Government Shutdown

The Government Shutdown Explained
      As a result of Congress unable to determine a budget for the fiscal year (which runs from September 30th until October 1st), the government has shutdown. The reason for the indecision was due to the Obamacare plan and the multitude of controversies regarding it. Republicans want the spending bill to include provisions that "defund, derail, or otherwise chip away" at Obamacare; Democrats do not. Those pertaining to the Republican party have largely rejected the law because they believe that if everyone were to have health insurance, it would hurt the employers. However, proponents to the cause (Democrats) believe it will be efficient because it would prevent the indirect payment of hospital bills that were never paid by uninsured people who were treated in emergency rooms, among other aspects.
For more on this subject, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/index.html)

      In the video below, the government shutdown, along with a list of services that have been affected, is explained in a little more than 60 seconds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24306152

Government Shutdown and Cancer Trials

      Between 700,000-800,000 federal employees have been sent home without pay. Among them, employees of federal clinical research programs. The National Institutes of Health has had to temporarily dismiss over 14,000 employees (which amounts to 75 percent of their staff). As a result, new patients AND new trials will not be able to occur. This includes 255 trials relating to cancer, primarily affecting the children with cancer in the hospital. The reason for this is because of the 200 trial patients that will be affected due to the shutdown, 15 percent are children and 33 percent of those have cancer. If this shutdown continues, every week amounts to 10 children being delayed their cancer treatment.

For more information, visit: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-does-and-doesnt-get-affected-in-a-government-shutdown-2013-10 or http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/10/01/federal-shutdown-to-hamper-disease-tracking-clinical-trials/