Contact lenses are already expensive, but Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) wants to drive up the cost to an even further degree. How? By creating a strangle hold in the online contact industry. This will send prices higher and further enrich the pockets of optometrists.
Before 2003, eye doctors held a virtual monopoly over the sale of contact lenses. That changed with the Republican-controlled Congress’ passage of The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (FCLCA). This legislation unleashed free market competition by requiring prescribers to provide patients with copies of their prescriptions, allowing them to shop for lenses online and at retail stores like Wal-Mart. As a result, online and retail sales now account for more than a third of the total U.S. market. This opening of the market has resulted in prices dropping to record lows, allowing more people to afford lenses than ever before.