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Medical assistance in dying—a euphemism for physician-enabled suicide—has been gaining legislative ground in jurisdictions around the country. Twelve states and Washington, D.C., allow doctors to prescribe lethal dosages of medications to patients with terminal illnesses, and a new law takes effect in New York this year. (Elizabeth Bruenig, 2/4)

Activists won the legal battle. Are they losing the culture war? (Ross Douthat, 2/5)

The Trump administration is preparing to launch TrumpRx.com, an initiative aimed at lowering drug costs by aggregating direct-to-consumer access to branded prescription medications at discounted cash prices. The promise is seductive: lower prices on brand-name medications, available to anyone willing to bypass their insurance and pay out of pocket. (Sean D. Sullivan and Ryan N. Hansen, 2/5)

Tens of millions of seniors have recently wrapped up Medicare’s open enrollment period, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is touting premium stability in the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. But it’s pitching a deceptively calm picture, like a duck gliding across the water, its feet churning furiously below the surface. (Donna Shalala, HHS chief under President Bill Clinton, and Tommy G. Thompson, HHS chief under President George W. Bush, 2/5)