Connecticut Bill Would Require All School Children to Receive Eye Exams from Optometrists

A bill (SB 534) that would require every Connecticut child entering school to receive a "full-fledged eye exam" by an optometrist has passed the General Assembly's education committee but still faces opposition from a "broad spectrum of doctors" who maintain that the bill is "unnecessary and could cost an already-strained health care system millions of dollars," the Hartford Courant reports. While the Courant reports that it is unclear how much the mandated eye exams would cost MCOs and Medicaid, the Connecticut Society of Eye Physicians estimates the cost to be about $11 million. Dr. David Krol of the Connecticut chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics noted that most children receive regular eye screenings through their pediatricians and schools, meaning that a third examination by an optometrist would be superfluous and would "probably uncover few additional problems," the Courant reports. He added, "The great majority of the time ... the child will have normal eyesight that was found to be normal by a pediatrician. Is that second or third examination better for the health of the child? I don't think so." But the state's optometrists maintain that an eye exam performed by a trained eye professional is "necessary" and can detect problems that might be missed during an exam by a pediatrician or school nurse. Brian Lynch of the Connecticut Association of Optometrists said, "We're saying more could be done to assess a child's visual health" (Julien, Hartford Courant, 4/11).