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PUBLIC HEALTH

Choosing, using, and losing your health care: A policy first-aid kit

In a four-part weekly series, Globe Opinion offers a baseline assessment of health care as well as prescriptions for fixing the industry.

Susan Hata
Many doctors suffer from anxiety and depression. States aren’t helping.
‘My state asks about mental health history on the licensing application,’ my colleague said. ‘If I have to disclose this the next time I renew my license, I’m afraid I might not be able to practice.’

John Fernandez
Critics of Mass General Brigham expansion plan ignore key facts
A bigger MGB means lower costs. So why is the state Health Policy Commission condemning the expansion plan?

SCOT LEHIGH
Scaring cats, forgetting words and authors: A bout of ‘mild’ COVID-19 strikes Globe columnist
With Omicron, we’re starting to see a resigned sentiment that we’re probably all going to get it, and since it’s reportedly mild, maybe it’s OK to throw prudence to the wind, get it, and get it over with. I’d caution against that thinking.

EDITORIAL
Enough talk. Implement the city vaccine mandate.
Mayor Michelle Wu has given city workers plenty of time to get vaccinated ahead of the city’s requirement. This week’s delay should be the last.

Joan Vennochi
Labor’s power play against Wu’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate
Her COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers is worth the fight, even as it shows how hard it is to shake the power of unions.

Westyn Branch-Elliman, Elissa Perkins, and Shira Doron
It’s time to revamp testing and quarantine policy for asymptomatic students
The context of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed — specifically, new variants and vaccine availability for all K-12 students — and these changes render the program obsolete.

EDITORIAL
Biden shouldn’t give up on vaccine mandates
Smaller victories are the key to an end run around the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Kevin P. Hill and John F. Carmichael Jr.
Clardy Law would keep roads safe
Next to alcohol, marijuana is the second-most commonly found substance in the bodies of drivers involved in fatal crashes.

LETTERS
Mayor Wu exceeds expectations with swift, humane action at Mass. and Cass
Wu deserves enormous credit for staking out a compassionate, positive, proactive position, rejecting a punitive approach and embracing a public health-focused model.

LETTERS
COVID toll requires empathy in ERs to flow both ways
Emergency rooms are bursting at the seams with COVID-19 cases, putting ER workers at risk for infection, which in turn would mean even fewer ER staff available to help. Staff also are suffering from mental and physical exhaustion, depression, moral injury, and increased suicidal ideation.