Committee hears competing views on bill to allow online prescription renewals for contacts and glasses

The House Health Policy Committee heard extensive pro and con testimony Tuesday on House Bill 45 58, a measure to allow online vision screenings and telemedicine renewals of existing eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions if the patient had an in-person visit within the previous two years.

Representative VanderWaal, the bill sponsor, said the legislation would let patients ‘‘renew their prescription, provided that they have received a valid prescription from an in person visit within the last 2 years’’ and that online renewals ‘‘maintain patient safety’’ while increasing convenience and lowering cost.

Supporters included David Gunther of the Mackinac Center, who said the law would expand consumer choice and reach patients in communities that lack local eye care; Jack Baum of Americans for Tax Reform, who described competition and choice benefits; and representatives of marketplace providers…