Regardless, this appears to benefit my employer and/or me, at the cost of CareFirst.
CareFirst is originally benefiting at the expense of you and your employer. This is basically a regulation cutting down their profit margin.
I don't understand why when we decide to offer a service, we insist it be controlled by a private provider who has an inherent conflict of interest to overcharge. I look over every one of my monthly utility bills (particularly the cell-phone and internet) provided by for-profit companies after I've gotten these obscure charges for services I never used.
Of course the charges are reversed when I call to ask about them but I doubt even 25% of people charged these illegitimate fees even notice them to the point they are reversed. And that's ignoring the billions in dividends that are extracted from ratepayers. How are these things a net gain for the service?
It's a pretty moderate position to say that you shouldn't inject private profit into a utility or public service, especially when it comes at the expense of the users and yet you're considered some kind of radical communist to insist that utilities or basic health insurance be run by the government so the service is provided at the lowest possible cost.
