PREP4ALL SOUNDS ALARM ON USPSTF, WARNS MILLIONS COULD LOSE NO-COST PREVENTIVE CARE
Don’t Let RFK Jr. Meddle with Evidence-Based Preventive Care!
Web Version HERE
The undersigned 29 organizations urge members of Congress to protect the integrity of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in upcoming hearings with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last July, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Secretary intends to dismiss every single member of this essential advisory body, generating significant concern among preventive health advocates across the nation. Last week, those fears were renewed during a hearing in front of Congress, where Secretary Kennedy stated that he intends to appoint members with a “clear mission.”
As an independent panel of medical experts with practice experience in fields including behavioral health, family medicine, geriatrics, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and nursing, the USPSTF has developed extensive evidence-based guidelines that serve as essential resources for primary care providers across the US. For decades, USPSTF has helped ensure that preventive services for cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular health, HIV, mental health, maternal health, and other conditions are appropriately provided to millions of Americans.
We ask that Congress use upcoming public hearings with the Secretary to:
- (1) ensure that guardrails are put in place so that the Task Force remains made up of competent, unbiased professionals with deep expertise in primary and preventive care, and
- (2) ensure that the Task Force remains committed to a comprehensive, systematic review and careful assessment of the available medical evidences for publishing recommendations with opportunities for stakeholder input, and
- (3) press the Secretary to once again convene USPSTF according to its regular annual meeting schedule.
Let’s be clear: This task force isn’t political. It’s made up of volunteer scientists and doctors who review the evidence to determine what preventive services should be recommended for people at risk of developing conditions that cost lives and lead to increased costs for our healthcare system. Although the Secretary promised during his confirmation process to protect access to vaccines and not to impose his own views on the process for vaccine recommendations, the Secretary has already gone back on those promises by, among other things, dismissing all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and installing replacement members who lack the necessary expertise to serve on that body, an action that a federal judge recently found to have been unlawful. Congress must act now to prevent the Secretary from similarly undermining the work of the USPSTF and threatening Americans’ access to an even broader array of evidence-based preventive care.
Also, given the Secretary’s previous statements about HIV which do not reflect the actual science, HIV stakeholders are particularly eager to see the USPSTF protected from bias and interference.
Please help us protect evidence-based preventive care in America.
Sincerely,
[Organizational list still in progress]
PrEP4All, Inc.
African Network of Adolescents and Young Persons Development (ANAYD)
AIDS ACTION BALTIMORE
AIDS Alabama
AIDS Foundation Chicago
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
AVAC
Chicago Women’s AIDS Project
COFI
Community Resource Initiative
Equality California
Five Horizons Health Services
GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality
HealthHIV
Illinois Commission on LGBTQ+ Aging and Long-Term HIV Survival
International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
Light Youth Group cbo
Majawie Safe Space NPO
National Coalition for LGBTQ Health
National Working Positive Coalition
Positive People Network Inc
Presbyterian HIV Network. PHEWA, Presbyterian Church USA
Shri Radheykrishna Oaj (AIDS Vaccine) Organisation
Silver State Equality
TaskForce Prevention and Community Services
TechnoDev Projects Nigeria
The Well Project
Treatment Action Group (TAG)
WashU
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About PrEP4All: PrEP4All is a national advocacy organization founded in 2018 and led by patients, healthcare professionals, and policy experts working to expand access to lifesaving HIV prevention and treatment. Grounded in lived experience and inspired by the legacy of ACT UP, PrEP4All uses direct action, media, and policy advocacy to lower drug costs and advance a national strategy to end the HIV epidemic in the United States.
