I just got home about 45 minutes ago and my vision is still more blurry than normal.  I have been for years using an eye doctor at a place we will call company A.   A small eye firm with two shops, great people, good doctor, and a wide selection of frames.   Plus the glasses were a great price, far less expensive than the big companies.   After your exam if you needed glasses you picked out two frames, they only charged you for one of the frames.  Then you selected your lenses.  One with all the features would be put in the frames you selected, the other frames would have just plain prescription lenses so you had an emergency back up pair.    The two pairs of glasses often were half the price of one pair of the big local chains.  

In November, Ron went to the big local chain eye doctors he has seen before because they treat his eye disease, which our small eye doctor did not, and they pushed him hard to get cataract surgery.  Both of us have cataracts so we thought his had gotten worse than mine, even though his developed much later than mine.  When he checked out, his visit was no charge because he had medicare.  So we made an appointment for me, thinking it also would be no charge.  But he needed a follow-up visit for a different test, scheduled a few weeks ago and they hammered him with charges.  Cost us $188 dollars with his medicare paying also.  

But being hopeful that my eye appointment would be covered under Medicare, we kept my appointment, which was this morning.   I wish I had not.  *** edit They charged me nearly $100 for my eye exam ***  So they did some test on me they didn’t do for Ron, but every test they did for me was tests my other eye doctor did, but they did tests for Ron they did not do for me.  But even before they gave me an eye exam they asked if I had watched the video they sent to me as a text.  I said I did not.   Turns out it was a video on cataract surgery choices.  In the check in stuff, they gave us extra forms to fill out again before even examining me about if I were to have cataract surgery what choices I would want.   At this point, they had not examined me to see if I had cataracts.   Remember they had pushed Ron hard to have the surgery.

So when the tech finished, and unlike the other eye doctor I had the tech did all the tests for my eyesight portion where my first eye doctor did the tests themselves, she gave me a video to watch on different choices for cataract surgery.  When the doctor came in, the first thing she asked was about the video, then launched into talking about the cataract surgery and how she wanted me to plan it for next year.   She had not even looked into my eyes yet.  She felt the left was bad and growing bad much faster than the right, so I should plan for next year and what options did I think I might want.  I told her I would need more time to think on it.   Later Ron told me the first option Medicare paid for but the other options ran thousands of dollars. 

Then she quickly did her check in my eye quickly spewing numbers to her assistant operating the computer, saying scaring such and such at such and such in the left eye … but when she was done she went back to talking about the cataract.  But she never talked to me about the scaring in my left eye!   So then they had me sit in the waiting room for a person to go over glasses with me.   I had brought a set of frames with me I liked and wanted any new lenses put in with the frames refitted to me. 

What do you think they quoted me for just the lenses to be put in my own frames? Hold on to something … $920 for the basic / standard lens and $1160 for the preferred / premium lens.   WTF.   Remember at the other eye doctor I got two pairs, two new frames with one set of lenses being fully progressive with the photo gray sunglass thing with computer anti-glare for $650.    

I did not buy the new lenses.  I told them I needed to think on it, and I did not schedule a new appointment next year as they pushed me to do.  I talk to Ron on the way home how I felt very pressured to have the cataract surgery and reminded him how they were pushing him to schedule his right way. They had sent me a video on it before they even examined me, and I felt the exam I got was less than our other doctor did.  

So I am going to see if our other eye doctor is still seeing patients and if so we will both get exams, and as I already know I will need glasses I will get them there.   But also I wanted everyone to know why I have not been doing much online, I am struggling more than normal to see everything.   Best wishes, hugs, Scottie