My eyesight being what it is, I get the old peepers checked out every year, and every other time, my ophthalmologist decides that it is time for a new pair of glasses. For the last five years, I’ve been at the slightly depressing stage where the reading portion of my progressive lenses gets stronger and stronger while the upper part requires less and less of a correction. So how does the optician’s shop work? Well, you bring in your prescription, you choose frames you like, and you go back two or three days later to pick up your new glasses. The optician bills social security directly, submits the balance to one’s supplemental insurance, and the customer pays the difference (mostly, there isn’t any). Now isn’t that better than a system in which only the rich can see well?