With all politics aside, I don't see how this is good for patients at all. Especially their ocular health. For example, just today I saw a healthy 37yo WM with no complaints and 20/20 vision. Just wanted to renew the CL Rx. After my exam it was clear he was a glaucoma suspect. I ran a GDx and it confirmed he had moderate (not mild) glaucoma. 5 to 10 years of no Tx could have been devastating. Luckily I will start him on an Rx and hopefully control the glaucoma. It is my understanding that a patient like this would be allowed to get an Rx from an optician in BC (or just reorder the Rx by seeing no-one) and end up with severe vision loss.

Patients WILL mistake an optician refraction for an eye exam.