A government shutdown will have far-reaching effects for public health, including the nation's response to the current, difficult flu season. It will also disrupt some federally supported health services, experts said Friday.
In all, the Department of Health and Human Services will send home — or furlough — about half of its employees, or nearly 41,000 people, according to an HHS shutdown contingency plan released Friday.
Here are some federal services and programs consumers might be wondering about:
|CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
According to the HHS plan, the CDC will suspend its flu-tracking program. That's bad timing, given the country is at the height of a particularly bad flu season, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Without the CDC's updates, doctors could have a harder time diagnosing and treating patients quickly, he said.
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