Newt Gingrich: Don't let lobbyists kill telemedicine - KARE

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Newt Gingrich: Don't let lobbyists kill telemedicine
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Now, at the behest of the optometrist lobby, lawmakers want to block this future. The recent passage of such laws, with a minimum public discussion and a maximum of self-interested lobbying from the optometrists, is a blow for the goal of less ...

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[Jeff Kiener]

Up yours, Newt.

 

[Richard Frankel]

This from Mr Infidelity. Was your last wife from the net?

 

[Marc Provencher]

Technology has progressed to where online refractions are now possible.

The public/politicians want the refraction "decoupled" from the comprehensive eye exam.

Optometry will not win this battle. Onlines refractions will become a reality. We need to educate the patient about the importance of periodic ocular health checks.

 

[Michael Ford]

My biggest problem is his saying that Optometrists are trying to confuse the public, when it is the online companies saying they are offering eye exams, not refractions. Complete nonsense. Funny, he also wants to decouple the eye exam from refraction for the online companies, but not for the Optometrists. Great, holding one set of providers to a greater standard then the Doctors behind the online companies.

 

[Greg Gemoules]

Here we go again. We are always on the losing side. We are the profession that can't shoot straight. Why is that?

 

[Mike Ware OD]

Technology has progressed to where online refractions are now possible.

The public/politicians want the refraction "decoupled" from the comprehensive eye exam.

Optometry will not win this battle. Onlines refractions will become a reality. We need to educate the patient about the importance of periodic ocular health checks.

If online retractions become a reality then maybe optometry schools just stop teaching optics and focus solely on disease and cut it down to a three year program.

If we are going to let them cheapen four years of education just so people can refract themselves on a computer then we have totally lost all reason to even have an optical or perform retractions.

 

[Mike Alvarez]

Don't let lobbyists raise healthcare costs? Optometry is probably the cheapest form of healthcare there is. A "vision plan" is generally a throw away add on to most health insurance because it's so cheap.

Why do these idiot politicians keep going after the wrong targets? You want to save money? Look into hospitals, insurance companies, and drug companies.

You want free refractions? It's already available at places like America's Best or Stanton Optical AND it includes at least a cursory examination of the ocular health!

Furthermore, even just considering the refraction itself, no online refraction is going to come close to the judgement and experience of an actual Doctor.

Fuckin' Newt Gingrich is trying to turn me into a Democrat.

 

[Greg Gemoules]

There might be a slim chance that Gingrich is a lobbyist for either (a) Opernative, or (b) the telemedicine players.

 

[Mike Alvarez]

If online retractions become a reality then maybe optometry schools just stop teaching optics and focus solely on disease and cut it down to a three year program.

If online refractions become a reality we are going to need our optics training more than ever to deal with all the screw ups from the online refractions.

All those -1.00 young myopes will be refracted online and we'll be dealing with weird stuff all day every day. Double vision, eye strain with the new Rx, anisometropia, etc.

No more giving away refraction then. Up that refraction fee to $75 or $100 and if anyone bitches about it, tell them to go on-line.

Also, how long before someone goes blind from glaucoma, or RD or dies of an aneurysm and sues the online companies?

The AOA could even start a campaign with testimonials from patients who've had their vision / life saved when all they wanted was new glasses.

 

[Vincent Parsons]

I'm starting to feel like a taxi driver.

 

[Larry Greidinger]

Why do these idiot politicians keep going after the wrong targets? You want to save money? Look into hospitals, insurance companies, and drug companies.

Simple...who gives them more money...hospitals, insurance companies, and drug companies, or
Optometrists?

And Lux, VSP...probably backing the others....decoupling the refraction from the exam gives any vertically integrated optical company an orgasm....Free refraction with purchase of glasses.......

 

[Lisa Heuer]

Here's my favorite part of the article:

"The next time you worry about the high cost of healthcare, consider how many different groups and organizations have lobbyists working to kill competition and stop the technological progress that could help bring costs down."

He's either stupid or delusional if he thinks optometrists are a driving force behind rising costs of healthcare.