Who do you think messed up? A Chinese discount glasses manufacturer or a local optometrist covered by Medicaid?
So you may remember I recently went to an eye doctor to get a new prescription, and I ordered glasses online. I love the frames I got, but after several days of wearing them, I was still having double vision.
I had double vision earlier in my life, but prisms in my glasses solved the double vision issues. So I was surprised that the double vision had returned. You should know that I have a very strong prescription, so if a place doesn’t take care in how they do things (prescription or lenses), their mistake is pretty serious for me. But I didn’t know if it was the optometrist or the Chinese glasses manufacturer who made the mistake.
You see, I have SC Medicaid for my insurance, and they recently started covering optometrists. The one I’ve been seeing for years who is very good does not take that insurance. So I had to go see someone new. I made a post about them trying to require paperwork for my service dog and taking two hours to do my exam.
I had seen them last year but not gotten a prescription, and I wasn’t impressed because they totally missed that I had prisms in my glasses already when they took my glasses to look at them (not a good sign with my needs). But they were the only place that took my insurance that wasn’t inside a Walmart or something similar (places that are fine for most people’s needs, but scary for me). But it was just too expensive to go back to my old optometrist.
Well during my exam, they were assessing me for prisms. They fixed the double vision in one plane, but I could still see one row of letters on top of the other row of letters. I told them that, and they said that was fine, that everyone sees that. So I believed them.
Wouldn’t you know it, but the double vision I’m having with my new glasses is one image on top of the other.
So this morning, I called my old eye doctor and got a copy of that prescription. Turns out this Medicaid optometrist had totally missed prisms I needed in one plane! Just completely absent!!! So of course I’m seeing double.
Now I’m going to have to pay $130 for an eye exam with my old optometrist, and then pay return shipping and 50% the price of new lenses with the eyeglasses manufacturer. I called the optometrist that messed up and they don’t seem like they’re willing to pay for any of it, other than give me another eye exam at no cost (which I do NOT trust!!!).
And it means I’m stuck with my really really really scratched up glasses for probably another month or two.
UGH!!!!!!! Why does Medicaid only cover the doctors that are risky for me! It seems like I’m going to be out more money and time than if I had just gone to the better place on my own in the beginning, but that costs so much and how am I supposed to make that judgment on our budget?