Rachel Cohen Booth

"Being able to afford to retire is the top concern of aging home-based child care workers" good look from @hechingerreport.org hechingerreport.org/most-home-ba...

When colleges deny the fact that they have a party scene, does it put students in more danger? Sociologist and author Elizabeth Armstrong talks to @rcobooth.bsky.social about why giving students resources to party responsibly is safer in the long run. www.vox.com/life/507369/...

I was really glad to talk with Elizabeth Armstrong about Cornell, her decades studying campus sexual assault and what she thinks colleges could do to make schools safer www.vox.com/life/507369/...

"The driving point behind what we were doing was to set hospital prices," Michael Conway, Colorado's insurance commissioner said. "That's what we were driving towards, and that's what we did."

In Colorado, enrollment in their public option went from about 14 percent of the state marketplace’s customers in 2023, the first year, to a third in 2024, to roughly half today

With health care costs soaring, public options are getting a new look. I wrote about the three states that have launched their own in recent years, and what this could mean for 2028 and beyond www.vox.com/policy/50674...

"What they told me was striking and perhaps surprising. Among the dozen parents I spoke to, nearly all of them praised the school’s staff, programs, and communication. Most parents hadn’t heard that the school was in the national news." www.chalkbeat.org/2026/10/15/p...

I have a new piece up on universal child care, and the race to define it ahead of 2028 www.vox.com/policy/50602...

here's what some very kind early readers have to say:

Excited for this!

Just preordered my copy!

So excited to read @rcobooth.bsky.social's forthcoming book, which you should go preorder!

There are real limits to what we can accomplish in a world where people believe nothing they do really matters. My book (!) is about how we wound up in a place where millions of people feel like spectators in their own lives. And how we course correct. Because we can. Coming April 13, 2027

smart piece from @ryanlcooper.com on ‘dual class’ shares, why we should get rid of them, and how we can prospect.org/2026/09/30/h...

this is a reporting tour-de-force from Elizabeth Dias, one of the most revealing and stunning NYT pieces I've read in a long time gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...

appreciated the opportunity to speak about my reporting on some of America’s needlessly difficult divorce laws today on NPR www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

...from operators of group homes for disabled people. Those challenges don't strike down the laws in their entirety, but they point to the value of repeal: disability inclusion (not that group homes are the epitome of that) is more meaningful if you don't have to make an RA request in the first...

Great piece from @rcobooth.bsky.social. Some aspects of this issue not explored in the article but worthy of attention: - There is a long track record of successful litigation challenges to occupancy limits in the context of rejected reasonable accommodation requests... www.vox.com/the-highligh...

Cities spent decades banning cheap rooms for rent. Now a possible Supreme Court case and 'Golden Girls' bills are trying to bring them back. I wrote about who's behind the push, from conservative legal orgs to progressive YIMBYs and the AARP www.vox.com/the-highligh... .

I was also pretty stunned by the wording of this NBER abstract 🫠. As @rcobooth.bsky.social lays out very nicely, there are many important questions to be explored here, but language, especially around reproductive choices, matters. substack.com/home/post/p-... #econsky #demography

There are lots of important questions to explore about our complicated intergenerational shifts and dynamics, and I do believe we can make loving space to do it rcobooth.substack.com/p/on-prospec...

New: I wrote about the AI-in-schools backlash roiling inside the GOP www.vox.com/technology/5...

Sen. Susan Collins cast the pivotal vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. He then helped overturn Roe v. Wade four years later. Now she’s battling for her Senate seat in the midterms, and abortion rights groups are betting that voters haven’t forgotten how she contributed to the fall of Roe.

Abortion has faded nationally as a major midterms issue, but it's a top focus in the Maine Senate race, where Democrats are banking that Collins's Kavanaugh vote will cost her in a way it didn't back in 2020. I went deep for @vox.com. gift link: www.vox.com/policy/50331...

great @kendrahurley.bsky.social piece, and I so agree. the most realistic path forward for universal child care involves allowing parents the option to stay home with their infants. Paid leave can reduce so much pressure from the system, and so many yearn for it www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...

a smart @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social read on how to build climate change policy amid our climate change politics www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/o...

just an incredible piece written about Alfred Marchand and the 25 years that followed his death, by my friend Bill Petrich substack.com/home/post/p-...

Something that surprised me about this story: the breadth of people that rely on the census for demographic data -- even businesses doing market research. "Procter and Gamble is not going to figure out this new breakfast cereal by talking to every single person in the country."

I interviewed Anna Louie Sussman about her new insightful book, INCONCEIVABLE — on fertility, families, and economic insecurity. We talked about AOC, eugenics in 2026, and our role as journalists writing about these issues www.vox.com/policy/50238...

my case for why there should always be a non-smartphone option to do basic things, and how we get there www.vox.com/technology/5...

27 Republican-controlled states have imposed measures to restrict trans athletes from playing in girls’ and women’s sports since 2020, but this November will be the first time voters have a chance to weigh in on the question directly in Washington, Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska.

Washington’s proposed ban would go further than red-state bans in one key way. All girls seeking to participate in athletics would need to verify their sex assigned at birth, not just those whose eligibility is challenged www.vox.com/politics/501...

New: 27 states have passed bans on trans athletes in girls' & women's sports, but those have all been in GOP-controlled states, and no ban has gone directly before voters. This fall four states have ballot measures on it. I wrote about the one playing out in Washington www.vox.com/politics/501...

this is a stunning piece by Courtney Martin about her journey to donate her dad's brain to science www.vox.com/the-highligh...

"both competitive drive [of men] and male friendship have suffered under the weaponized application of Title IX" @heritagefdn.bsky.social claims...adding that "cheerleading, dance, yoga...and recreational intramurals" are "more aligned with average female interests" www.heritage.org/gender/repor...

this new Heritage Foundation report is much broader than "protect women's sports". It argues Title IX imposed a male model of competition on women, encouraged us to become dominant and aggressive, and pulled us away from traditional femininity and motherhood

Unfortunately my daycare is owned by private equity, and I pretty much think about it every day.

Why is private equity interested in child care? Sen. Merkley is asking that question. England is asking. @jhb-econ.bsky.social and Chris Herbst are too, and I wrote today about what they found in their new research, & what might come next www.vox.com/life/500695/...

important piece from the always sharp @jessicavalenti.bsky.social jessica.substack.com/p/gop-2028-a...

fascinating, persuasive piece about the consequence of our CPR dummies never having breasts www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Healthcare reform doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. We can pursue ambitious, long-term change while taking practical steps now to lower costs for patients and families.

over at my newsletter I talk about my recent reporting and give background about how they both came to be and some of the post-publication reaction rcobooth.substack.com

clarifying piece from @shefali.bsky.social on why abortion opponents are turning their attention to banning surrogacy, and how those arguments connect to their IVF opposition 19thnews.org/2026/08/surr...

revealing look at a 2020 "unity" health care task force Biden convened after winning the primary, which @abdulelsayed.bsky.social sat on. members recall him as being passionate, constructive, but not dogmatic

I wrote about the changing debate over Medicare for All, and what this means for Democrats and health care reform www.vox.com/policy/49993...