Out Of Control RFK Jr. Fires Leaders Of Preventative Services Task Force

from the brain-drain dept

Alright, this is getting dire. In addition to all of the anti-vaxxer bullshit that has infected HHS thanks to RFK Jr.’s appointment to run the department, we have also made the point recently that an equally big problem is the talent drain occurring at HHS as well. Between the voluntary exits by smart people who don’t want to be part of something this stupid and the scores of smart people who have been fired by Kennedy and his hand-picked goon squad, HHS and its child agencies have significantly less talent within them today than they did a year and a half ago. And I haven’t even mentioned yet that we don’t currently have Senate-confirmed heads of the FDA, the CDC, or a Surgeon General. What’s the point of these positions if they mean so little that the Trump administration isn’t going to bother to fill them?

But Kennedy isn’t done, yet. Just recently, he fired the leadership of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a volunteer group that works with government to mandate what preventative care procedures are approved such that insurance services have to cover them without copay.

In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms.

The Department of Health and Human Services already had largely sidelined the task force, indefinitely postponing scheduled public meetings over the past year and thus leaving some long-expected updates on cervical cancer screenings and other topics in limbo.

Kennedy didn’t inform Drs. John Wong and Esa Davis as to why their positions were being terminated in his letter. But he did go before Congress recently and talked about wanting to reform the task force because he considered their approach and work lazy and not transparent enough. We’ve heard Kennedy make these noises about transparency in the past and we know that they are bullshit. He is almost certainly instead looking merely to install sycophants that will do whatever his bidding happens to be. Particularly as it appears that the task force was prevented from publishing some of its work.

Some health advocates had worried that Kennedy was preparing to replace the expert panel with less experienced political appointees, like he had done with a critical vaccine advisory committee. Over the past year, the task force wasn’t allowed to publish its final update to the cervical cancer screening guideline or take steps to update recommendations about maternal depression, said former task force chairman Dr. Michael Silverstein, a pediatrician.

“This is a level of government intrusion into scientific processes that I’ve not experienced in my 10 years on the task force,” he said.

What chaos comes out of this move remains to be seen, though there can be no doubt that chaos is on the menu. There are treatments out there that could benefit from approval from the task force, but insurance won’t cover them without that approval. We’re talking about screenings for cancer and other dangerous afflictions. Kennedy could also install people who will approve whatever crazy whim he comes up with next. Perhaps insurance will have to cover snorting cocaine off of toilets while supervised by a doctor.

You may laugh at that, but look around you. Does it really sound that crazy with all that has gone on at HHS the past 18 months?

Filed Under: esa davis, health, health & human services, john wong, preventive services task force, rfk jr.