Seventeen U.S. senators have given Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. until Oct. 15 to explain how he rebuilt the federal panel whose recommendations decide which preventive screenings most insured Americans receive at no cost. In a letter to Secretary Kennedy dated Oct. 5 and led by Sen. Angus King of Maine, the lawmakers urged the administration to resume the panel's work while following "the evidence-based and scientifically informed processes that have ensured the historic credibility of USPSTF."
The letter matters to households because the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) sits upstream of routine care. When the panel gives a service an A or B grade, the Affordable Care Act requires most private health plans to cover it without a copay. That list includes colorectal cancer screening for adults 45 to 75, blood pressure screening, depression screening and hepatitis C screening, according to HealthCare.gov.
