The Trump administration on Wednesday fired two of its top three leaders of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of experts that determines what medical screenings and procedures must be covered by health insurance companies at no cost. The two leaders, John Wong and Esa Davis, were fired from their positions as vice chairs on the critical health insurance coverage panel this month by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to termination letters obtained by the Washington Examiner. The USPSTF was created in the 1980s but has in recent decades been tasked with determining what preventive health services must be fully covered by insurance companies under Obamacare rules.
The task force is authorized by Congress to assess scientific evidence and make recommendations on insurance coverage for a wide range of medical services, from mammograms and colonoscopies to depression screenings and HIV prophylaxis.
But health policy experts and industry leaders have speculated for more than a year that Kennedy has been angling to mold the task force to serve his policy objectives, such as potentially limiting insurance coverage for routine vaccinations.
Last year, Kennedy unilaterally disbanded and reconstituted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which has since made sweeping changes to restrict vaccine recommendations for adults and children.
