Janet V. Hughes
Currently there is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate called the Vision Care for Kids Act. This federal legislation hopes to improve the vision care for America’s children. According to Section 2, Congress states these findings: “Millions of children in the United States suffer from vision problems, many of which go undetected.”
The Vision Care for Kids Act aims to provide grant money as follow-up care to states participating in vision screenings. According to the bill, children must be previously identified by vision screenings with a potential vision problem and must not have insurance or coverage under any federal or state programs.
While many children not receiving adequate eye care are from working poor families, lack of vision care is a serious problem affecting children in all economic levels. The Vision Care for Kids Act addresses only the children who fail a vision screening. Unfortunately, this bill does not address the true problem—the vision screening system and its substitution for eye examinations.
H.R. 507 declares in Section 2 that children have refractive errors, amblyopia, strabismus, and various medical eye problems. However, there is no mention of the vision problem affecting reading and school performance—binocular dysfunction and learning related vision problems. There is a need for education regarding the diagnosis and treatment of all vision problems yet according to the bill, no more than 20 percent received under the grant can be applied towards education.
Since vision screenings are limited, many children will continue to "fall through the cracks” and remain “left behind” due to vision screenings and the limits contained in this proposed bill.
The public needs to be informed what eye care professionals have known for years—that a vision screening is not a substitute for an eye examination by an eye doctor.
Parents should be encouraged to have their children undergo comprehensive eye and vision examinations, not vision screenings. Help should be made available for families in meeting an eye examination requirement and its associated eye care, not a vision screening’s follow-up.
The Vision Care for Kids Act will continue the problem. It does not address the solution.
For the complete text of H.R. 507 and S. 1117, click here...
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