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The pandemic has taken a toll on our collective mental health. For many students, the school year has been emotionally scarring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave us a snapshot of the problem in a study published in the fall. Researchers found that pediatric mental health visits to the emergency room last year increased by 24% from 2019 among kids ages 5 to 11 and 31% among children ages 12 to 17. While hospitals are where children tend to end up in an emergency, schools are often what stands between them and a full-blown crisis. We applaud school districts that made the choice to invest in student mental health years ago; those investments are needed now more than ever. (3/9)

One of the many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that a health insurance system that relies on employer-sponsored policies is poorly equipped to handle a disease-induced recession. Millions of Americans lost their coverage when the economy plunged, taking their jobs (and badly needed health benefits) with it. Fortunately, Americans under 65 had a double-layered safety net: Medicaid to cover people with little or no income, and the state Obamacare exchanges to offer private insurance policies to the rest of the uninsured. The 2010 Affordable Care Act created the exchanges to serve people not eligible for coverage by a large group health plan, with income-based subsidies for Americans earning up to four times the federal poverty level. (3/9)

As physicians who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology in Chicago, we often hear, “What a happy profession!” We smile and nod, thinking, “well, it is … until it isn’t. ”The death of a woman during pregnancy or within months of having a baby is tragic. In Illinois, the risk of death or severe complications in pregnancy is increasing and is greater for Black and brown women, who are six times more likely than white women to die of a pregnancy-related condition. They will not survive to see their infant’s first steps. (Maura Quinlan and Mia Layne, 3/8)

Between 1999 and 2017, more than 4,700 Missourians died of diseases triggered by asbestos exposure, according to a recent analysis of federal mortality data by the nonprofit EWG Action Fund. Asbestos took their lives and devastated their families, who not only lost loved ones but also struggled to pay the huge costs of medical treatment. In Jefferson City, state lawmakers are considering three bills that would erect a series of almost insurmountable roadblocks to prevent those who already do or could one day suffer from getting the compensation they are due. These bills would strip asbestos victims and their families of constitutional protections meant to hold asbestos companies accountable. (Eric D. Sullivan, 3/7)