Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 17 said he has selected eight new members for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which decides which preventative medical services health insurers have to cover under the Affordable Care Act.
Kennedy named Dr. Seth Corey, a pediatric hematologist and cancer doctor at the Cleveland Clinic, the new chair of the task force.
He also picked Dr. Patrick Hunter, a pediatrician in Florida; Ronald Karlsberg, a professor of medicine at the University of California Los Angeles; Dr. Venkatesh Murthy, a professor of preventive cardiology at the University of Michigan; Stephen Parente, an insurance and finance expert; Dr. Goldie Stands-Over-Bull, the lead family medicine physician at Texas Native Health; Dr. Louis Wilson, managing partner of Wichita Falls Gastroenterology Associates; and Dr. Dennis Wulfeck, a radiologist.
“Prevention is one of our most powerful tools for confronting chronic disease. The Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendations influence preventive care across America, and Americans deserve recommendations grounded in rigorous, objective science,” Kennedy said in a statement.
“We are strengthening the task force to ensure it asks hard questions, follows the evidence wherever it leads, and maintains the highest standards of scientific integrity.”
The health secretary is able to pick volunteer members for the task force, an authority upheld by the Supreme Court in 2025.
Members must have “appropriate expertise,” per federal law, and they serve four-year terms.
The terms of some members had recently expired, and others had been dismissed by the health secretary, opening up vacancies.
Eight other members remain with the 16-person body, including Kaiser Permanente obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Ericka Gibson and Dr. Sai Lee, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
The task force was first created in 1984 to review data on preventative services and issue recommendations.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, authorized the task force to decide which preventative services health insurers, or services for people who do not have any symptoms, such as counseling and screening, have to cover.
The services the task force has mandated coverage for include colorectal cancer screening for adults aged 45 to 75 and hepatitis B screening for pregnant women.
It has not met since March 2025, and it is unclear when the reformed task force will convene.
The task force is behind on various aspects of its work, including annual reports.
It has not yet submitted an annual report for 2025.