Taking Spin Out of Report That Made Bad Into Good Health:
"The original version of the report included these statements, which were dropped from the final version:

¶'We aspire to equality of opportunities for all our citizens. Persistent disparities in health care are inconsistent with our core values.'

¶'Disparities come at a personal and societal price.'

¶'Compared with whites, blacks experience longer waits in emergency departments and are more likely to leave without being seen.'"

The Bush administration says it improperly altered a report documenting large racial and ethnic disparities in health care, but it will soon publish the full, unexpurgated document.

"There was a mistake made," Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, told Congress last week. "It's going to be rectified."

Mr. Thompson said that "some individuals took it upon themselves" to make the report sound more positive than was justified by the data.

The reversal comes in response to concerns of Democrats and the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee. They are pushing separate bills to improve care for members of minorities.

"African-Americans and Native Americans die younger than any other racial or ethnic group," Dr. Frist said. "African-Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic Americans are at least twice as likely to suffer from diabetes and experience serious complications. These gaps are unacceptable."

President Bush's budget would cut spending for the training of health professionals and would eliminate a $34 million program that recruits blacks and Hispanics for careers as doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

On Wednesday, more than 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, issued a statement criticizing what they described as the misuse of science by the administration to bolster its policies on the environment, arms control and public health.

Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said the changes in the report on health disparities were "another example of the administration's manipulation of science to fit its political goals."

…The report, the first of its kind, was prepared under a 1999 law that requires officials to issue such reports every year.

The theme of the original report was that members of minorities "tend to be in poorer health than other Americans" and that "disparities are pervasive in our health care system," contributing to higher rates of disease and disability.

By contrast, the final report has an upbeat tone, beginning, "The overall health of Americans has improved dramatically over the last century."…

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/politics/22HEAL.html