Feb. 14, 2024 — The American Optometric Association (AOA) has released a statement regarding a congressional inquiry into reports from optometrists, dentists, and patient advocates detailing alleged abusive tactics used by specialty vision and dental insurance plans.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailed concerns about tactics of vision and dental plans to Congress’s investigative arm on Jan. 30. At the direction of Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Brett Guthrie, the GAO will evaluate and report back to Congress on “how vision and dental benefit manager consolidation, market concentration, and acquisitions of small and other independent health care practices may impact consumers—including through the prices paid by consumers and health care providers.”
Reps. Rodgers and Guthrie chair a U.S. House committee and subcommittee, respectively, with direct jurisdiction over health coverage issues. At a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing on Jan. 31, Rep. Rodgers shared concerns about health care costs for Americans, citing insurance premiums, tax dollars, and the effect of employers’ health care expenses on their workers’ wages.
“One such example is with vision insurance, an area that has seen significant consolidation and vertical integration for over a decade,” Rep. Rodgers says. “This has led to the same companies controlling the production of frames and lenses, owning and operating nearly all the laboratories, employing the doctors, and owning the independent practices. The result is less transparency and higher cost of treatment.”
According to AOA president Ronald L. Benner, this increased support in both the House and Senate is due to the organization’s efforts in advocating against policies designed to work against doctors and patients.
The Dental and Optometric Care (DOC) Access Act, H.R. 1385/S. 1424, is designed to complement state-level vision and dental plans laws by prohibiting plans from limiting patients’ and doctors’ choice of labs and price fixing for noncovered services and materials, according to the AOA. The DOC Access Act is backed by both the AOA and the American Dental Association in addition to more than two dozen patient and consumer advocacy groups Patients Rising, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, and the Southern Christian Leadership Global Policy Initiative, AOA shares. Learn more about the efforts by the AOA and its affiliates here.
The AOA’s annual advocacy event, AOA on Capitol Hill, is set for April 14-16 in Washington, D.C. Registration closes on Friday, March 15.