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Premiums are set to skyrocket, roughly doubling on average, for the 24 million people enrolled in plans under the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces. That is, unless Democrats get their way in the fight over the government shutdown, which hinges on health care access and affordability. (Natalie Foster, 10/5)

About a half-century ago, the United States launched a massive public health experiment: The federal government joined nutrition experts in asserting that a low-fat diet would prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. (David S. Ludwig, 10/6)

Democrats picked this fight because they see health care as a winning issue. A Post poll, conducted on the first day of the shutdown, found that 71 percent of Americans say federal insurance subsidies should be extended while 29 percent say they should end as scheduled. Just as significantly, the question divides Republicans: 38 percent support extending the subsidies, and 62 percent want them to end. (10/5)

On July 11, I received a letter from the National Institutes of Health ordering me to stop my research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, because the work was deemed too “dangerous.” Surely this must be a mistake, I thought, since my lab has been operating safely for more than a decade. (Sarah Stanley, 10/6)

Half of all pregnant women take acetaminophen — better known as Tylenol or paracetamol — to relieve pain or reduce fever. The drug has been around for decades, is available without a prescription, and is often one of the few options doctors consider safe during pregnancy. However, on September 23, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would require new warning labels, citing a “possible association” between prenatal use and autism in children. (Henry I. Miller, 10/5)