(Las Vegas, NV) – Citizen Outreach today joined fellow members of the Coalition for Contact Lens Consumer Choice in submitting a letter to members of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging them to finalize a long-delayed update to the Contact Lens Rule “as soon as possible.”
The update would be of significant benefit to some 41 million Americans who wear contact lenses and often find themselves a “captive audience” when attempting to purchase their contact lenses from someone other than the optometrist who issued their prescription.
“Too much power still resides with optometrists who can prescribe and sell contact lenses at the same time, without any meaningful choice by the patient,” the letter reads. “In the absence of a strong FTC rule, there is no incentive for a prescriber to ever willingly give a patient their prescription.”
Signers of the letter “support legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels that protect the ability of consumers to purchase contact lenses from the retailer of their choice – whether online, in stores or over the phone – and strongly support competition in the marketplace, because it helps both consumers and taxpayers.”
The Coalition represents retailers, contact lens wearers, eye care and medical professionals, and consumer and taxpayer groups such as Citizen Outreach. The Coalition includes members from both sides on the political aisle, as well as companies who compete against each other in the marketplace.
Click here to read the full letter.