Vision Care Insurance

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Thursday, November 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Vision Care Insurance
- A Clearer Future

We are all well aware of the need to have adequate insurance protection to cover us against the unexpected. We insure our homes and contents, our cars and boats. Most of us have some degree of life or injury insurance as well as private medical insurance. It is important that our insurances extend to provide vision care insurance because, believe it or not, the majority of us will need it in the future.

The Eyes Have It

To support the argument that we should have some sort of vision care insurance we would like to cite some quite alarming facts and figures. Did you know that in 2001, around 6 in every 10 Americans either wore contact lenses or spectacles. This equates to around 169 million people needing some sort of eye care. Back in 2001, the average retail cost of a pair of glasses was around $175 including the frame and lenes.

Today you may not need glasses but these alarming statistics point to the fact that you are likely to need glasses sometime in the future. You may believe that you have perfect eyesight, however it is always important to have regular examinations to ensure your eyes and sight are in good health. By having regular eye check-ups any potential optical problems, such as cataracts and glaucoma, can be quickly identify and treated. In fact, you might be surprised that regular eye exams can also help to diagnose other problems including high blood pressure.

The Eye In Insurance

If you are one of the majority of Americans and currently need vision care, what exactly is vision care insurance? This style of insurance can be compared to dental insurance, and like dental insurance it covers regular eye care as an addition to your standard health insurance. Vision care insurance can help recover a lot of the expense associated with having regular checkups and also any related treatments that may be required. Furthermore, it can cover parts of major eye care expenses.

Most vision care insurance plans require that their members pay a standard premium each month. In return, the eye care insurance providers usually give the policyholder one of two types of coverage. In vision insurance benefits packages, they are likely to cover a specific number of services each year, requiring the policy holder to contribute a Co-insurance payment for each visit to an eye care practitioner. Another style of coverage, known as discount vision plans, includes coverage for eye care services at discounted prices. In both types of coverage, either the policyholder or his employer through a group employee plan pays the required premium.
Where the vision care insurance plan is employer sponsored it is usual for the company to elect which type of vision care insurance plan you will receive.

Alternatively some employers source eye care insurance plans and then invite employees to participate in the arrangement. In cases where you can opt for your own plan, you would have to make some quite tough decisions:

You have to determine whether to choose a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)

or Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
or Indemnity Health Insurance Plan
or even if you should select a Vision Benefits Package
or a Discounted Vision Plan

The Costs of vision care insurance can be quite high so it pays to shop around to find a coverage that you can afford but provides the level of eye care insurance that you are looking for.