# Argh. State law about contact lens prescriptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/argh-state-law-about-contact-lens-prescriptions/410894 "2007-07-07T20:42:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/argh-state-law-about-contact-lens-prescriptions/410894/1 "2007-07-07T20:42:36Z")
This is all in New Mexico. I’ve only dealt with eye issues in New Jersey before, so I have no idea if I’m getting jerked around or what. I’ve previously ordered contacts online, other than the very first initial fitting. I’ve never had a problem doing so; the doctor handed me a copy of prescription willingly. Today, the guy I saw said he couldn’t give me my prescription. According to him, the type of lenses I wear now are being “phased out for something better”, so he won’t write me a prescription for them (there is a minor, tiny change to the correction as well). He said that he needs to order them, I will need to go down to the office to pick them up, then go back _again_ for an ‘evaluation’ of how the new lenses are working. This is all “State law” by what I was told. They also decided that the exam and the lenses are ‘medically necessary\*’ and therefore the insurance company will pay in full. I’m imagining a nightmare scenario where the insurance company disagrees, and I get sent a bill for two more appointments plus the contacts themselves. So basically - I’m deeply skeptical that New Mexico doesn’t want me to get contacts my way; I think the doctor is screwing around. I have no idea how to find out, though: Would this be something in the state statutes or code I could read online? Is there likely to be some overseeing body that can at least verify whether that is the law or not? How do I find out? _This is plausible - I’m very nearsighted, have severe astigmatism, and one eye is very dominant over the other. Contacts correct my vision more than glasses can. I don’t know because the last time I saw an eye doctor and got new lenses, I was seventeen. Up until I was 18 everything was covered in full by insurance as “post-operative care.”_\* \*\*I had eye surgery when I was a few months old; it didn’t work and the problem recurred; I had more surgery when I was seven. Sometime in there my parents found I’d fallen into an insurance loophole and were quite content to let it be. It only changed because I stopped being classed as a “pediatric” patient. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/argh-state-law-about-contact-lens-prescriptions/410894/2 "2007-07-07T20:54:31Z")
I dunno about New Mexico, but [Federal law](http://www.eyetopics.com/articles/82/1/What-are-my-Contact-Lens-Prescription-Rights.html), at least, appears to disagree with your eye doctor: > [@](#): > > Having a copy of one’s own prescription has been called the patient’s ticket to lower prices, better service and increased convenience. The federal law requires eye doctors, at the conclusion of the fitting, to automatically provide each patient with a copy of his or her own contact lens prescription whether or not the patient asks for a copy. This gives contact lens wearers the same right to their prescription that eyeglass wearers have enjoyed since 1978. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/argh-state-law-about-contact-lens-prescriptions/410894/3 "2007-07-07T22:02:35Z")
What it sounds like you need to ask is whether he couldn’t give you the prescription at that last visit because it’s not official or whether he can’t/won’t (whichever, he has to when it’s official as per Q.E.D.'s info) at all. The way I’m reading it is that the doctor is concerned about the fit and correction of the new contacts and wants to make sure that things are as right as he can make them before he gives you an official prescription - as I might expect if I’d had serious vision problems as it sounds like you have. By doing the follow up exams, he can do that, then give you the prescription and then you can order them as usual, I’d think. Of course, IANAD or any kind of health/eye care professional.