First Time “Optocrat” in Washington, D.C

  
I remembered that in middle school we learned the School House Rock “I’m Just a Bill” which discussed how a bill gets passed through Congress. Well I finally got to see much of the process in action, minus a talking and singing paper bill. 

Eleven of our classmates including fellow blogger Kevin made our way to DC for Congressional Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC. This conference serves as an opportunity for students and optometrists to come together tell politicians why optometry is important!

The first part of the Congressional Advocacy Conference consisted of education. This included speakers about aging in America, tips on how to properly talk to congressmen, and on the important bills we would be advocating for. These three bills included:

– HR 1688 – this bill would allocated 20 new residency positions in VA healthcare system specifically for optometry. This would help work through the backlog of veterans wanting eye care services and give more educational opportunities for recent graduates who want to pursue a residency.

– HR 1312 (National Health Service Corp Improvement Act) – this bill would allow optometry back into the National Health Service Corp. This is a federal program that allows primary care providers to receive scholarships or loan forgiveness in exchange for working in underserved rural or urban areas for a specified number of years. This bill would help meet an overwhelming demand for eye care services in our nation’s health centers and give recent graduates a way to pay off their student loans

– HR 2 (also known as the “doc fix” or the “SGR fix”) – this bill reforms changes the way Medicare pays physicians from a system that has consistently cut reimbursements to a quality and performance based system that should increase reimbursements for all physicians including optometrists. 

Armed with this knowledge, excitement, and previous binge-watching of House of Cards, I set off for Capital Hill with members of the AOA and other students to be an “optocrat.” No matter your political affiliation whether it be Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Tea Party, etc. we all had a vested, bipartisan interest in advancing our profession on Capitol Hill. 

Due to the busy schedules of many politicians, I met with their legislative aides. The other doctors, students, and I talked about the bills. I was fortunate to discuss the burden of our student loan debt and, in one case, the positive impact optometry has on the VA. The meetings were only about 15 minutes but enough to get our point across. All of the people I met were receptive to our ideas, aides and congressmen alike. After each meeting, we reported to a room in the one of the House office buildings to write a formal thank you note and report back to the  AOA how the meeting went. 

In between meetings there was some fun exploring the Capital Hill area including riding the train that connected the Senate office buildings to the main Capital building. In addition this weekend happened to be the same weekend as the Cherry Blossom Festival. The National Mall and the Potomac River we’re cover in these beautiful flowers. Given the harsh winter we experience this past year it was a much welcomed change. 

This day was particularly important because the SGR fix was to be discussed and voted on in the Senate later that afternoon. With the help of a friendly docent, the doctor I was with and I obtained passes to Senate gallery to listen to the debate.

Much of time was not spent watching a debate but rather watching a Senate page rotate a pencil multiple times for 45 minutes. Two different senators did speak on the issue. The first was Sen. Jefferson Sessions of Alabama who spoke against the SGR fix, saying it would cost the US more money in the long term. The second senator was Sen. Ron Wyden from Oregon who spoke for the bill. Most the session was rather boring unfortunately and consisted mostly of a Senate page adjusting a pencil on a desk approximately six times. Soon I had to leave and catch my flight back to Columbus.

Later that night the Senate voted overwhelming to approve the bill with a signature from President Obama coming soon afterwards.

This was such an incredible experience not only advocating for optometry, but watching a bill that I had a small role in advocating, get debated in the Senate and eventually pass! It made the political process more real for me and showed that I can have an impact especially with the help of others. It was also an excellent opportunity to get to know prominent members of the Ohio Optometric Association (OOA). They were legitimately excited for us to come along and I received excellent career insight and advice from them. I recommend every optometry student come to this event at least once during their time in school.