RFK Jr. speaks at the 2025 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, April 24, 2025. (© Nicole Hester / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK)
"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."
I'M A GENDER DETRANSITIONER. I TOLD THE FTC HOW DOCTORS ABUSED THEIR POWER OVER ME
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) has been accused of being infiltrated by "woke" leftists, with sources familiar with Heath Secretary Robert F. Kennedy saying he has plans to fire all 16 of them. (iStock; Getty Images)
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.
WHAT'S REALLY IN YOUR FOOD? NEW CAMPAIGN PUSHES FOR NATIONAL INGREDIENT TRANSPARENCY
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.
The facade of the Supreme Court building at dusk is shown in this photo. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
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."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doctors-key-us-health-task-force-accused-prioritizing-dei-over-evidence-based-medicine