drive down Medicare costs by decreasing recurrences of ailments and re-admittance into hospitals. (10) Many workers are forced to quickly return to work after the birth or arrival of a child because they have no access to paid family and medical leave. Only half of new mothers take paid leave of any duration after the birth of their first child, and among women with less than a high school education the figure is less than 20 percent—a rate that has not changed in half a century. (11) When new mothers have no choice but to return to work without taking leave, children can experience a variety of negative outcomes including higher rates of infant mortality, lower rates of breastfeeding, lower rates of immunization, and a higher incidence of maternal physical and mental health concerns. California’s paid family leave insurance program, which has been in effect since 2004, has increased the number of weeks of leave that women take after childbirth, with larger effects among women in jobs that do not provide paid leave. (12) A nationwide paid family and medical leave program would address the persistent sex discrimination in the utilization of leave benefits and reduce the disparity between women and men regarding who takes time off from work to fulfill caregiving duties. This disparity is driven in part by the fact that men continue to be paid more than women, and, as a result, it often makes more economic sense for women in two-parent families to take unpaid leave and forgo their lower salary. (13) Many men would like to be more involved in caregiving and report greater work-family conflict than ever before. In California, men’s use of the State’s paid family leave insurance program to care for a new child has more than doubled since the program’s implementation. In Rhode Island, the most recent State to implement a State paid leave program, men took leave at higher rates in the program’s first year than other State programs’ first year. (14) High-profile companies are increasingly recognizing the importance of