It’s hard to keep track of the funding cuts, layoffs, and other major changes happening within the country’s federal public health organizations at the hands of the Trump administration and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary.
One of the latest changes is the postponement of a preventive health panel meeting by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which was scheduled for July 10. The group sets guidelines for preventive health screenings for conditions such as diabetes, depression and cancer in children and adults.
This comes not long after Kennedy postponed the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which sets vaccine recommendations, and replaced the entire committee with individuals known to spread vaccine and health misinformation, according to earlier HuffPost reporting.
The postponement of the USPSTF meeting is worrisome for a few reasons and could directly impact your health. Here’s what doctors want you to know:
This task force sets preventive screening recommendations. Changes or delays to the meeting schedule can mean missed diagnoses or changes to what insurance companies cover.
“The cancellation of this specific task force … is going to affect every American if [Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services does] what they did to the ACIP and fire or remove the 16 independent medical experts who really scour the literature and then grade the evidence for each of their recommendations,” Dr. Anita Patel, a pediatric critical care doctor in Washington, D.C., told HuffPost. This hasn’t been done yet, but it is a fear some experts have.
One of the significant roles of the task force is to make recommendations and guidelines for preventative care services such as mammograms, colonoscopies, depression screenings and more, noted Patel.
Most insurance companies then have to cover these screenings and services as part of the Affordable Care Act.
“If the [task force] is unable to continue its work, this could have devastating effects on access to preventive services,” Dr. Oni Blackstock, a primary care physician and executive director of Health Justice, a racial and health equity consultancy, told HuffPost via email.
“We [already] know millions of Americans are at risk for losing their Medicaid,” Blackstock said, referring to the nearly $1 trillion cuts in Medicaid as part of the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill.
“Now, many others who have insurance coverage will be at risk for losing no-cost coverage of preventive care services,” added Blackstock.
It’s worth knowing that the meeting is currently postponed; it’s not clear when it will happen instead, and who will be part of the task force when that time comes. But, as of now, what the task force recommends hasn’t changed.
“Canceling the USPSTF meeting without a clear plan to reschedule puts essential, evidence-based health guidance at risk, including continued access to preventive services that millions of Americans rely on, from cancer and diabetes screenings to depression checks to support for breastfeeding,” Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, told HuffPost via email.
Any delays to the task force’s meeting schedule can also cause issues.
“Delays or disruptions can mean delayed diagnoses, missed opportunities for early treatment, and ultimately, worse health outcomes,” added Higgins.
Not only do these changes threaten the guidance from the task force, but they “affect whether a patient catches their cancer early enough or a person with chronic heart disease gets optimal treatment,” he noted.
The task force was recently criticized for being ‘woke,’ which some experts think is why it’s being targeted now.
“Unfortunately, this [postponement] fits a troubling pattern of political interference in scientific and public health processes,” Higgins said.
Just a few days after Kennedy told panel members that the preventive health meeting was postponed, “The American Conservative” published an essay titled “Time for Kennedy to Kill the USPSTF.” The article claimed the task force is “woke” and follows “left-wing ideological orthodoxy” and is part of the “deep state,” among other things.
“The claim that the task force is driven by ‘woke’ ideology is a political talking point, not a reflection of how the USPSTF actually operates,” said Higgins.
“Their work is based on a rigorous review of scientific evidence. Identifying and addressing disparities in health outcomes is part of delivering high-quality care,” Higgins added.
It’s well-established that certain demographics do have worse health care outcomes; Black people have higher rates of maternal mortality than other groups, upward of 50% of Latinx folks are predicted to be diagnosed with diabetes, Black people are 30% more likely to have asthma than white people and the list goes on.
The task force should be considering how race and gender impacts health outcomes. Blackstock noted that USPSTF hasn’t always done this, but that is changing.
“It’s lacked community voices and, for a long time, didn’t focus on health equity or racism’s impact on health and was not focused on ensuring diverse representation among its members,” Blackstock said.
Recently, though, this has changed, and the task force has worked to address these issues, Blackstock added.
“It has taken steps to formalize the use of inclusive language, and to flag if data is missing for a population, particularly those that are minoritized,” Blackstock said.
“I believe this is why the [task force] is being targeted, because it is paying attention to health inequities and racism’s harmful effects on health.”
– Dr. Oni Blackstock
The group is also piloting an equity checklist that helps integrate equity throughout the screening recommendation process, Blackstock noted.
These recent steps put a target on USPSTF’s back, she said.
“I believe this is why the [task force] is being targeted, because it is paying attention to health inequities and racism’s harmful effects on health,” Blackstock said.
Patel added that USPSTF isn’t taking care away from white Americans. Instead, it’s “trying to level the playing field so that everyone got equal care,” Patel noted.
“But, of course, [critics of the task force] saw the term ‘diversity’ or ‘equity’ and really tried to blow up one part of a much larger organization to play to their base and say, ‘Hey, these guys are woke idiots,’” Patel said.
USPSTF is now trying to advance medicine and make sure everyone, no matter where they live or what they look like, has access to preventive health screenings.
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The task force is here to “take out the inherent racism that we’ve had in medicine for decades that has been really unduly perpetuated,” Patel noted.
While racism does certainly still exist in medicine, awareness allows medical professionals to address any biases and make sure everyone gets the care they deserve regardless of their race, socioeconomic background or ethnicity, Patel noted.
“It’s an evil thing to walk back all of these medical and diversity advancements that we’ve made in the past decade just because they want to pander to their base. It’s unconscionable,” Patel said.
