USPSTF Decisions Should Not Determine ACA Coverage, Former Chairs Say

By Joe Elia

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

Three former chairs of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force propose in the Annals of Internal Medicine that USPSTF recommendations on preventive services should not determine whether those services get automatic free coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Their proposal was prompted by an article in the American Journal of Medicine written with the support of Mylan, which has come under fire for recent steep price increases for its EpiPen epinephrine auto-injectors used to treat anaphylaxis. That article suggested that "inclusion [of auto-injectors] on preventive medication lists could be expected to increase patient access ... improving outcomes and decreasing fatalities." The former USPSTF chairs call that an attempt "to lobby the USPSTF" and protect Mylan's profits.

Reached for comment, current USPSTF chair Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo writes: "EpiPens are a treatment for anaphylaxis, not a preventive service, so this is not an area where the task force would make a recommendation."