US Senate monitoring competition climate in contact-lens industry

The title of the hearing session in Washington was ‘Pricing Policies and Competition in the Contact Lens Industry: Is What You See What You Get?’
The hearing was presided over by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, chairman and ranking mber of the sub-committee, respectively.
Certain contact lens manufacturers have begun implenting ‘Unilateral Price Policies’ recently that require retailers to sell certain contact lenses at or above a set price. The hearing began examining whether those policies decrease competition and lead to higher prices for consumers by eliminating the ability of retailers to discount.
Witnesses at the hearing included: R. Joe Zeidner, general counsel, 1-800 CONTACTS, Inc.; Millicent Knight, OD, head of professional affairs, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, North America; David Cockrell, OD, president, American Optometric Association; and George Slover, senior policy counsel, Consumers Union.
After hearing testimony and asking questions about the current competitive climate among independent eyecare professionals, online retailers and optical chains in the contact lens business, Senator Klobuchar said the committee would “continue to actively monitor the situation” in the coming months.
In opening up the discussion, Senator Klobuchar said: “As I understand it, the markets for contact lenses is different than other markets. The retailer of the product is a kind of essential gatekeeper. Without his involvent or Rx, [this] might impact the sale of the products.
“Three manufacturers have announced pricing [plans] whereby there are minimum price agreents … in some instances, [such] agreents can be justified. But in most cases the most immediate results is an increase in price, as the consumer can no longer seek the product at a lower price.
“This is intended as an exploratory hearing. More than 35 million Americans use contact lenses. Tens of millions of consumers pay for contact lenses each year; price matters. Some consumers were lenses longer than they should. Price can [affect] this.”