EXCLUSIVE-US postpones third consecutive meeting of preventive health panel

By Deena Beasley

March 3 (Reuters) - The March meeting of the U.S. advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover has been postponed, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The 16-member U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which usually holds three annual meetings, last met in March of 2025. Its November 2025 meeting did not take place due to a government shutdown. The previous meeting, set for July 2025, was abruptly canceled by HHS.

"The first USPSTF meeting of this year has been postponed and will be rescheduled in the coming months," HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email on Tuesday. He did not provide a reason for the latest postponement.

Concern has circulated since last year that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might disband the panel as part of an effort to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine.

Last June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of vaccine experts, replacing them with seven handpicked members, including known vaccine skeptics.

Kennedy this year remade a federal panel that guides national autism policy, naming a new slate of 21 members that includes some with ties to groups promoting debunked claims that link vaccines to autism. The Health Secretary also replaced all members of a government Alzheimer’s committee.

PANEL'S IMPACT ON HEALTH COVERAGE

The 40-year-old USPSTF is responsible for deciding which medical tests and treatments, such as routine breast cancer screening or drugs to prevent HIV infection, need to be provided cost-free under most health insurance plans.

"It's an organization established by statute for helping to make Americans healthier," said Dr. Aaron Carroll, chief executive at AcademyHealth, an association of health researchers and policy analysts.

"It's trying to prevent all the chronic diseases that MAHA seems to talk about caring about so much," added Carroll, referring to Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement.

The task force is an independent group of volunteer experts, but it relies on support from the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The USPSTF "is why millions and millions of Americans" get no-cost cancer screenings and other routine care, Carroll said. "Colorectal cancer seems to be on the rise for younger people, but our guidelines for screening don't necessarily cover them... Should we make changes? I don't know."

Members of the task force are appointed in staggered four-year terms, with some rotation each year. In January 2025, two new members began their terms.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a June 2025 ruling involving insurance coverage for HIV prevention services, affirmed that the Health Secretary has authority over the preventive care panel.

The USPSTF has been criticized by some conservatives as too left-leaning.

A group of 104 health organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, in early July sent a letter to Congressional health committees, urging them "to protect the integrity" of the task force.

The task force is required to submit an annual report to Congress, with the aim of identifying upcoming priorities for research funding, but last year's report has not been published.