State Legislature Considers Bill That Would Reduce Cost Of Vision Plans For Oklahomans

The state legislature is considering House Bill 1979, which supporters say would reduce the cost of vision plans for Oklahomans.

The bill, called the Fairness and Vision Care Act, has passed the House and will next be considered by the Senate.

Dr. Kyle Tate and The Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians are working together to try and get the bill signed into law. They are working with the insurance commissioner to make changes to the bill as it works its way through the legislature. 

Dr. Tate says some current plans don’t allow his patients to pick eye frames or lenses that are best for them. 

“Doctors every day have to listen to patients. Imagine you come see me with a problem and what’s best for you, you have to pay completely out of pocket for when you’ve been paying for this plan all along because they may cover things you don’t need. So to get a general coverage or to get freedom of coverage makes patients benefit,” Dr. Kyle Tate, Insight Eyecare Owner, said.

Tate says many of Oklahoma’s surrounding states have laws in place to regulate vision plans, which lowers costs for patients and gives them more choices. He says in Texas plans on average were a $1.30 less than what Oklahomans paid in January. 

“It’ll cost people less to buy the plans as well as it makes more fairer competition which brings prices down. So there is actually a private study called the Avalon study that looked at states without the total cost of eye care . They found states with these rules and laws in place actually had cheaper eye care,”Dr. Kyle Tate, Insight Eyecare Owner, said.

The National Association of Vision Care plans says they don’t support the proposed legislation. 

"If HB 1979 passes, it will interfere with vision care plans ability to negotiate on behalf of consumers, resulting in higher out-of-pocket costs for Oklahomans most in need of quality vision care,” Executive Director, Julian Robert said.

Dr. Tate says even if House Bill 1979 passes, he and the Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians will be monitoring the effects and will go back to legislators if changes are needed. 

Dr. Tate shared that the federal government has been trying to reduce costs for patients' vision plans for years. Since the process is taking so long, states have started to make changes at a local level.