Optometrists are now among the largest donors to political causes in Florida, according to state tax filings.
The eye-care specialists, who are not medical doctors, have amassed a war chest of more than $2.1 million and hired the brother of Florida’s Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, and other legendary lobbyists, to spearhead their efforts. They want to perform eye surgeries and believe they are perfectly qualified to do so.
Often using a collection of interlocking groups to move money from anonymous sources, the optometrists are boosting candidates who favor their cause while winning the ire of their rivals, the ophthalmologists, and transparency activists who decry their use of “dark money.”
Their opponents, medical doctors known as ophthalmologists, have raised a comparative pittance. Since 2013, FOCUS, one of the ophthalmologist’s PACs, has taken in $143,064. Another PAC, FOCUS EYEMED, raised $97,764, according to government reports. These PACs together raised less than one-tenth of the money raised by optometrists. Still, they strongly contend that only medical doctors, real eye doctors, should perform eye surgery.
For patients, the bottom line isn't which side has the most money, it's trust. Putting their trust in the right practitioners. Now you've heard from the experts in Sunshine State News' three-part series "Eye Wars," how would you answer this question:
