The Washington Post is reporting that top administration officials ordered the rewriting of a federal study on health care that had originally concluded minorities received less care and less high-quality care than whites. The report originally said the disparities in care along racial lines presented “national problems.” But those words never appeared in the final version released by the Department of Health and Human Services. Critics said the department rewrote the study to put a positive spin on a public health crisis. The final report says that disparities in care were influenced not just by race but geography and socioeconomic factors. Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman of California said “In effect, they whitewashed the issue away, even though they were told that health care disparities are a national problem.”