Lawmakers open investigation on vision, dental plan abuses
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U.S. Reps Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Brett Guthrie have launched an inquiry into abusive marketplace tactics of vision and dental plans, according to the American Optometric Association.
In a Jan. 30 letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Rodgers and Guthrie requested an analysis of the effects of consolidation and vertical integration on consumers and independent health care practices, specifically in the vison and dental benefits market. This inquiry expands on an earlier vision benefit manager probe initiated in August by U.S. Rep. James Comer, the release stated.
At a Jan. 31 House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, Rodgers further addressed concerns about skyrocketing health care costs, specifically citing vision plans.
“One such example is with vision insurance, an area that has seen significant consolidation and vertical integration for over the past decade,” Rodgers, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, said in her opening remarks. “This has led to the same companies controlling the production of frames and lenses, owning and operating nearly all the laboratories, employing the doctors and owning the independent practices. The result is less transparency and higher cost for treatment.”
The task now falls to the GAO to fully evaluate and report back to Congress “the extent to which providers of vision and dental benefits are vertically integrated with payers, whether these arrangements create an opportunity to evade existing laws and regulations, and whether there is sufficient enforcement authority and capacity to address concerns.”
In the release, AOA President Ronald L. Benner, OD, emphasized the association’s commitment to policy change and advocacy in its “push to educate and inform lawmakers about plan-imposed barriers and the bipartisan solutions we want to see enacted.”
“Our AOA is ensuring that doctors of optometry from across the country are being heard loud and clear on Capitol Hill,” Benner told Healio. “Together with our affiliates and allies, including Patients Rising, the National Consumers League and the American Dental Association, we’ll continue to expose vision plan benefits managers and abusive plan policies as we build further support for the bipartisan Dental and Optometric Care Access Act and other corrective legislation.”
Editor’s Note: This article was updated Feb. 23, 2024, to add comments from the AOA president.
Reference:
- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers addresses vision plans during opening statement of House Committee on Energy & Commerce hearing. https://vimeo.com/908310793/b57a928342?share=copy. Published Jan. 31, 2024. Accessed Feb. 12, 2024.
- Letter to Hon. Gene Dorado on GAO Vision Study. https://www.aoa.org/AOA/Documents/Advocacy/Letters/Letter%20to%20Hon.%20Gene%20Dorado%20on%20GAO%20Vision%20Study_01.30.2024.pdf. Published Jan. 30, 2024. Accessed Feb. 12, 2024.
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