Without question, the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act has lived up to its name.
By requiring eye doctors to give patients their prescriptions so they can shop elsewhere for contacts, the 2003 law made the industry far more competitive and prosperous and helped patients receive these products at significantly lower prices.
But there’s new legislation before Congress called the Contact Lens Consumer Health Protection Act that is significantly less likely to live up to its name.
A coalition of the big contact lens makers, the American Optometrists Association and others has convinced Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to introduce legislation members believe would restore those lost profits.
Specifically, the group, known as the Coalition for Patient Care Safety, wants changes in the rules that govern how prescriptions are verified.