For the fourth time, the Trump administration has prevented an important public health panel from meeting as planned.
The panel, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, has not met in person since March 2025.
It typically meets three times a year to review scientific evidence for tests and medications to prevent conditions like cancer, diabetes and H.I.V. The panel’s recommendations guide doctors and determine what insurance companies cover for millions of Americans. But under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it has been stymied, with little ability to make new recommendations.
The delay of a meeting scheduled for this month was announced in an email last week to people who work with the panel. It was confirmed on Monday by Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ms. Hilliard attributed the decision to postpone the meeting until late August to “an unprecedented number of nominations” to serve on the task force and said more time was needed to select and onboard new members.
In June 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Kennedy could unilaterally remove members from the panel and override its decisions.
Mr. Kennedy canceled meetings of the panel last July, last November and this March. He also did not fill the vacancies left when the terms of several members expired months ago, and in May, he fired the panel’s two chairs.
A Federal Register notice soliciting nominations for the open seats was published in April with a deadline of May 23. It said nomination and application materials were available for public review at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the part of the health department that oversees the task force.
But a New York Times reporter who went during business hours on June 15 was denied access. Officials said the documents had to be redacted but have not answered repeated questions about when they will be made available.
