Why the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (FCLCA) exists.

The American Optometric Association has a long, well-documented history of anti-consumer behavior.

This anti-consumer behavior was the primary reason attorneys general from 32 states filed an antitrust lawsuit (MDL 1030) in the late 1990's against the American Optometric Association (AOA), several contact lens manufacturers, and numerous optometrists. The attorneys general antitrust lawsuit litigated the following issues which were rampant in the contact lens industry:

• The AOA colluded with contact lens manufacturers and agreed to block prescription release to patients, thus holding a patient's prescription hostage and forcing patients to purchase from their optometrist.

• The AOA and individual optometrists colluded with contact lens manufacturers who agreed not to sell lenses to "alternative" channels of distribution so long as these optometrists continued to prescribe the manufacturers' brands.

Adjusted for inflation, the attorneys general estimated the financial harm to consumers from this collusive conduct was over half a billion dollars.

The parties agreed to settle this lawsuit in 2001. The AOA and contact lens manufacturers were fined over $100M and the AOA was prohibited from making unsubstantiated health claims regarding purchasing contact lenses online for a period of four years.

In a 2002 hearing before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, 1-800 Contacts demonstrated that in Texas more than 40,000 of their orders were deleted in 2001, not because the prescriptions were invalid, but simply because many optometrists refused to respond to verification requests for a patient's prescription. More than 4,300 handwritten consumer complaints were filed with the Texas State Optometry board, yet nothing changed.

In 2004 the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act (FCLCA) was enacted by Congress to establish a fair marketplace for consumers, including requiring optometrists to automatically release prescriptions to patients. Despite this, many optometrists still didn't release prescriptions to their patients. In response, the FTC, by approving the final Contact Lens Rule in October of 2020, required prescribers to gather a patient's signature to verify he or she received their prescription. With this action, the FTC has acknowledged that this is the only way to enforce the FCLCA.

Based on their history it shouldn't surprise anyone that the AOA, backed by manufacturers, are (yet again) trying to stifle competition, refusing to adhere to the law, and attempting to force their patients to buy the very products they prescribe by withholding prescriptions. And they're still using scare tactics and misleading information to do so.