The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — the independent panel whose recommendations determine which screenings insurers must cover at no cost — has not met in a year after HHS postponed its March 2026 session for the third consecutive time.

The USPSTF ordinarily meets three times annually in March, July, and November. The July 2025 meeting was abruptly canceled by HHS. The November 2025 session was called off due to the federal government shutdown. Now the March 2026 meeting has been "rescheduled for the coming months," per an HHS spokesperson — with no firm date.

The practical impact is immediate. Updates to cancer screening ages, STI testing intervals, cardiovascular risk assessment tools, and preventive care coverage recommendations are frozen. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers must cover services rated "A" or "B" by the USPSTF without cost-sharing — meaning delayed recommendations delay coverage mandates.

Public health organizations and former USPSTF members have expressed concern that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could seek to disband or sideline the panel entirely. The uncertainty extends to practices relying on USPSTF guidance for clinical protocols and billing justification for preventive services.

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