ROBERT KENNEDY JR: America deserves better guidance on how to avoid getting sick

Prevention should be one of the most powerful tools in American medicine.

We should identify disease early, prevent it when we can, and give doctors and patients the best evidence to make decisions about their health.

Today, we are strengthening one of the institutions charged with doing exactly that.

The U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, announced the appointment of eight new members of the U.S.

Preventive Services Task Force .

We are reforming and refocusing the Task Force to strengthen scientific rigor, broaden clinical expertise, and improve the recommendations that inform preventive care across America.

AMERICANS BORN AFTER 1970 FACE HIGHER DEATH RATES FROM SEVERAL MAJOR CAUSES IN MIDDLE AGE The Task Force carries enormous responsibility.

Its recommendations influence how doctors screen for disease, how patients make decisions about preventive care, and how our country evaluates the evidence behind preventive medicine.

They also have consequences beyond the examination room: Federal law generally requires private health plans to cover preventive services that receive an A or B recommendation from the Task Force without patient cost-sharing.

That responsibility demands rigorous science and practical medical judgment.

I appointed eight new members with deep experience across pediatrics, oncology, cardiology, radiology, gastroenterology, family medicine, health economics, and clinical research.

Several have spent decades treating patients.

Others have devoted their careers to evaluating medical evidence, technologies, and health policy.