Murphy And Cramer Introduce Legislation To Improve Vision Care Quality, Protect Consumer Choice

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) introduced the Vision Lab Choice Act of 2024, legislation to allow clinicians to use the medical labs of their choosing and lower costs for both patients and doctors. There are currently just two Vision Benefit Managers (VBMs) that dominate the vision insurance market, providing coverage to two-thirds of Americans with vision benefits. These VBMs often own the frame and lens manufacturers and control which labs an optometrist can use - a dynamic that has resulted in less autonomy for providers and more limited choices for their patients. The Vision Lab Choice Act of 2024 would amend Title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to allow optometrists to choose the best labs and suppliers for their practice, ensuring patients receive high-quality, personalized vision care.

"Right now, VBMs control practically every part of the vision industry - the insurance plans, the manufacturers for frames and lenses, the vision labs - and they use that power to eliminate choice and drive up costs for doctors and patients," said Murphy. "This bill would solve a small piece of that problem by making sure optometrists aren't forced to use a VBMs preferred vision lab. Instead, they'll have the freedom to choose labs that lower costs and cut wait times for patients."

"Vision Benefit Managers are often a hurdle to optometrists and eye care specialists providing the best care to their patients," said Cramer. "Expanding consumer choice benefits patients when service is improved. I joined Senator Murphy in introducing the bipartisan Vision Lab Choice Act of 2024, so doctors will have more autonomy over which labs they work with and where they source their materials."

Specifically, the Vision Lab Choice Act of 2024 would:

• Limit contracts between vision care providers (e.g., optometrists) and insurers for limited-scope vision benefits to two-year terms; and
• Prohibit health plans from restricting or limiting doctors' choice of laboratories and sources or suppliers of vision materials provided to patients

The bill is endorsed by the American Optometric Association, National Consumers League, Patients Rising, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Global Policy Initiative.

Full text of the bill is available HERE.

###