So, how does buying glasses work in the US? The store I buy my glasses in has a simple and automated (but imprecise) device for quick checks, probably similar i

So, how does buying glasses work in the US? The store I buy my glasses in has a simple and automated (but imprecise) device for quick checks, probably similar in principle to the device in the linked article. They also have all the optometrist equipment for more precise checks. (I think they share some equipment with an eye specialist who is next door.) I only recently bought new glasses and after the automated check diverged a bit from my old values the store’s optometrist checked my eyes more thoroughly. I didn’t have to pay anything for those checks and I didn’t have to show my insurance card. (I also payed 200€ for the frame and 200€ for the glasses so I sort of expected that level of service.) I also just could have told them to make me +0.75 (left) and −1.25 (right) glasses without any checks and they would certainly have no problem making them for me. (It makes sense to check, that’s why something like that is unlikely to ever happen.) I don’t really see the regulatory hurdles. Are you really telling me that you can’t just walk into a store and tell them which glasses you want? Do you really need a prescription? That seems unlikely. German health insurance (at least the mandatory health insurance I’m using) doesn’t pay anything for glasses, getting a prescription is consequently not really necessary. Maybe you don’t trust the optometrist and want someone with a PhD to check your eyes – that’s certainly possible (and that’s what will cost the insurance). Just checking your eyes, though – especially if it’s not the very first check after you noticed that something’s off with your vision – is something private companies in Germany seem to be more than happy to do without ever getting the insurance involved. By the way, those automated devices are certainly not quite as precise but their main disadvantage is that they are dumb. I have slight Astigmatism, meaning one of my eyes has problems focusing light into one point and instead focuses it into a line. The resulting image is blurry but only in one direction. The automated device in my store couldn’t detect that, the optometrist could.