Latest news with #USPreventativeServicesTaskForce
The Independent
4 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
RFK Jr. looks to boot panel that decided which HIV and cancer screenings would be free: report
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly planning to remove all the members of an influential health task force that helps determine what preventative care services insurers must cover for free, after removing all members of a vaccine advisory board last month. Kennedy wants to clean house at U.S. Preventative Services Task Force next because he believes its 16 members have become too 'woke,' The Wall Street Journal reports. Under 2010's Affordable Care Act, the task force makes evidence-based, public recommendations on a variety of treatments, ranging HIV prevention to prenatal care to mental health, that insurers must cover at no cost to patients. Health and Human Services has said the secretary hasn't made a final decision regarding the task force. The Independent has contacted the agency for comment. Kennedy's reported dissatisfaction with the group comes after the American Conservative magazine accused the task force of being a 'festering corner of woke bureaucracy' in an article earlier this month. 'The task force is packed with Biden administration appointees devoted to the ideological capture of medicine,' the author argued, pointing to 'sinister' recent task force actions committing to removing racial inequities in health care and using more inclusive language around gender. Earlier this month, a July meeting of the task force was postponed. At the time, a letter from over 100 health organizations warned about the politicization of the task force's work. 'The loss of trustworthiness in the rigorous and nonpartisan work of the Task Force would devastate patients, hospital systems, and payers as misinformation creates barriers to accessing lifesaving and cost effective care,' the letter reads. 'When something works well and helps inform doctors about how to take care of their patients, to postpone the task force's work just doesn't make any sense,' Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association, told The New York Times after the meeting was postponed. 'This flies in the face of what is good for the country's health.' In June, the Supreme Court upheld the task force's ability to recommend free coverage for preventative services, in the face of a challenge from individuals and businesses objecting to the body's recommendation regarding HIV prevention medication. Concern over the fate of the task force comes after Kennedy removed all the members of a vaccine advisory board, replacing them with some members who share the secretary's vaccine skepticism.
New York Times
10-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Kennedy Cancels Meeting of Key Preventive Health Panel
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, abruptly canceled a meeting this week of a federal task force that helps determine which preventive health measures must be covered fully by insurance companies, raising concerns about the future of the nonpartisan panel. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force had been scheduled to meet Thursday, but its members were informed by email Monday, without explanation, that the meeting would be postponed, according to several participants. 'Moving forward, HHS looks forward to engaging with the task force to promote the health and well-being of the American people,' the notice said. The agency did not respond to a request for comment. Created in 1984, the 16-member panel of doctors and other health experts plays a pivotal role in determining whether tens of millions of Americans are eligible for lung cancer screenings, stroke reduction medication and scores of other drugs and preventative services. Members of the all-volunteer panel are chosen by the health secretary. They meet three times a year in person and also take part remotely in weekly meetings. The decision to cancel the July meeting follows a Supreme Court ruling last month that upheld the work of the task force — but also affirmed Mr. Kennedy's authority to disregard its recommendations or to remove members before their terms have expired. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Sky News AU
21-05-2025
- Health
- Sky News AU
Joe Biden last underwent common prostate cancer screening in 2014, spokesman for his office reveals
Former President Joe Biden last underwent a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test, one of the most common ways to screen for prostate cancer, in 2014 while he was serving as Barack Obama's vice president, a spokesperson for his office announced Tuesday. 'Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,' the rep went on in response to speculation that the 82-year-old had been secretly diagnosed while in office. Sunday's announcement that Biden had an 'aggressive' form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones shocked longtime members of the Democrat's inner circle, some of whom expressed befuddlement to The Post that the disease could have advanced to such a stage without being detected. White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor, a longtime friend of the Bidens, made no mention of performing a PSA in his report on Biden's most recent physical exam while president, conducted in February 2024. 'I think the likely scenario, knowing Kevin O'Connor pretty well, is that they had a discussion on what a PSA test is, and they decided not to do one because it would likely be elevated and cause a story, since a lot of older men have high PSAs that are false positives,' a long-serving aide to Biden mused Monday. 'A blood test has a paper trail. They probably just didn't do the test. I think it would leak if he had a PSA test they tried to bury.' 'What's ironic,' this person added, 'is that if they didn't give the president a PSA test because of the potential for optics of a possible false positive, that decision is ultimately going to lead to his death because they could have caught it earlier.' A former Biden White House aide also cast doubt on the idea of a secret prostate cancer diagnosis, saying: 'Frankly, residence staff talk. It would have gotten out … Also, Doc [O'Connor] isn't discreet. Yes, he's a doctor, but he's always chatting.' Both the American Academy of Family Physicians and the US Preventative Services Task Force recommend against prostate cancer screenings for men 70 and older. Biden turned 70 on Nov. 20, 2012. 'Men aged 70 years and older have a higher rate of prostate cancer, but because they are more likely to die from a cause other than their prostate cancer, the potential benefit screening is diminished,' the AAFP's guidance reads on its website. 'Older men experience more harms from screening, including increased rates of false positives, overdiagnosis, and increased risk of harms from biopsy and treatment.' Dr. Zeke Emanuel, a well-respected oncologist and architect of the Affordable Care Act, told MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' in a Monday appearance that Biden has 'had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading.' 'He did not develop it in the last 100 to 200 days,' Emanuel added. 'He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021.' Additional reporting by Steven Nelson Originally published as Joe Biden last underwent common prostate cancer screening in 2014, spokesman for his office reveals
