Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. itestifies on President Donald Trump's budget request before the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2026.Olivier Douliery/Abaca/Sipa USA/AP
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would overhaul a preventive medicine team that risks making screenings more difficult.
“[The US Preventive Services Task Force] has been lackadaisical and negligent for 20 years,” Kennedy told members of the House Ways and Means Committee. “We’re going to have, for the first time, transparency.”
As my colleagues Anna Merlan, Julia Métraux, and Kiera Butler have reported, Kennedy’s transformation of the HHS has been extensive and relies on rejectingdecades of scientific, evidence-based research on health.
Kennedy said on Thursday he would appoint new members with “a clear mission” but did not elaborate on whether he would remove any current members. Five of the 16 panel members’ terms expired last December, but Kennedy has not filled those roles.
If the new task force stops recommendations on a certain preventive drug or screening, insurance companies would no longer be required to cover it under the Affordable Care Act, effectively taking millions of Americans off vital health interventions.
This may be the clearest sign that Kennedy will continue to dismantle the health panel. In July 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that the health secretary planned to dismiss all 16 members because they were too “woke.” Due to the HHS’ cancellations, the panel has not met in a year; it usually meets three times annually. The members also did not submit their congressionally-mandated report for 2025.
According to Politico, the task force is working on recommendations related to autism screening in children, medication to reduce the risks of breast cancer, and counseling on early allergen introduction to prevent food allergies in infants. Kennedy has previously voiced enthusiasm for focusing on autism and food allergies in children.
