Why You Should Invest In Vision Insurance

Here are the stats: 66% of adults 18 and over need vision correction, and use contacts, glasses, or both. If you are one of these, you’ll likely be in your optometrist’s office more than once a year.

If you or a family member don’t need corrective treatment, you can pay out of pocket for that routine office visit and avoid paying for vision insurance. However, if you do require vision correction in addition to preventative care, getting vision insurance is a smart financial choice.

Why do you need vision insurance if you have an insurance plan that includes eye care? While medically necessary issues such as injury or disease are covered by your health insurance, you’ll need a vision plan if you want to share the costs of regular maintenance such as eye exams and vision correction or desire an elective procedure such as LASIK and PRK. These can be pricey, and a little help with such expenses would be a logical reason to get extra insurance.

What do vision plans cover?

Many vision plans don’t pick up 100% of your entire tab, but most pay a good portion of the following types of expenses:

• Basic preventative care such as eye exams and vision tests.
• Eyeglass lenses and frames.
• Contact lenses.
• Upgrades such as tinting, scratch-resistant coating, and transition lenses.
• Discounts on elective procedures.

You can buy individual or family vision plans through many of the same websites from which you buy health insurance, or check with your current health plan to add on services. Make sure the provider offers plans in your area, covers your preferred doctor and retailers, and whether there is a waiting period for benefits to begin. Many companies offer vision plans along with dental, so check for combination coverage if you need both.

There are a lot of retailers out there eager to cash in on your vision benefits! Be selective where you use them. Promocodes.com has partnered up with glasses.com, which takes the guesswork out of your quest for a retailer that offers reasonable prices and reliable service. For a wide selection of quality frames, lenses, and upgrades, visit glass-es.com. This site is optimized so that rather than having to wait on hold with your insurance carrier, you can easily enter your plan information and see what your products’ out-of-pocket expense will be as you shop! There are no unwelcome surprises about your coverage later on. Be sure to check Promocodes.com for even deeper discounts, and save up to 50%!

Still not sure if vision insurance is worth it for you? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, it’s time to do comparison shopping for that additional coverage.

• Do you need vision correction? Eye exams, glasses, and contacts are the staples of eye care, and add up quickly - especially if you are fashion-forward and want more than one pair!

• Do you need special features over basic styles? Glasses seem pretty straightforward until you get into the “options”. Many of these are not features you want to do without. For example, do you need progressive lenses or trifocals for optimal sight correction? Are you outdoors a great deal and need transition lenses (that turn from sunglasses outdoors to clear indoors)? Most people prefer anti-glare lenses and some like metal or wood frames as a change from plastics. To protect your eyes along with your investment, another logical choice is shatter-resistant lenses. Do you want to try colored contact lenses? These bells and whistles cost more, and they often not covered by health plans.

• Are you considering an elective procedure? If you are considering a more permanent route to correct your vision such as LASIK or PRK, your health plan almost certainly won’t cover the full cost, so be sure to investigate what assistance you can get before calling a surgeon!

Eager to get that vision plan and stop squinting until you get crow’s feet? Start comparison shopping at three of the largest vision insurance pro-viders: Humana One Vision Focus Plan, Blue View Vision Coverage, and VSP Standard Plan. Your eyes, as well as your bank account, will thank you.