Carney crashes cataract crowd

Retired BJ reporter and sometime radio talk-show host Jim Carney joined the ranks of those who have had cataract surgery.

 

Jim Carney

The cataract – “the size of the state of Pennsylvania,” Jim reports – was replaced in his right eye by an intraocular lens implant “so now I will see like a six-year-old.”

In two weeks, the left eye gets the same modern miracle.

I can testify from personal experience that you go from the cloudy vision that’s removed to nearly 20/20 vision, depending on how the physician positions the implant.

Former BJ and PD editor Debbie Van Tassel, working for the Arizona Republic, had cataract surgery in April.

Three million Americans have cataract surgery each year. Medicare pays $3.4 billion a year for the procedure. But the American Academy of Opthalmology estimates that one year of cataract surgeries save $1,23.4 billion over 13 years in patient and Medicare and other insurer’s costs and employment productivity.