One could argue that a $79 annual exam is more affordable than paying $200 every month for an injection to manage endstage, out-of-control diabetic eye disease.
That being said, I think annual exams are unnecessary for certain population subsegments (e.g. young healthy folks under 40 years old, have good vision, have no personal or family history of eye disease, have no risk factors for developing eye disease ie poorly controlled diabetes;) for those people who NEED annual eye exams (e.g. those with mild nonproliferative diabetic eye disease,) these should be free. But for those without insurance, this is not the case.
That being said, I think annual exams are unnecessary for certain population subsegments (e.g. young healthy folks under 40 years old, have good vision, have no personal or family history of eye disease, have no risk factors for developing eye disease ie poorly controlled diabetes;) for those people who NEED annual eye exams (e.g. those with mild nonproliferative diabetic eye disease,) these should be free. But for those without insurance, this is not the case.