Free Republic

One of the many holes in the “social contract” theory of government is that the power of the state is so often harnessed by interest groups to protect themselves against competition. Nobody ever agreed to that, but it happens all the time, inflicting losses on the consuming public. A recent instance of this is the aggressive lobbying campaign being waged by the American Optometric Association (AOA) against innovations that now make it possible for Americans to get accurate eye exams and lens prescriptions over the Internet. By using such innovations, millions of Americans who need vision correction could save substantial...

Nearly a year ago now, I took a look at an unsettling trend in medical practices in the age of Obamacare. As states struggle to keep up with restrictions and fiscal strains under the provisions of the new law, people were looking to both cut costs and make up for a decreasing number of doctors. One area which was being considered was lowering the bar for who could be licensed to perform certain practices. This was of particular concern in the area of eye care, where Kentucky was looking at expanding the role of optometrists (who are not medical doctors),...

An argument over eye exams is simmering between optometrists and contact lens sellers. And Internet shoppers and investors do not like what they see. In December, President Bush signed the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, which, among other things, required eye doctors to give prescription information to their patients. Many optometrists had previously refused to do this, to prevent their customers from fleeing to discount contact lens sellers, many of them online. By itself, the provision would have been a boon to discount contact lens sellers like Drugstore.com's Vision Direct and 1-800 Contacts, which lost huge numbers of customers...