No one in this area fills outside medicaid prescriptions for glasses. Everyone does the exam, no one does the glasses. A friend has this crazy idea of starting an optical service that only provides medicaid glasses. Only his idea might not be so crazy. And I'm thinking if he doesn't actually do it, I may.

An optical venture has all kinds of risk. You buy frames that may or may not sell. Your shop must be in an attractive location. You expend energy on advertising. You help the patient make decision on what lens best suits their needs, while trying to minimize non-adapt issues. All of these factors are narrowed down for medicaid patients. You have specific frames and lens material to dispense, and that's it.

Other than the time-consuming billing and the paltry payments, is there any other reason I should dismiss this idea out of hand? If you have experience with medicaid, I'd like to hear your input.