The House and Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittees are currently on opposite sides of a consumer rights battle that may have long-term implications for low-income Americans' health-care choices. Lobbyists sometimes make it difficult for our representatives to see clearly. But in this case, a false narrative is blurring working-class Americans' vision — literally.
A recent Consumer Action survey found that nearly 30 percent of Americans are not receiving their eye prescriptions, even though it is required by a 2003 consumer protection law, which passed with near congressional unanimity. As a result, many Americans are forced into purchasing more expensive contact lenses from specialists', rather than from discount stores such as Walmart or Costco. These inflated price tags have likely caused some Americans — 46 percent of whom cannot afford the $400 expense — to forego buying contact lenses altogether.
