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We know inadequate child care is an economic issue, costing states, families and businesses billions of dollars every year. We know it’s a gender issue that contributes to a widening pay gap. We know it’s a policy issue, made worse by the absences of a federal pre-K program and a federal paid-leave policy. But here is another critical consideration worth pushing for: Our country’s inadequate child care system is also a health care issue. (Molly Dickens and Lucy Hutner, 1/16)

Is anyone really surprised to learn that bottled drinking water is loaded with tiny bits of plastic? The bottles are, after all, plastic. So are the caps. It stands to reason that microscopic bits of the stuff get into the water inside during bottling or packaging, or while sitting in storage. A 2018 study found as much. (1/16)

January marks Cervical Health Awareness Month, an annual reminder that cervical cancer is a very real threat to women around the country. Each year in the U.S., nearly 12,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed and about 4,000 women die from it. While that number isn't in the millions or tens of millions, late-stage cervical cancer is on the rise, with far too many people missing their screening appointments for one reason or another. (Virginia Templet, 1/12)

Commentators on the right have been crowing over recently unearthed comments from Francis S. Collins, in which the former head of the National Institutes of Health admitted last summer that pandemic-era decisions to close businesses and schools didn’t sufficiently account for the consequences on children’s education or the economy. One columnist even used the opportunity to accuse government scientists of having engaged in “agitprop” during the pandemic. (1/15)

I have Alzheimer’s disease. Of all the diseases I could contract, Alzheimer’s was the one I feared most. It strips you of who you are. Your memories drain away, for some with speed and for others over a longer period of time. (Steve Wessler, 1/16)

If her social media accounts are any indication, model, cookbook author, television personality, and entrepreneur Chrissy Teigen is a wonderful mother. Many parents regard her as a role model. That’s why I found it disappointing to learn that Teigen is a spokesperson for the Cord Blood Registry, which advocates for the collection of umbilical cord blood at birth for future use. Unfortunately, early cord clamping, essential for successful cord-blood banking, can do genuine harm to newborn babies in the name of protecting their health. (Judith S. Mercer, 1/16)

I am getting bent out of shape over surgeons telling patients they cannot get a knee replacement because they are above a certain BMI cutoff. Here’s a familiar scenario: A patient with a high body weight and BMI limps down the hall to my exam room. “How have you been?” I ask. He sighs. “I still can’t get a new knee. The other doc says I have to I lose 50 pounds before I can go under the knife!” So, this guy, a former college athlete, has been told he can’t get surgery until he loses weight, but chronic pain, immobility, and stress all make it much harder to lose weight. (Jody Dushay, 1/16)

Let’s face it. Health insurance is a problem too big for Texas. With nearly 5 million uninsured, we have the largest percentage of any state. Even with the good news that for the first time more than 3 million Texans now have a health plan through the Affordable Care Act, massive numbers remain without basic protection. (1/16)

The impact of the “brain drain” in Tennessee is already being felt. In addition to the inability of the state of Tennessee to expand Medicaid to keep rural hospitals open and to care for those of us with the least access to care, new laws prohibiting health care negatively affect the ability to survive in Tennessee. (Alexis B. Paulson, 1/15)