Starr, Paul. “Fighting the Wrong Health Care BAttle.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 November 2009. Web. 22 November 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/opinion/29starr.html
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Public opinion is a very large factor in the decisions and requirements of the health care proposal. This article is based upon the opinion of Paul Starr, a very conservative politician who is completely against the health care plan. He believes that the total focus of the health care policy should not be what the government will reap from the changes or how doctors will react to the change of policy, rather that the people of America's opinion and view of the bill is what really matters. Starr argues that the entire health care bill has been, "dominated by ideological politics"; what he is saying that truly matters is the opinion that if the pending health care bill were to be put into action, that conservatives claim it would, "amount to a government takeover." Starr thinks that that the entire plan is ludicrous, stating that according to the Congressional Budget Office that, "it would enroll less than 2 percent of the population and probably have higher premiums than private plans." He also speaks about how if the health care bill is passed, those with the public opinion of the bill making them lose money and force them into a physician's care that they would normally not approve of, that they will be charged incredibly high rates for insurance and make large businesses with large-employer plans very vulnerable and create a so called, "risk pool" for everybody. Starr also comments though on how state public opinion is very important. He believes that every state should be able to decide the severity of the plan's effect on their inner government. One thing that Starr finds undestestable though is how the government wants to wait until 2014 to being opening exchanges and extending coverage. Financial incentives would be given to states who enstated the bill as early as 2011 and Starr found this infuriating. This article coincides with my research question by addressing a very serious role in the decision of the health care bill which is: public option. According to many Americans already insured, they do not want a change in health care and from a Conservative point of view, if the government began to listen more to public option, Starr's opinions on how important the people's voice is would lead them to a much different approach to the bill. The government would understand that to those that are insured and opposed to the bill would be depleated of their normal health care and be forced to switch to an insurance company that they do not even get to choose, but will still have to pay for.
