editorial fellow at The American Conservative, was among them. In an editorial, he pointed to the panel’s endorsements of allowing patients to self-identify their gender and factoring in a patient’s race when conducting certain screenings.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the cancellation of the USPSTF meeting may be the first step by Kennedy in removing its members, as he did with a panel that advises health officials on vaccines before naming new members who he said would act independently of pharmaceutical interests. Critics, including Murray, said the new members would likely recommend against vaccines.

“The Preventive Services Task Force is made up of independent national experts in preventive medicine and primary care—they are volunteers who serve the public interest. In no world should experts be replaced with unqualified anti-science cronies of RFK Jr.,” Murray said in a statement.

More than 100 health groups on July 9 wrote to the top lawmakers on the health committees in the Senate and House of Representatives, asking them to take steps to protect the USPSTF.

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, “it is critical that Congress protects the integrity of the USPSTF from intentional or unintentional political interference,” they wrote. They said that lawmakers should ensure that members have limited four-year terms, that the member rotation is staggered, and that members have experience in primary care.