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Health care, so far perhaps the biggest issue in the Democratic primary, is also the most complicated issue facing government and the public. Unfortunately the debate is filled with persistent misconceptions, from the role insurance company profits play in health care costs to who is actually paying for workers’ health coverage. Clarifying four fundamental health care fallacies could make it easier for voters to square some of the Democratic proposals — and their critiques — with reality. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Victor R. Fuchs, 9/12)

It is safer to fly by plane anywhere in the world than it is to give birth in the United States. Last year, 589 people died worldwide because of an airline accident. Compare that with about 700 deaths each year among women in the U.S. as a result of pregnancy or complications during or after childbirth. Worldwide, more than 800 women die every day because of these complications.In the United States, women of color bear the brunt of these problems. Data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women are significantly more likely to die because of childbirth than white women, regardless of age group, education level, and other factors. (Amy Compton-Phillips, 9/13)

As the current candidates for president discuss hot-button issues with each news cycle, and the 10 Democrats debate on Thursday, one issue that isn’t getting the attention it deserves is the mental health crisis that is claiming more than 150,000 lives a year through suicides and overdoses and creating a vast ripple effect of suffering among their survivors. This crisis is fueled by a health care system that is ill-equipped to handle mental health and substance use disorders, and magnified by leaders who lack the political will to turn words into action. (Patrick J. Kennedy and Gordon H. Smith, 9/12)

When I was a teenager, my mom showed me a statement that she had received in the mail from the Social Security Administration. It included an annual history of her earnings, which showed a big string of zero’s covering the years when she was in her late 20s and early 30s. “That’s you and your sister,” she explained, laughing. My mom is doing just fine these days, but anyone who spends years as a stay-at-home parent — or an unpaid caregiver of any kind — faces a financial penalty when it comes time to retire. Our Social Security system doesn’t recognize parenting as the socially and economically valuable job that it is. (David Leonhardt, 9/12)

The gene-editing technique known as CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is only 5 years old, yet it has galvanized biomedical research and raised important ethical questions. What is it, how does it work, and how could it change medical practice?Biomedical scientists have been “editing” (or, at least, altering) genes for many years. Recombinant DNA technology allowed particular genes to be inserted into a plasmid (a circle of DNA) or into a virus: bacterial and yeast cells now could produce therapeutically useful human proteins, and viral vectors could perform gene therapy in humans. Gene targeting and RNA interference allowed the knockout of particular genes and the insertion of a healthy gene at the site of a defective gene. Zinc finger proteins and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) precisely altered specific genes. Then came CRISPR. Compared with these previous technologies, CRISPR is easier, faster, less expensive, and more powerful. (Anthony L. Komaroff, 9/12)

A new form of gene therapy termed genetic editing or gene targeting has become possible owing to advances in genetic engineering technology. The intent of genetic editing is to alter the DNA code in cells with single base-pair specificity, and thus it can be considered to be an ultimate form of precision therapy. For the past two decades, genome editing has been a powerful tool for basic science research. (Carl H. June, 9/12)

The American College of Physicians says its mission is to promote the “quality and effectiveness of health care,” but it’s stepped out of its lane recently with sweeping statements on gun control. And that isn’t the only recent foray into politics by medical professionals. During my term as associate dean of curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, I was chastised by a faculty member for not including a program on climate change in the course of study. As the Journal reported last month, such programs are spreading across medical schools nationwide. (Stanley Goldfarb, 9/12)

When I lost my husband in 2008, I learned that the shocking cause of his death wasn’t as rare as I had thought. More than 45,000 Americans died last year from suicide, in a staggering but seemingly silent epidemic. All this week mental health professionals are sounding the alarm about this crisis, drawing attention to the warning signs that someone you love may be at risk. I missed those signs until it was too late. Once he was gone, my life was unimaginably altered, both by his deadly decision and the stigma it left in its wake. (Peggy Wehmeyer, 9/12)

Labor leaders cheered in the balcony and lawmakers embraced on the floor of the California Senate on Tuesday as it passed a landmark measure that defines employees, a move that could increase wages and benefits for hundreds of thousands of struggling workers. But the bill is as much a starting point as an endgame: It will drive a national debate over how to reshape labor laws fashioned in the industrial era of the 1930s to fit a 21st-century service and knowledge economy. (Miriam Pawel, 9/12)

Surprise medical bills are a major problem nationally, and almost everyone agrees patients must be protected from receiving them. Surprise billing typically occurs in situations where patients receive care from a provider they did not specifically choose, such as when they are treated by an out-of-network ER doctor during an emergency. (Jamie Dudensing, 9/13)

StemGenex, the operator of a La Jolla clinic that drew a warning from the Food and Drug Administration that its purported stem cell treatments were illegal, has filed for bankruptcy. The clinic also is facing a class-action lawsuit in San Diego federal court brought by several former customers who say they were misled by its advertising and marketing. The firm’s bankruptcy filing, made on Sept. 5, lists more than $1 million in liabilities and $155,788 in assets — including a Tesla Model X electric car on which it still owes $54,000. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/12)

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish has finally assembled an impressive team of professionals who are tackling the many problems at the county’s downtown jail, including crowding and issues with security, health care and food. ...All of this is good to hear, but much work remains to be done. Perhaps most troubling, the elimination of red-zoning remains on the to-do list 10 months after the U.S. Marshals Service identified the practice as an example of “inhumane” conditions at the jail. (9/12)

When the San Francisco Department of Public Health announced it would transform a long-term mental health care facility at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital into one that offered only short-term care, it walked into a public firestorm. The public was right to be concerned. There’s a serious shortage of long-term mental health care beds in San Francisco. The results can be seen in the suffering on our streets. (9/12)