Vision - Rebate Cuts Are A Setback To Our Health
THE SUNDAY AGE
Saturday August 28, 1993
from Michelle Guthrie OUR Government is cutting Medicare rebates for eye examinations by optometrists. This is another setback to our health and another big chunk out of the Medicare system. If the cut goes ahead, from 1 November this year, the average person will be discouraged from having their eyes regularly examined, and this is the risk _ not only to vision but to general health and the health of our eyes.
Unfortunately the public is uninformed about eye health and the importance of regular eye examinations. Most of us have our eyes tested only when we think we have a vision problem.
But an ordinary eye test by an optometrist can show many other diseases which might otherwise have gone undetected. By the time most people know they have an eye problem (ie, glaucoma, cataracts, etc) it's often too late to do anything about it. Regular eye examinations, however, ensure early diagnosis, monitoring and treatment.
General practitioners do not examine our eyes, because they do not have the equipment to do so. Our only opportunity to have our eyes examined without a referral is to see an optometrist.
Following the announced Medicare cut, optometrists are up in arms, organising petitions and lobbying the Government. I hope something comes of it, but I think it's too late. Efforts would be better spent now, building up a better public understanding and awareness of the importance of eye health and eye examinations by optometrists.
If we already had this understanding, this Medicare benefit may not have been taken from us.
Michelle Guthrie, Collingwood
© 1993 THE SUNDAY AGE
