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An “independent” advisory panel of non-federal experts determining which preventative healthcare services insurers must cover is accused of being staffed with doctors who have shown a propensity to prioritize “woke” left-wing diversity, equity and inclusion ideals in their work, as opposed to evidence-based science.
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF), an all-volunteer panel of doctors who serve four-year terms appointed by the Secretary of Health, is made up of experts in preventative medicine, which includes services like screening tests, immunizations, behavioral counseling, and medications that can prevent the development or worsening of health conditions. One of the task force’s primary functions is to weigh the efficacy and cost-benefit of such preventative care services, recommendations for which are then used to shape what preventative care services insurance providers must cover.
The task force’s ability to make these healthcare recommendations, coupled with what appears to be a membership largely made up of left-wing, DEI proponents, has raised concerns about how the task force could be impacting healthcare.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that sources with knowledge of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s thinking said he was planning to dismiss all 16 members of the USPSTF for being too “woke.”
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“HHS has been made aware of the ideological issues with members of the USPSTF raised by letters from Senate Republicans, members of the GOP Doctors Caucus, and a large group of physicians including Associations of American Physicians and Surgeons, America’s Frontline Doctors, and the Pennsylvania Direct Primary Care Association. HHS is troubled by these allegations and is investigating further,” Emily Hilliard, a Health and Human Services Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital when asked about Kennedy’s plans for the future of the current USPSTF.
Meanwhile, others, including the GOP Doctors Caucus and major physician groups including the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, have also raised alarm bells about potential left-wing bias at the USPSTF. One group that has also raised alarm bells about the USPSTF is the conservative watchdog group known as the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), which just released a new report claiming the USPSTF “has been thoroughly hijacked by left-wing partisans for the purpose of weaponizing science to spread leftist ideology.”
The AAF report points to Dr. Michael Silverstein, the task force’s current chairman, who, in 2023, said that USPSTF is “dedicated to … addressing critical issues of health equity” after he was re-appointed to the task force’s leadership team under the Biden administration. As Vice Chair of the task force in 2023, Silverstein co-authored an annual report to Congress highlighting a new partnership with the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) aimed at helping the task force be more “inclusive.”
The partnership, according to the report to Congress, was meant to help develop “new recommendations on screening for anxiety disorders, and other conditions that affect LGBTQ+ communities to enhance the health, wellness, and quality of life of their patients.”
Other recommendations from the USPSTF that have come down in the last several years include a 2022 recommendation denoting the need for physicians to consider race when screening for anxiety in children and adolescents. A more recent recommendation, published in April, said that doctors should pay special attention to breastfeeding in black mothers due to the “lasting psychological impact and stigma of enslaved Black women being forced to act as wet nurses.”
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Meanwhile, a 2021 report from the USPSTF, on addressing sex and gender when making preventative healthcare recommendations, included an analysis of how gender-specific terminology, as opposed to “gender-neutral” terminology, could play a role in addressing the needs of “diverse populations.” Think “pregnant people” versus “pregnant mother,” a switch that eventually became part of the task force’s official guidelines.
“To advance its methods, the USPSTF reviewed its past recommendations that included the use of sex and gender terms, reviewed the approaches of other guideline-making bodies, and pilot tested strategies to address sex and gender diversity,” the report states. “Based on the findings, the USPSTF intends to use an inclusive approach to identify issues related to sex and gender at the start of the guideline development process; assess the applicability, variability, and quality of evidence as a function of sex and gender; ensure clarity in the use of language regarding sex and gender; and identify evidence gaps related to sex and gender.”
Another major achievement towards the task force’s mission to advance “health equity” was the release of a 2024 “Health Equity Framework” aimed at embedding gender theory and other left-wing ideologies into its operations.
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In addition to the work the task force has done, its members also have an extensive history of publishing research that focuses on “health equity” and other DEI components, such as how race impacts certain health outcomes, or how to address sex and gender when making recommendations for clinical preventative services.
“National Institutes of Health Pathways to Prevention Workshop: Achieving Health Equity in Preventive Services,” is the title of a scientific research report co-authored by task force rank-and-file member, Dr. Sandra Millon Underwood. “Further Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Into Medical Education Research,” and “Health Equity Starts with Us: Recommendations from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute Racial Justice and Health Equity Task Force,” were also reports co-authored by members of the USPSTF.
“Antiracist initiatives, such as incorporating community-support persons (e.g., lay doulas) into maternity care for Black people, can reduce disparities in outcomes by addressing both interpersonal racism and the lack of workforce diversity caused by structural racism,” stated a May 2024 research paper co-authored by USPSTF rank-and-file member Dr. Alicia Fernandez.
Members of the supposedly “independent” USPSTF have also used their positions of expertise to fight Trump administration priorities as well, such as those around abortion and research funding reforms.
For example, Dr. David Chelmow, another task force member, has appeared in several physician-backed American Civil Liberties Union memos about efforts opposing the Trump administration, including one challenging Trump’s efforts to implement greater protections around the mail-order abortion drug called mifepristone, which many pro-life OBGYN’s have warned is dangerous if not dispensed in-person. In March, Dr. Carlos Roberto Jaen, another task force member, signed a letter alongside 1,900 others accusing the Trump administration of weakening US research capacity and endangering Americans.
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When making recommendations for preventative care services, the USPSTF assigns a letter grade, A, B, C, D, or I.
Any service given an “A” or “B” grade, is required to be covered by private insurers under a mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These grades are also tied to coverage requirements for public insurers, like Medicare and Medicaid.
In 2019, the task force gave the precautionary anti-HIV drug Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) an “A” grade, guidelines for which were later clarified in 2023. The task force’s current Vice Chair, Dr. John Wong, also co-authored a 2017 paper on how scaling-up the use of PrEP can help reduce the prevalence of HIV among gay men. But, according to AAF, the active promotion of PrEP creates an atmosphere of dangerous sexual activity that risks public health dangers due to what the foundation says is promotion of risky sexual behaviors. Additionally, at least one Christian-owned business has argued that forcing insurance providers to cover medication that promotes risky sexual behaviors violates their rights.
Earlier this summer, the Supreme Court weighed in on whether the USPSTF’s authority to compel coverage of preventative healthcare it gives either an “A” or “B” grade was unconstitutional. The group that brought the case, Braidwood Management Inc., initially objected on religious grounds to the ACA requirement that insurance providers cover certain HIV-prevention medications for which the task force has issued an “A” recommendation, specifically PrEP. However, the case ultimately morphed into a question over the legitimacy of USPSTF’s recommendation authority, and whether the circumvention of Senate approval for its members was allowed by the Constitutions Article II clause on advise and consent.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations have taken up the argument that the Health Secretary alone has ultimate control over whether to appoint or fire USPSTF members. The Trump administration also argued in its briefs to the High Court that the Secretary had the authority to block, or rescind, task force recommendations as well, according to SCOUTS Blog.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court voted 6-3, in favor of the federal government’s argument that the appointment process for the USPSTF, and therefore its legitimacy, did not violate the Constitution.
Shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Braidwood case, Health Secretary Kennedy reportedly postponed a long-scheduled task force meeting of the USPSTF, which was the same move he made before firing every member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the main federal entity that helps craft federal vaccine policy. Kennedy has long been a critic of conventional vaccination policies and practices.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July, not long after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Braidwood case, that sources familiar with Kennedy’s thinking said he was planning to dismiss all 16 members of the USPSTF for being too “woke.”
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