VA’s eyewear upsell: Profiteering at the expense of veterans

Fox News reports that veterans in need of new and useable glasses are being aggressively upsold more expensive eyewear — the additional cost of which the vets are expected to pay out of pocket — by a for-profit Kentucky-based company called PDS Optical.

According to Fox, the company has a quota system in force that is used to pressure its staff to pressure veterans to buy more expensive eyewear, the cost of which exceeds their comprehensive health care benefits.

A pair of ill-fitting, poorly made glasses may allow the vet to see, but not comfortably. Kind of like a car without air conditioning or even a radio.

And eye doctors are pressured to prescribe the more expensive eyewear, acting as what amounts to salesmen for PDS.

Fox obtained internal company emails to staff, including one that read as follows: “As we gear up for December, I’m excited to challenge you to not only meet but surpass our sales goal. Building on your impressive performance in November, let's set our sights on a December goal of $30,000 in sales.”

If this were a private eyewear company provider offering eyewear to people who just needed a new pair of glasses, there would not be any controversy. Private companies routinely try to upsell customers.

But the Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t supposed to be about upselling vets. It is supposed to be about providing vets with benefits at low to no cost, as a way of compensating them for their service.

It also isn’t supposed to be about turning eye doctors into sales reps working to meet their quotas — at the expense of the vets they’re supposed to be serving.

According to the Fox News report, opticians serving vets’ eye care needs had their pay docked by PDS as a way to incentivize them to upsell patients. The idea, apparently, was they would make up in “commissions” what they lost in pay by coaxing the vets into paying for the more expensive eyewear.

Fox quotes one source as saying: "For us to have a decent paycheck, we have to try to upsell everything to the veterans just to get a certain percentage of commission from the sales."

According to Don Overton, who is the president of Blind Veterans of America, veterans are initially presented with "just horrendous antiquated, very inexpensive glasses on the board. And this is what they get." And then — cue the upsell — “the new shiny board comes out with what anybody is going to want. A better pair of glasses that are going to be more comfortable or are probably going to hold up better.”

It is not unlike the way high-pressure car dealers will lure people in with the dangle of an inexpensive model that turns out to be exactly what the potential buyer doesn’t want or can’t use — and then presents them with the model that’s equipped just the way they want.

It just happens to be at a price much higher than the cost of the inexpensive model that got them into the store.

A pair of ill-fitting, poorly made glasses may allow the vet to see, but not comfortably. Kind of like a basic car without air conditioning or even a radio. It works. But it doesn't work very well.

“This is how they’re making up the difference right on the backs of veterans,” Overton said.

He noted that useable glasses “should be earned benefits.”

He didn't note that the vets are a captive audience in that they depend on the VA and its contractors to provide them with health benefits they are owed as partial compensation for their service.

PDS says it “stands by the quality of our eyeglass products and services, creating tremendous value for our veterans and taxpayers every day” and that veterans are provided “no-cost items,” referring to the basic eyewear. PDS denies that any vets are being pressured to buy more expensive eyewear out of pocket.

But the Fox News report paints a different picture.

“It hurts me to my heart to see that,” says a VA employee source quoted by Fox, “because I know a lot of veterans are struggling financially and they say, ‘I gotta see. There’s nothing I can do. I don't have a choice but to pay.’”

It is not unlike war profiteering, when unscrupulous suppliers of munitions and other essential materials made a lot of money by charging the government as much as possible to equip the troops. The difference here, however, is that the government is in cahoots with the profiteer. PDS was awarded the VA contract in October.

PDS Optical Vice President Robb Yopps vehemently denied the Fox News allegations, claiming the Government Accountability Office “repeatedly rejected” the claims as “speculative (and untrue).”

Maybe so. But maybe not. For the sake of America’s vets, it’s something that bears looking into.