Thank goodness for Gavin Newsom! Just vetoed a very expansive O.D. bill. The bill would have allowed Optometrists to perform lid surgeries—including chalazion removal— and virtually all anterior segment lasers, including PI’s and SLT’s.
The main things excluded would have been LASIK and all surgeries in the O.R. I feel that had this passed, LASIK of course would then become the next target.
Their argument was that few MD’s see Medicaid patients because the insurance pays so little. And something like 40% of California residents are on Medicaid (Medi-Cal). So their pitch to the legislature was that 40% of Californians have no access to proper eye care, so if this bill were passed they promised that OD’s will now help take care of some of the surgical needs of these patients. That pitch and millions of dollars obviously worked there.
The main things excluded would have been LASIK and all surgeries in the O.R. I feel that had this passed, LASIK of course would then become the next target.
Their argument was that few MD’s see Medicaid patients because the insurance pays so little. And something like 40% of California residents are on Medicaid (Medi-Cal). So their pitch to the legislature was that 40% of Californians have no access to proper eye care, so if this bill were passed they promised that OD’s will now help take care of some of the surgical needs of these patients. That pitch and millions of dollars obviously worked there.
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