Thursday, February 12, 2004

Eliminating 'Disparities' the Easy Way

The Bush administration has been caught altering the truth about U.S. racial and socioeconomic health disparities ... for political gain. And we are shocked, SHOCKED! (News of this in Government Executive magazine)

The Bushies, through its Department of Health & Human Services, was set to release the first annual "National Healthcare Disparities Report." In a June 2003 draft, the report "found 'significant inequality' in health care in the United States, called healthcare disparities 'national problems,' emphasized that these disparities are 'pervasive in our healthcare system,' and found that the disparities carry a significant 'personal and societal price.' The final version of the report, however, contains none of these conclusions."

Someone went through the report and Xed out almost every instance of the word "disparity," cutting 28 of 30 references in the "key findings" section.

The censorship was noticed. Eight House members, led by Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., complained to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson in January that the report was "yet another example of the administration's manipulation of science to fit its political goals."

Thompson admitted on Tuesday of this week that his department at ... "erred" in rewriting the report, and he plans to release it as originally written.

No comments: