Sometimes, an understatement in itself, the insurance business confuses me.

Of course, after learning the hard way by wrecking a car or two, I know through experience that you pay monthly premiums and, at best, get reimbursed in part.

And Im pretty sure its advisable to avoid making lesser insurance claims or face the grim reality of seeing escalating monthly insurance charges arrive in the mail, month after month.

But I wasnt prepared recently when I arrived for my free, annual, insured eye exam and learned it would cost me $100.

I balked, walked away, and went out-of-town to purchase my eye examination.

The doctor there, only in business 29 years, was gregarious, fun to talk to, and seemingly quite thorough as he rotated me from chair to chair in his exam room. At times I strained with one eye to view diminishing, distant letters projected on a wall, my chin balanced in a plastic tray.

He commented on my gas permeable contact lenses, a topic he seemed more versed on than most.

By his estimation, 95 percent of all Americans who wear contact lenses elect to wear soft contact lenses instead of the hard, gas permeable lenses Ive been wearing for decades.

After a brief discussion on the topic with this knowledgeable man, an analogy formed in my mind comparing the recent history of contact lenses with U.S. society as a whole.

Although Leonardo da Vinci drafted contact lenses on paper hundreds of years before Joe Willie choreographed a surprise Super Bowl III victory in 1968, it only was a few years after the latter when soft and gas permeable hit the market in earnest.

And the ongoing tilt away from gas permeable lenses and toward soft lenses seems propelled more by marketing fervor and the Easy button than by logic.

Please dont misunderstand. Much good can be accomplished through the use of soft contact lenses that can correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, blurred vision, and age-related loss of close-up vision.

Soft lenses come in varieties such as daily wear, extended wear, and disposable lenses that, hands down, seem to cost more in overall maintenance than gas permeable lenses. Compare the cost and life span of soft lenses that might last one day before discard, or somewhat longer, with the life span of gas permeable lenses that regularly reach two years before new replacement lenses are needed.

But, as pointed out by my new friend and optometrist from afar as verified courtesy of Internet research the advantages of gas permeable lenses over soft contact lenses are numerous.

For starters, gas permeable lenses long have been touted as providing sharper vision than their softer counterparts, are less frequently associated with eye infections, and, over the course of time, definitely are less expensive than soft lenses.

Added benefits include the facts that gas permeable lenses can be finished and polished during in-office optometry visits and not only are more durable, but more deposit-resistant than soft lenses.

Too, some eye care professionals are employing gas permeable lenses to reshape patient corneas for the purpose of reducing or eliminating nearsightedness.

But this is the 21st century in the U.S., right? Even though many users of gas permeable lenses swear by the comfort they receive from their choice of contacts, the general perception is that soft lenses are, at least initially, more comfortable.

If you dont believe it, listen to advertising representatives who make the most money by the total amount of product sold.

Good health isnt necessarily analogous to sales.

Just ask Ronald McDonald.

Jabberwock II columnist Rocky Wilson is a reporter for the Chieftain.