Exclusive-US postpones third consecutive meeting of preventive health panel

By Deena Beasley

March 3 (Reuters) – The March meeting of the U.S. advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover has been postponed, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The 16-member U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which usually holds three annual meetings, last met in March of 2025. Its November 2025 meeting did not take place due to a government shutdown. The previous meeting, set for July 2025, was abruptly canceled by HHS.

“The first USPSTF meeting of this year has been postponed and will be rescheduled in the coming months,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email on Tuesday.

Concern has circulated since last year that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might disband the panel as part of an effort to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine.

Last June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of vaccine experts, replacing them with seven handpicked members, including known vaccine skeptics.

The 40-year-old USPSTF is responsible for deciding which medical tests and treatments, such as routine breast cancer screening or drugs to prevent HIV infection, need to be provided cost-free under most health insurance plans.

The task force is an independent group of volunteer experts, but it relies on support from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Members are appointed in staggered four-year terms, with some rotation each year. In January 2025, two new members began their terms.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a June 2025 ruling involving insurance coverage for HIV prevention services, affirmed that the Health Secretary has authority over the preventive care panel.

The USPSTF has been criticized by some conservatives as too left-leaning.

A group of 104 health organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, in early July sent a letter to Congressional health committees, urging them “to protect the integrity” of the task force.

(Reporting By Deena Beasley; editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)