The alternative to state funding

The one single, unconvincing reason for retaining the status quo is that if there is not a charge at the point of delivery, no-one is dissuaded from having an eye examination because of a financial disincentive.
The author does not dispute this, but unequivocally disagrees that it should be the overriding consideration. The whole health service is unrecognisable from 1948 and optometry is not an exception, so we need to investigate an alternative funding option.

Six reasons for advocating change to direct payment

? A state-funded eye examination free at the point of delivery has never covered the cost of delivering the service. If there ever had been the slightest chance of an examination fee sufficient to cover the cost, it would have been put in place by now. We always have to ask for more with nothing to offer in return. That is not a criticism, but it is not negotiation. An annual telephone call would have achieved the same result and saved a lot of unnecessary work.