This is a story about the power of who you know in Congress and Crony Capitalism at its worst. I’ve discussed contact lens issue before. It seems pretty simple to me. Millions of Americans wear contacts every day. Millions of Americans had previously been held captive by their eye doctor to only purchase lenses through them.
How did they do this? They controlled the supply by creating alliances with the manufacturers. Manufacturers agreed to sell only to the eye doctors at an inflated wholesale price and not directly to a consumer. Then the eye doctors controlled the distribution by controlling an individual’s prescription. For years, you couldn’t even have your prescription…it just stayed on file at your eye doctor’s office and you could only order your contacts from them. A perfectly trapped repeat customer as contacts rip and tear easily and are even designed to be disposable requiring you to constantly buy more. See the beauty in this system. It was a rigged game.