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Throughout the year, we have seen Democrats across the country uniting around a new legislative proposal that would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives. Dishonestly called “Medicare for All,” the Democratic proposal would establish a government-run, single-payer health care system that eliminates all private and employer-based health care plans and would cost an astonishing $32.6 trillion during its first 10 years. (President Donald J. Trump, 10/10)

Rep. Elijah Cummings says a report he commissioned from the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform shows that if the Trump administration is successful in its legal assault on key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, nearly 170,000 Marylanders could see their premiums skyrocket or could be denied coverage altogether. Hundreds of thousands of older adults and women could be subject to premium increases, too, he argues. Not so, says Rep. Andy Harris. The Trump administration may be joining an effort by ACA-loathing states in litigation aimed at gutting protections for those with pre-existing conditions, but Maryland law contains backup provisions, so no one here is at risk. So who’s right? (10/8)

Trade experts are now dissecting the newly announced North American trade deal to determine if President Trump’s “bully” negotiating style will really make a difference to dairy markets or automobile production. Indeed, much attention has been paid to the president’s negotiating style in international trade and foreign relations more generally, especially his cavalier disregard and disrespect for international organizations like the World Trade Organization or strategic alliances like NATO. (Peter G. Lurie, 10/9)

I’ve never been sure what to expect when meeting someone who’s just tried to take his own life. But I’ve learned to stop expecting anything. Sometimes, the person in front of me barely speaks, staring right through me, lost in a deep catatonic depression. Sometimes he or she can’t stop talking, breathlessly describing what happened as if we’re gossiping at brunch after an hour of SoulCycle. (Dhruv Khullar, 10/9)

Everyone feels isolated sometimes, but with one in five Americans chronically lonely, has loneliness reached epidemic proportions? In 1988, the journal Science published a landmark study suggesting isolation was as strong a risk factor for morbidity and mortality as sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure and smoking or obesity. Since then, loneliness has become an increasing public health concern and health officials are now taking the idea of an epidemic seriously. As the population ages, the burden of social isolation on public health will only increase. (Jonathan Fielding, 10/9)

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has spent the last several weeks battling disturbing accusations of sexual violence, is now one of the most powerful people in America. While his appointment to the US Supreme Court is devastating for much of the population, it is easy to forget what a triumphant victory it represents for many others. Upon hearing the news of Kavanaugh's confirmation, a West Virginia city councilman named Eric Barber posted to a private Facebook group: "Better get you're (sic) coat hangers ready liberals." (Holly Thomas, 10/9)

Despite their names, state “departments of correction” in the United States aren’t known for correcting much. More than seven of every 10 prisoners, according to some studies, are arrested again less than four years after they are released. And while recent years have seen the beginning of a national decline in the number of male prisoners, the situation has not improved much for women, who remain incarcerated at stubbornly high levels. (Maurice Chammah, 10/9)

The anatomy laboratory was always freezing. This was our first course as medical students, and we had split ourselves into groups — four students to every cluster. Each of us carried a copy of “Netter’s Anatomy”; by the end of three months in the lab, the volume would become chemically yellowed by formaldehyde, and to leaf through the tawny, crackling pages would be to feel your fingers becoming slowly embalmed. Our group had three men — me, S. and B. — and a woman, G. We “shared” a 60-something female cadaver whose name we knew by only her initials: M.C. She had died, we were told, of metastatic breast cancer. Eventually, as we dissected her body, we would find misshapen deposits of that cancer in her brain, liver and bones. (Siddhartha Mukherjee, 10/10)

Climate change poses a catastrophic threat to our planet's biodiversity, to the integrity of our economic system, and even to the very values on which our shared humanity is built. As the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report shows, this threat is very real, and we are losing the battle to keep temperature increases close to the Paris Climate Agreement target of 1.5°c. (Ricardo Lagos, 10/9)

A spectacular case of sloppy science came crashing to a close last month. Cornell University’s Brian Wansink, a world-renowned scientist who seized headlines with his research on American eating habits, had many of his papers retracted and resigned from his professorship. Wansink’s fall is not just the tale of a single scientist gone astray. It is, instead, an indictment of an entire type of nutrition science that has led to mistaken dietary advice dispensed to Americans for decades. (Nina Teicholz, 10/9)

The LaCroix brand of fizzy water came seemingly out of nowhere in the last few years, propelling its parent company to nearly $1 billion in annual sales and tripling its profits to $149.8 million since 2015. So perhaps it’s natural that the brand would attract hassles, the way noisy parties attract complaints from the neighbors, followed by a knock on the door from the cops. In this world, there’s no gain without pain. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/9)

With Brett Kavanaugh, and the dark cloud permanently fixed above his head, on the Supreme Court, fury on the left is palpable. Yet even if the battle for his seat is lost, the battle against sexual assault continues. For inspiration on how to move forward, the focus on the role of alcohol in Kavanaugh’s life should compel us to look to the origins of the women’s movement. It was the temperance movement of the 19th and early 20th century, after all, that served as a catalyst for the women’s suffrage movement. It could do the same today for the #MeToo movement. (Bill Scher, 10/9)

The time has come for Congress to explore the merits of creating a federal agency solely dedicated to nutritional science — specifically, the establishment of a National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), under the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Here’s why. The economic impact of managing diet-related chronic conditions in the United States is estimated at over $1 trillion per year and growing. Yet, the evidence base for making many specific dietary recommendations remains suboptimal and often contradictory. Robust, independent research in nutritional science is an urgent public health priority. (Joon Yun, 10/9)