Update on NOA Legislative Bill SB134
The NOA's bill, SB134, was introduced in the senate recently and is now pending a senate commerce and labor committee hearing. The public can now leave comments in favor or against the bill. I would urge all of us to go to NELIS, the legislature's public website, and leave support in favor of this bill. If you have patients or friends invested in this process, please feel free to share it with them.
- Go to https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023
- In the top right corner, click login/register.
- Follow the prompts to create a new account or log in. You must confirm your account via an email link before it is active.
- Go to https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/9811/Opinions select "submit an opinion" at the bottom of the page, or search for SB134, and on the main page for the bill, select submit an opinion at the bottom of the page.
- On the opinion page, select support from the drop-down menu labeled your opinion.
- Fill out the personal information, name, address, etc.
- Under comments, leave your personal story of how lab choice or non-covered discounts have affected your patients or practice. Or you can leave the general message as follows: "Each year, thousands of Nevadans rely on local doctors of optometry for their comprehensive vision and eye healthcare needs. For many patients, a combination of health insurance and supplemental vision care plans provides healthcare coverage for these services. However, special legal treatment and a lack of competition among vision care plans have forced costly mandates on patients and their doctors, creating higher prices and less access to care for consumers. In contrast, doctors face the tough choice of providing needed care to neighbors or keeping their practices viable. Currently, the two largest vision plans cover roughly 2/3 of all patients. There is even less competition in some rural areas or places with only one major employer. Vision care plans use this market dominance to dictate what doctors must charge patients for services and materials, even those they don't provide coverage. Vision care plans also contractually or financially force doctors and patients to use specific laboratories (often owned by the plan's parent company) to produce finished prescription eyewear products. Dictating which labs doctors and patients must use often leads to an extended wait time for finished eyeglasses, even in emergencies, inferior finished products, and higher prices for patients; compared to a competitive marketplace where doctors are allowed to select the best value in quality, speed, and efficiency from a range of laboratories, and change them as desired to meet each patient's needs, the current market is harmful to patients and their pocketbooks, and doctors bear the brunt of trying to get the best we can from a shrinking market."
- If needed, fill out the captcha check box and hit submit at the bottom right corner of the web page.
Thank you for your continued support, and please reach out if you have any questions.
Dr. Jonathan Mather
NOA Legislative Chair