Crony Capitalism: Eye Lobby is Fighting to Get Ocular Telemedicine Banned

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By: Elias James Atienza

Recently, the Federal Trade Commission started off a massive lobby battle when they proposed changing rules to ease restrictions on individuals buying contacts over the internet. The FTC, according to The Hill, is trying to “level the playing field” for the estimated 41 million people who wear eye contacts.

Cellphone apps like Opternative and GlassesOn allow people to take “eye appointments” with their phones and has allowed people to go to the eye doctor every two years instead of every time they need a contact lenses refill. It’s amazing because it means that people who have eye problems and cannot afford to go the ophthalmologists or optometrist can at least know what they need for contacts without taking time off of work, or wasting time in an optometrist’s office. Plus it allows people to have more free time. It also expands choice because people can now shop online for contacts with the new FTC rules being implemented.

This new technology’s impact on heath still needs to be fully evaluated since it’s well…new. But these concerns over safety, which in some cases might be genuine, are often overblown and misstated. When Virginia was considering a bill to ban online eye exams, Virginia’s licensed ophthalmologists said there was no evidence that that anybody had been injured by ocular telemedicine and that people don’t need yearly eye exams.

However, several states such as Minnesota and New Mexico have introduced bills that would restrict people from using apps and online eye exams. One of the representatives who introduced the bills is an optometrist and whose business would be threatened by these apps. It’s similar to what happened to Uber and Lyft, regulations meant to protect the eye lobby.

It doesn’t help that 40 percent of eye contacts are manufactured by Johnson and Johnson and their lobbyists are leading the push for restrictions on these new technologies. It stinks of crony capitalism, with corporate groups trying to influence politicians to vote in their interests instead of the interest of the people. Government regulations are often meant not to protect the common citizen, but to ensure that monopolies by companies are maintained. Competition meant to give consumers more choice is pushed out, is sent to wither and die because their competition is protected by big government.

As someone who wears contacts and glasses, I know how expensive they are. Luckily for me, I’m able to get them reasonably well without much of a hassle. But others, such as the poor, and downtrodden often cannot afford to go to an eye doctor every time they need a contact lenses refilled. Something this new technological edge will allow them to have better access to. Corporatism is a sad thing, and the eye lobby is right in the middle of it.

It’s time to allow Americans more access to these new technologies instead of being punished by the optometrists and the eye lobby. It’s time to advance into the 21st century. As The Washington Examiner’s Bruce Fein writes,”Optometrists should be ashamed of their Luddite ancestry. If their thinking had prevailed in the transportation industry, their patients would still be arriving in a horse and buggy.”

 

EDITOR’s NOTE: The views expressed are those of the author, they are not representative of The Libertarian Republic or its sponsors.

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