In the early 2000s, many men were getting routine PSA tests. Unfortunately, so many men panicked when they heard that “you have prostate cancer,” and jumped quickly to getting a prostatectomy when it wasn’t medically necessary (for low-grade, localized disease). (Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.)

As a result, the USPSTF recommended against routine prostate cancer screening (assigning the screening a “D” recommendation: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/prostate-cancer-screening-2012).

You are correct - at that point many doctors stopped recommending, and many insurance companies stopped covering, routine PSA tests. (I started having annual PSA tests in 2000; my doctors never stopped.)

A few years later (in 2018) they revised that 2012 recommendation —> But, the current USPSTF guidelines still recommend against PSA screening after age 70 (https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/prostate-cancer-screening).

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. It will take a few more years for the impact of that 2012 USPSTF decision to work itself out of the system.