And the lessons it can learn from places that are getting it right.
The Highlight by Vox Logo
June 2026 Highlight cover: How to screw up universal childcare

The June Issue

2026

A digital magazine unpacking the big ideas changing our present and shaping our future.

Celia Jacobs for Vox

In cities and states around the country, universal childcare programs are finally having their moment. That includes New Mexico, where 15 years of work culminated in a successful ballot initiative authorizing a massive, permanent funding increase for early childhood education. Since that win, however, the state has struggled to increase supply — and it’s still dealing with a childcare shortage. In this month’s Highlight cover story, Sara Mickelson reports for Vox on how the state is screwing up universal childcare, and the lessons it can learn from places that are getting it right.

 

Also in this issue: The case for joining a club. Why “drive-thru” healthcare is booming. How generosity became cringe. And surprising good news for new college grads.

 

Enjoy!

 

—Rachel Wilkerson Miller, senior editor

 

Inside the issue

COVER STORY

How to screw up universal childcare

by Sara Mickelson

In New Mexico, a bold childcare plan is meeting hard reality. But it’s not too late to fix things.

HEALTH

When did getting prescriptions start feeling like online shopping?

by Dylan Scott

How the internet and America’s broken health system gave rise to a new kind of medicine.

FUTURE PERFECT

How generosity became cringe

by Sara Herschander

The internet once enabled our culture of giving. Now it just makes us angry.

 
Read the full issue >>
 
Vox logo

This email was sent to [email protected]. Unsubscribe from this email and manage your email preferences.

View our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service. View this email in your browser. 

 

Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2026. All rights reserved.

https://link.vox.com/oc/67e8b7053ad3d5b200099e7freoxu.xm1/91521a91

Facebook TwitterYouTube