I think one reason why so much regrettable legislation gets passed is that a lot of legislation is just plain complicated. Read some of the bills I've linked to for this session, or just go to either the House or Senate homepages and look a few bills up to see what I mean. The fact that a lot of what the Lege does is (as we've discussed) too arcane and/or complicated for mass-market audiences doesn't help, either.

So if it seems like I've been on a Bad Bills rampage lately, it's partly because there's a lot of material to work with, and partly because in my small way I hope to shed a bit of light on some dusty corners of the sausagemaking process. With that in mind, I'd like to direct you to this post by Hope about STAR+PLUS, a pilot program in Houston that integrates acute and long-term care services for aged and disabled Medicaid recipients using a managed care model. Hope worked on the legislation that created STAR+PLUS as a legislative aide awhile back, and she's got a lot of good reasons why you should think of this program as highly as she does.

Unfortunately, Rep. Dianne Delisi has filed HB1771, which would effectively kill STAR+PLUS. It's pending in committee now, so that makes this an excellent time to call your Rep or Senator and express your support for STAR+PLUS. Hope's got a list of the Committee members and a suggestion for how to express your support. Please take a moment and check it out.