While having good vision is undoubtedly imperative, vision insurance may or may not be critical. Many consumers overvalue this coverage and pay too much for it.
To know if you are getting what you paid for when you buy vision coverage, it is imperative to know what your vision coverage covers and what it does not include. You need to know the limitations of your vision coverage to determine if you have to pay more for coverage.
You should know what the additional coverage will include. Vision coverage covers expenses associated with prescription glasses or contact lenses. Normally, vision or eye insurance will cover an eye exam. It can also cover part of the cost of prescription lenses.
You should also know what it does not cover. Vision insurance does not cover expenses associated with trauma or ocular diseases that affect the eye. Health insurance will generally cover these health care costs.
Neither your optical insurance nor your medical coverage will likely include coverage for laser eye surgery. Health coverage policies generally specifically exclude surgery to improve vision. This is different from surgery to restore vision.
The standard health care insurance policy will exclude coverage for corrective lenses. Typical health care insurance policies do not cover the eye exams necessary to obtain corrective lenses. Corrective lenses can be prescription contact lenses or prescription glasses.
Medical expenses associated with eye injuries and diseases that affect vision are still paid as part of the health benefit. A separate eye or vision coverage rider is not required to cover eye injuries. Many consumers pay more for vision or eye coverage because they believe their medical policy will not cover anything related to vision.
When comparing health coverage policies that include vision or eye insurance, be sure to see how comprehensive your coverage is. Since some vision care insurance policies will only cover the cost of the exam, those policies are less valuable than insurance plans that will not only cover the exam, but also pay for the glasses.
Another issue to consider is the availability of eye health professionals. Most vision plans will limit the places you can go for an eye exam to network providers. You should make sure that there are optometrists or optometrists near you and that you will feel comfortable with those optometrists or optometrists.
It’s a waste of money to pay for vision care coverage only to find that none of the ophthalmologists in the network are one you can or want to visit. Consumers often routinely check that their doctors are in the network, but forget to search for dentists and optometrists.
Knowing the value of additional coverage is essential if you are to make the right decision. If your eye or vision insurance only includes an annual exam, you should call an optometrist and ask how much an eye exam costs. If the policy also pays for the glasses, it should be added to the cost of the exam. Multiply the cost by the number of family members that will be covered. Then divide that cost by 12 of your policy premiums that are paid monthly. This will allow you to properly compare the additional cost of having eye or vision coverage with the additional cost of coverage.
Eye insurance is often worth the added costs, but sometimes it won’t be. Often times, people will compare different plans that are otherwise the same and choose the one with vision care coverage without properly weighing the costs and benefits. Now you know how to look at the costs and benefits, and you will only pay more if the additional coverage is worth the additional price.
