US House committee calls for investigation of vision care consolidation
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House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer requested that the Federal Trade Commission hold a staff-level briefing to discuss the impact of vision care market consolidation on consumers.
According to a letter Comer sent to FTC chair Lina Kahn, Comer’s committee found that two companies control 85% of the market share of stand-alone vision insurance plans. In 42 states, only one company controls at least a plurality of the vision insurance plan market, and in 28 states, a single company controls more than 75% of the vision insurance plan market.
“Concerns over consolidation in the vision insurance market are not limited to stand-alone vision care plans,” Comer said in the letter. “One company, VSP Vision Care, provides vision insurance for 82 million Americans nationwide. This includes a reported 1.4 million covered lives in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program. Several vision insurers have also sought to vertically consolidate, creating their own brick-and-mortar retail stores providing favorable copays and pricing to steer consumers to their stores and away from their competitors. Additionally, many of these insurers own lens and frame manufacturers enabling them to mark up prices by as much as 1,000%.”
The American Optometric Association said on its website that in spite of historic advances in optometry, the increased market power of vision benefit managers has led to unfair and harmful marketplace practices, putting doctors of optometry in a challenging situation.
“Throughout this year, and especially during June’s AOA on Capitol Hill mega-conference, AOA doctors have been in close touch with U.S. senators and House members to build support for [Dental and Optometric Care] Access legislation and a crackdown on plan abuses,” Ronald L. Benner, OD, AOA president, said on the website. “We see increasing interest in the issues we’re raising and aim to continue to advocate for full accountability for plans and fair treatment for our patients and our profession.”
The DOC Access Act, which prohibits price fixing for noncovered services and materials and the limitation of patients’ and doctors’ choices of labs, has garnered bipartisan support and has strong backing from the AOA, the American Dental Association, Patients Rising and more than two dozen patient and consumer advocacy groups, according to the AOA.
Comer’s request gives the FTC a deadline of Aug. 15 to schedule a briefing with committee staff, continuing the ongoing crackdown to seek fairness in federally regulated vision and dental plans, which would affect nearly one-third of Americans.
References:
- U.S. House investigative committee calls for scrutiny of vision plans. https://www.aoa.org/news/advocacy/federal-advocacy/us-house-investigative-committee-calls-for-scrutiny-of-vision-plans?sso=y. Published Aug. 10, 2023. Accessed Aug. 10, 2023.
- https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Letter-to-FTC-Khan-on-Consolidation-of-Vision-Care-Plans.pdf. Published Aug. 8, 2023. Accessed Aug. 10, 2023.
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