Comer Seeks DOJ, FTC Briefings on Vision Care Consolidation and Consumer Impact

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is continuing to investigate the effects of consolidation in the vision care market, examining how reduced competition may be driving up costs and limiting choices for American consumers. In letters to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Chairman Comer is requesting staff-level briefings on their ongoing efforts to monitor, investigate, and prevent anticompetitive consolidation in the vision care market that may harm patients and consumers.

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is continuing its oversight of the impacts of consolidation within the vision care market and its harm to the U.S consumer. Increasing concentration among vision insurance administrators threatens competition and is driving higher costs and fewer choices for patients,” wrote Chairman Comer. “The consolidation in the vision care market is enabling Vision Benefit Managers (VBMs) to exercise excessive market power at the expense of patients and plan sponsors. VBMs have vertically integrated to own, operate, or maintain exclusive affiliations with eyeglass and lens manufacturers, optical laboratories, and retail providers, giving them substantial control over the vision care supply chain.”

According to reports, two companies control 85 percent of the market share for stand-alone vision insurance plans. In 42 states, one company holds at least a plurality of the market, and in 28 states, a single company controls more than 75 percent of the market. In August 2023, Chairman Comer launched a probe into the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) regulation of the vision care market. In November 2024, Chairman Comer requested documents from DOJ to evaluate the impact of the consolidation of vision insurance plans and their vertical integration with manufacturers and retailers on patients. 

“Such continued consolidation of the vision care market by VBMs mimic similar anticompetitive patterns identified by the Committee in its investigation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). That investigation found that PBMs leveraged their intermediary role and vertical integration to steer patients toward affiliated entities, eliminate competition, increase patient costs, and exploit market cloudiness to avoid oversight. Similar practices may be occurring within the VBM industry to the detriment of patients. To help the Committee understand the impacts on consumers of consolidation and vertical integration among vision insurance plans, please make arrangements to schedule a briefing with Committee staff on this matter as soon as possible,” concluded Chairman Comer.

Read the DOJ letter here.

Read the FTC letter here.