Patients caught between optometrists and province

Re Optometrists’ tunnel vision victimizes patients, Oct. 9

I am 91 years old and have macular degeneration developing. I have been told that it was essential I get regular checkups so made my appointment for early October.

It has been cancelled. I am terrified of going blind. I am already quite deaf and rely on books and jigsaws and walking to pass the time.

I offered to pay for my appointment, as my sight is important to me, and I was told that is impossible because such appointment are “government insured” and Ontario does not allow extra billing, by health professionals.

This is insane; people in between the very young and senior groups, are not covered by OHIP and can still get their eyes tested.

Would the Ontario Association of Optometrists or the provincial government, itself, please do something to ease this situation before I lose my sight?

Barbara Harrison, Toronto

Re Optometrists’ tunnel vision victimizes patients, Oct. 9 Nowhere in this dispute have I seen mentioned that today’s exam and a corrective prescription typically takes the optometrist very little time, compared to when the fee schedule was last tied to work done.

Today, you see a tech who tests for glaucoma using a machine that blows air. This used to be a manual procedure by the doctor.

Another machine and tech determines your eye prescription in seconds. Again, this used to be a 10-20-minute task performed by the doctor largely through trial and error.

Now, the doctor just fine-tunes the machine-provided script. About a two-minute job.

Yes, salaries for techs must be paid and highpriced equipment bought, but these expenses are always done on the basis of a return on investment. Optometrists must pay benefits based on the revenue before the investment is made. So, the optometrist processes many more patients per hour today than before.

Figures need to be provided covering this issue before the optometrists’ case for just how big a fee increase is justified.

Ron Young, Toronto