A More Perfect Vision

So, during my stay in Midland this past week, one of my objectives was to go to the optometrist and have my vision checked out, both to renew my contact prescription and have new contacts ordered, and to obtain a written prescription to take to Wal-Mart so I can update the lenses on my glasses. I needed to do this because, since I typically only wear my glasses in the evening, I only have their prescription updated every two, three, sometimes four years. Needless to say, by the end of a cycle, they give me pretty bad headaches if I wear them for an extended period of time.

Now, as to why I had to do it with Wal-Mart, well, that's because of our glorious insurance program. (The insurance program that the state of Texas recommends for teachers, no less - I can't wait to see what the federal government will do.) Under this program, they will only pay for me to update my prescription once a year, and, once a year, I can update either my glasses, or my contacts. If I do both, my family has to pay for one. 

I suppose I do see the reasoning behind that. You only really need one or the other. Having the second as an option/backup is just convenience. Reasonable, I suppose.

Anyway, we apply the insurance towards the visit and my contacts (which saves an enormous amount of money) and decide to take my prescription to the Wal-Mart Vision Center, or whatever its called. It's where we always used to take me for my lenses when I was a kid, because it was always affordable. 

Well, apparently, there has been a massive lens shortage in the past few years that I'm unaware of that has inflated the price of lenses to ridiculous extremes. Having a new pair of lenses put in my old frame is going to cost $175.00. 

Granted, part of it is my fault. I'm so blind, they can't make plastic lenses for my prescription anymore. I have to go with one of the composite materials. Obviously, pricier than regular old plastic.

However, what doesn't make sense to me is the reason for such a high cost. Unlike every other practicing doctor in the world, the people who make lenses at Wal-Mart sit in a lab all day working on glasses. Perhaps the industry is simply more insane than I think, but it strikes me that they shouldn't have to pay malpractice insurance, since the can't, in any way I can fathom, do any egregious harm grinding lenses. Since malpractice insurance is one of, if not the primary, reason healthcare is as cost prohibitive as it is, and since it is in this situation not applicable, I mentally searched for another reason.

Well, what about high index polycarbonates? While the quality of the polycarbonate in these glasses is very high, I'm sure, polycarbonates in and of themselves aren't that expensive. A short list of things made of polycarbonates:

• sunglass lenses
• eyeglass lenses
• DVDs
• blue rays
• CDs
• drinking bottles/glasses
• MP3 player cases (high impact resistance)

Obviously, its a ubiquitous material. What makes the manufacturing argument even weaker is the obvious economies of scale. It doesn't take much poking around the internet to find the somewhat dubious statistic that 126 million Americans wear eyeglasses. Could find any reliable citations, but I'll accept this figure for now.

Assuming that approximately 1/3 of the US population does wear glasses, and regular plastic lenses can only be used up to a certain prescription, it would make sense that polycarbonate lenses are a relatively high, in demand item. Also, considering how much of the process is actually automated, and that optician certification is one to two years depending on the state, its not like you're paying for a neurosurgeons 9+ years of schooling, plus residency forever and a day, etc.

All these facts considered, lack of real liability, relative low cost of materials, short amount of training in terms of labor, the effect of economies of scale, and the high amount of automation used any more, I still wonder where the cost comes from. 

Considering that eyeglasses were credited with being invented in 1284, I think we should have found some way to perfect the technology by now. Perhaps even make it more affordable. Nearly 800 years after the fact, you'd think we would have perfected the technology. 

If nothing else, I now understand why the Lion's Club has eyeglasses drives so often!