While good vision is certainly imperative, it may or may not be critical to have vision insurance. Many consumers overvalue this coverage and pay too much for it.
To know if you’re getting what you paid for when you buy vision coverage, it’s imperative to know what vision coverage covers and what it doesn’t. Knowledge of vision coverage limitations is necessary to determine if you should pay more for coverage.
You need to know what the additional coverage will include. Vision coverage covers expenses associated with prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses. Eye or vision insurance will usually cover an eye exam. It may also cover part of the cost of prescription glasses.
You should also know what it does not cover. Vision insurance does not cover expenses associated with eye trauma or diseases that affect the eye. Health insurance will generally cover these health care costs.
Neither your vision insurance nor your medical coverage may include coverage for laser eye surgery. Surgery to improve vision is generally specifically excluded by medical coverage policies. This is different from surgery to restore vision.
The standard health care insurance policy will exclude coverage for corrective lenses. Typical health insurance policies do not cover the eye exams required 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. No additional eye or vision coverage rider is needed to have eye injuries covered. Many consumers pay extra for vision or eye coverage because they believe their health policy won’t cover anything vision-related.
When comparing health coverage policies that include eye or vision 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 care professionals. Most vision plans will limit the places you can go for your eye exam to in-network providers. You need to make sure that there are optometrists or optometrists near you and that you feel comfortable with those optometrists or optometrists.
It’s a waste of money to pay for vision care coverage only to find out that none of the network eye doctors are the ones you can or want to visit. Consumers often routinely check to make sure their doctors are in network, but forget to search for dentists and optometrists.
Knowing the value of additional coverage is essential if you are going to make the right decision. If vision 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 something for glasses, you must add it 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 monthly policy premiums. 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 extra costs, but sometimes it won’t. People often compare different plans that are 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 only pay extra if the extra coverage is worth the extra price.
