If the government shuts down Oct. 1, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will once again be forced to turn away new patients with critical illnesses, as it did in 2013 when the government closed for 16 days, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told The Washington Post. Hundreds of patients were turned away in 2013 when lawmakers refused to compromise on a spending bill and nearly brought the country to an unprecedented debt default. In addition, the NIH lost more than a billion dollars as part of automatic budget cuts via budget sequestration and couldn't fund 600 research grants, according to the Post. However, in the event of a shutdown, the NIH would still care for patients already at the clinical center. Article