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It is fitting that Gov. Jerry Brown wrote a thoughtful and unusually personal message when he signed the historic piece of legislation known officially as ABx2 15. This is the so-called right to die bill, which allows doctors, under tightly defined circumstances, to write lethal prescriptions for patients who have been diagnosed with less than six months to live. Brown, a former seminarian, wrote about the many people he had consulted, including a Catholic bishop, and the many pleas he had read on both sides. "In the end," he wrote, "I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death. I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn't deny that right to others." (10/5)

A lot of the news coverage last week, after Hillary Rodham Clinton announced she’d like to see the [Cadillac] tax repealed, focused on the fact that repealing the tax could cause the federal government to lose $87 billion in revenue over the first eight years it’s in effect. Mrs. Clinton has said any repeal should be offset with other measures to close that gap. But the revenue effects of the Cadillac tax are minor compared with the tax’s much larger effects on health care spending. It would be harder for Mrs. Clinton to replicate those cost-control benefits than to replicate the revenues. (Josh Barro, 10/5)

While the severely mentally ill commit only a tiny fraction of violent crimes, an FBI study from last year found that mental illness is frequently a factor in shootings with the highest number of fatalities. And all too often, the laws on the books fail to bar these individuals from purchasing weapons used to carry out their deadly acts. An outsized number of these high-casualty shootings have occurred in states like Ohio, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia, where more lenient gun laws make it easier for the mentally ill to obtain firearms. (James Dudley, 10/5)

In the food fight over school lunches, let’s stipulate a few facts. One of every three children in the United States is overweight or obese. About 27% of young Americans are too overweight to join the military. Children who are obese are at higher risk for serious diseases — from high blood pressure and joint problems now to heart disease, diabetes and cancer later in life. hose facts alone are enough to prove that taxpayers have a vested interest in providing nutritious school lunches. (10/5)

Federal nutrition standards for meals in schools have brought many positive changes to cafeterias, but Congress must address unintended consequences that weaken school meal programs and efforts to better serve students. Congress should protect caps on calories and unhealthy fats, reasonable salt and whole grain requirements, and mandates to offer a greater quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables. ... But some rules have backfired. (Jean Ronnei, 10/5)

Four years of nation-wide testing by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has now proven that the current shared savings payment models do not work effectively for low-cost Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). High-cost ACOs have more room to improve and therefore more opportunity for savings. For those organizations that have already developed efficient, low-cost care delivery systems, Shared Savings is retrogressive. ... we studied the issues and are proposing a global risk-adjusted payment system. (David Krueger and John Toussaint, 10/5)