I think optometry is very slowly headed this way. In the finance group I’m part of I am constantly seeing posts of another OD planning to drop another insurance. It’s hard because there aren’t a lot of really big risk takers in this profession so gaining solidarity of “we refuse to accept this insurance until higher reimbursement negotiations are met” will likely never happen.

Part of the struggle is the older docs who got their entire 8years of college for $20k and then new grads like me paying $250k+ for the same degree. The older docs don’t need to stand up with us younger gens so they don’t. They made their money and just coast now.

The other part is huge corporations owning ALL of it. Luxottica is the reason your eyecare is so expensive. They own the frames, the optical, the lab that cuts your lenses, the products that’s the labs sell, and they own Eyemed (plus multiple others in that umbrella). Private equity and corporations are making optometrists look like fake, cheap docs but our scope of practice is huge. Places like Target optical, lens crafters, Americas best, etc just wants us to be refracting machines (spit out glasses/CL rx constantly) and we barely have time to even assess your health in those exams.

I have full books for weeks so it’s not a matter of scheduling. It’s a matter of if I work less I make less because that’s one less day every week that I’m seeing less patients. If I’m not seeing patients, I don’t make money

This is where it sucks for me. I’m an optometrist and I own my own practice. If I work less, then I see less patients and I do, indeed, make less. And I can’t just cram more patients into the day because then I can’t really spend time addressing my patients’ concerns. I’d become like all the other docs who people complain about who barely listen to them and get to spend 5 mins with each patient.

On top of all of this, vision plans have not increased reimbursement in 30+ years… so we have college tuition and CoL that has skyrocketed (I just graduated) and reimbursements are stagnant. So where’s the growth for me profession? Vision plans can be great for you, the patient, but they completely screw over the doc that accepts them in most instances. I’ve come across a lot of docs who simply don’t accept most insurances because they bottleneck our income.