STATEMENT FROM THE COALITION FOR CONTACT LENS CONSUMER CHOICE ON THE INTRODUCTION OF SENATOR BOOZMAN’S CONTACT LENS RULE MODERNIZATION ACT

The Coalition for Contact Lens Consumer Choice, a coalition of taxpayer and consumer groups, companies who compete in the contact lens marketplace and think tanks that weigh-in on policy proposals in the marketplace of ideas, is releasing the following statement regarding  the introduction of The Contact Lens Rule Modernization Act by Senator Boozman.

This bill from Senator Boozman, a licensed optometrist, is nothing more than a last-ditch effort by the optometric industry to undercut the rights of forty-five million contact lens consumers in order to increase their bottom line. If Congress passes this legislation, taxpayers and consumers will have fewer choices in the marketplace, resulting in higher prices for their contact lenses .

For the past five years, the FTC and their staff have been carefully working to update and modernize the Contact Lens Rule. This vital consumer protection provides choice, competition, and lower prices for the forty-five million contact lens consumers in this country.

On June 23, 2020, the FTC issued their final Contact Lens Rule which ensured that consumers would receive a copy of their contact lens prescription after their contact lens exam, a rule supported by all five FTC Commissioners and 27 State Attorneys General.

The optometric industry has been fighting to keep contact lens consumers in the dark about their rights ever since Congress passed the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act in 2004. This bill, introduced by the American Optometric Association’s biggest supporter in Congress, is nothing more than their latest attempt to stop a rule that protects millions of consumers and weaken the underlying law that has been in place since 2004.

The last thing we need in the middle of tough economic times, and a global pandemic, is to make contacts lenses more expensive and hard to access. That is exactly what will happen to people who wear contacts if Senator Boozman’s bill is allowed to pass.

America can’t afford to drive up prices for forty-five million contact lens consumers and reduce competition and choice for taxpayers. We strongly urge every member of Congress to oppose Senator Boozman’s bill.

You can read the statement in full here.