Michael Silverstein and John Wong, both former chairmen of the United States Preventive Services Task Force, recently argued that Health Secretary and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s decision to remove the panel’s top leaders threatens the integrity of preventive medicine. They warn that a “task force beholden to political interests could roll back evidence-based recommendations.”

With respect to Silverstein and Wong, they are defending an institution that has already failed millions of people — not through political interference, but through institutional paralysis, insularity, and a stubborn refusal to act on overwhelming evidence. For the 37 million people living with kidney disease, the USPSTF’s track record is not one of rigorous independence. It is one of negligence.