Lame Duck Congress Is After Your Contact Lenses

American Thinker ^ | December 14, 2016 | Drew Armstrong

[Kaslin]

As our country gears up for the inauguration of President-Elect Trump, there is a renewed sense of optimism that the executive branch will work with Congress to "drain the swamp" by eliminating the cronyism that has plagued previous administrations.

In the meantime, it is all too easy to dismiss the current lame-duck congressional members as just a bunch of placeholders waiting to leave office. In reality, this transitional period presents a unique temptation for Congress to push through legislation while no one is looking that rewards special interest groups in big ways.

One of the main temptations this year is to reward the billion-dollar medical lobby for campaign contributions by passing the protectionist Contact Lens Consumer Health Protection Act (CLCHPA) before Christmas, allowing the American Optometric Association (AOA) and its cohorts at Johnson & Johnson to return to its pre-2004 monopoly.

History of the Contact Lens Monopoly

For many years, contact lens wearers were held captive by this contact lens cartel. Doctors refused to provide copies of prescriptions, giving patients no other recourse but to fill their contact lens orders at the optometrist's office at inflated retail prices. It was a textbook example of cronyism – doctors and their favored lens manufacturers won at the expense of everyone else.

[FatherofFive]

Let them freeze in the dark.

[jurroppi1]

From the article:
“The problem has become so widespread that the FTC has introduced a new proposal, which will amend the 2004 contact lens law by requiring optometrists to have their patients sign a form verifying that they have been given a written copy of their prescription. The FTC’s proposal is a major step in right direction to prevent the price-gouging that has been occurring in optometrists’ offices all around the country.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/12/lame_duck_congress_is_after_your_contact_lenses.html#ixzz4SouSwG4M
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What I don’t understand is why they don’t propose making the optometrist sign a document stating that they gave a copy of the prescription to the patient that the patient also signs to acknowledge receipt of said scrip.

So may times doctors tell people they need to sign something with some lame explanation that doesn’t mean anything as to why they need to sign. It needs to be obvious what is being signed and the doc needs to be held accountable for doing what is right and proper here.

[BuffaloJack]

This would be the same American Optometric Association (AOA) who fought drugstore reading glasses for years, until they lost their monopoly in the courts and you buy a set of reading glasses for $20.

Another of these health monopolies was the one for hearing aids. These crooks would charge you $1500+ per ear for a hearing aid. They too lost in court about 8 or 9 years back and now you can get a hearing amplifier online for about $75. The court said it’s a hearing aid if you get it by prescription and it’s a hearing amplifier if you don’t involve an audiologist. My buddy paid $1700 for a hearing aids last summer. I copied the make and model number from his and bought the same device for $69.

[KeyLargo]

Just a Few of Over 3,700 Politically Appointed Jobs

Aside from Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court justices, whose nominations require the approval of the Senate, the President of the United States currently has the authority to unilaterally appoint over 300 people to high-level positions within the federal government.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), most of these positions, known as "Presidential Appointments," pay from $99,628 to about $180,000 per year and include federal employee benefits.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/Presidential-Appointments-No-Senate-Required.htm

[albie]

My Mother paid $1700 for her hearing aid about 8 years ago and just lost it. I bought her an “as seen on TV” hearing aid for $25.00 and she can’t tell the difference. It also comes with a charger for the batteries. The $1700 one had “special batteries” for some horrifying amount of $.

[AuH2ORepublican]

I thought that the Senate went home already (except for one or two guys opening and closing sessions so that Obama can’t make recess appointments), so no new bills could be passed before the new Congress convenes.

[BuffaloJack]

> My Mother paid $1700 for her hearing aid about 8 years ago and just lost it. I bought her an “as seen on TV” hearing aid for $25.00 and she can’t tell the difference. It also comes with a charger for the batteries. The $1700 one had “special batteries” for some horrifying amount of $.

I bought my $69 device this past summer. The $0.25 batteries last 2 weeks (12 hr/day use.) I didn’t lose mine, but I stepped into the shower wearing it. It stopped working instantly and I was bummed. I bought a replacement for $69 from Amazon (same model, etc.) and it works fine. The wet one started working again after drying for 2 weeks, so now I have a backup.

[HapaxLegamenon]

Just called my Congressman. They said the Lame Duck Session is over.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The court said it’s a hearing aid if you get it by prescription and it’s a hearing amplifier if you don’t involve an audiologist. My buddy paid $1700 for a hearing aids last summer. I copied the make and model number from his and bought the same device for $69."

That's just fine, as long as your hearing loss is even across the sound frequency spectrum. If you have a "notch", or low or high end loss, and the aid is digital, the aid needs to be programmed to match the gain curve of the aid to your specific loss curve. Which requires an audiogram, and specialized software and hardware to do the programming.

If the above is the case, then your best shot is Costco. Their techs can do the audiogram and aid adjustments.

(proudly wearing hearing aids since the 1980's).

[Wonder Warthog]

"The wet one started working again after drying for 2 weeks, so now I have a backup."

To speed the process, take a small jar, fill half-full of uncooked rice, put the aid in the jar, and fill the rest of the space with more rice and screw on the cap. Rice is an EXCELLENT dessicant.

Also works with smartphones, just need a bigger jar and more rice.

[BuffaloJack]

> If you have a “notch”, or low or high end loss, and the aid is digital, the aid needs to be programmed to match the gain curve of the aid to your specific loss curve.

Or you spend $200 for a device with 20+ band settings and just walk through the different filters until you find the one or two you like.

[Starboard]

Lame Duck Congress

**************

They’re just lame, period. A bunch of feckless, effete talkers.

Obama went around congress. Trump will go OVER congress to get things done.

[Starboard]

The next Lame Duck Session will begin in January 2017.

[SanchoP]

I buy my contacts from a British company. It takes longer to receive them due to horrible customs/postal problems in Chicago.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Or you spend $200 for a device with 20+ band settings and just walk through the different filters until you find the one or two you like."

Information??

[Sgt_Schultze]

Plenty of veterinarians do a similar thing. They refuse to email or fax prescriptions to online retailers, requiring pet owners to obtain a written scrip and then mail it to the out of state company. Of course, the pet owner can have their prescription filled at the vet for 500% more than the online price.

[Wonder Warthog]

"They refuse to email or fax prescriptions to online retailers, requiring pet owners to obtain a written scrip and then mail it to the out of state company."

At which point, the customer pays his remaining bill, and leaves, telling said vet you will call him with the new address to which the animals records should be sent.

[GailA]

My othomologist hands me a script and I get my glasses where I want to, same when I was wearing contacts. Now I need tri-focals, I’ve had to go back to glasses.

Big question is cataract implant lenses, do they come under this monopoly? Sherman Act was used to break up monopolies once before use it again.

[Kaslin]

Cataract implant lenses are done through surgery. I had my cataract surgery done for both of my eyes one month apart done at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) at Fort Campbell KY by my ophthalmologist