June 2006 Annapolis Update

Protect Optometry in Maryland;
Support MOA’s PAC Team!

With Maryland’s coming political elections, Optometry is facing another critical challenge to its future. It is most important that all of us understand this challenge and that we do our part to help mitigate its potential adverse effects on our profession.

Many of us seem to forget (we were never really taught in Optometry school) that we are a profession that is controlled by the whims of those who are elected. With the cast of a ballot, the Maryland General Assembly (Senate and House of Delegates) can drastically change the way in which we practice. They can, for instance, remove optometry from all vision insurance plans, prohibit us from using the pharmaceuticals that our predecessors fought so hard to have the right to use, mandate contact lens formulary from commercial interests, or give opticians the right to refract and diagnose. Imagine your future if any of these anti-optometry acts were ever adopted into law.

Fortunately, Optometry has its own protection — BUT that protection is absolutely dependant upon you and the other Maryland-licensed Optometrists. The protection to which we refer is the Maryland Optometric Association and the MOA Political Action Committee (PAC). The MOA and the MOA PAC are our “voice in Annapolis” — the Association through the diligent and aggressive work of its Legislative Committee and the MOA PAC through its support of election candidates who have demonstrated a better understanding and commitment to the role of optometry in health care.

All of us need to think of the MOA and the MOA PAC as absolutely necessary insurance coverage that we cannot afford to be without. No matter our financial situation, we cannot “go bare” in the marketplace. Our future depends on this! We need to be members of the MOA and we need to contribute to the MOA PAC. As Past Presidents of the MOA, we are joining together to stress the importance of your commitment to your future by asking you to join us as members of the MOA and as annual contributors to the MOA PAC. We must be ready to face the challenges of the coming election, and we cannot do it as effectively without your support.

Please see the MOA PAC Team form below and sign up to give your support today. We must stand together to face the challenges ahead! Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jim Poland (1968-69)
Stephen Polakoff (1980-81)
Eric Cohen (1986-89)
Richard Edlow (1990-1991)
Paul Brant (1992-93)
Michael Sless, O.D. (2002-03)
Jeffrey Poland, O.D. (2002-03)
Tim Madgar, O.D. (2000-01)
Mike Berenhaus, O.D. (1998-99)
Ed Wasloski, O.D. (1996-97)
Elliot Klonsky, O.D. (1994-95)