Importance of Vision Health Insurance

According to the national nonprofit organization Prevent Blindness America, every year companies lose billions of dollars in employee productivity due to vision issues that could easily be corrected. However, many Americans choose not to address their vision problems because they do not have vision insurance and cannot afford the cost of eye doctor visits, corrective lenses and other treatments.

Comprehensive Eye Care

• Most vision insurance plans cover one comprehensive eye exam each year, as well as most or all of the cost of contact lenses, contact lenses fittings and eyeglasses. In addition to ensuring that your corrective prescriptions are up to date and effective, a comprehensive eye exam can help detect other potential issues. Conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, neurological conditions and even brain tumors can show up in the eyes, and an eye exam with dilation can provide early detection of these issues.

Early Detection

• Annual eye exams also provide early detection of potentially serious eye problems such as cataracts, glaucoma or macular degeneration. Allowing these conditions to go untreated for an extended period of time can make them difficult or impossible to treat or correct, therefore causing a greater burden on the health care system. Some vision insurance plans cover all or part of the treatment for these conditions, saving patients money and helping protect both their vision and their quality of life.

Reduced Out-of-Pocket Costs

• According to Prevent Blindness America, more than 150 million Americans wear glasses or contact lenses to correct vision problems, most commonly nearsightedness or farsightedness. These corrective measures cost almost $150 billion annually, much of that out-of-pocket costs for customers. While vision insurance may not completely cover the cost of corrective lenses, it generally covers a portion of the cost, or offers a discount on the purchase. This coverage can make the difference between someone getting glasses with the appropriate prescription instead of using glasses with an outdated prescription, or worse yet, not getting glasses at all.

Business Benefits

• Companies that offer vision coverage to their employees can save money in lost productivity, as employees will visit eye doctors to deal with issues such as loss of vision, eye strain and age-related vision disorders. Without the appropriate medical care, employees who have trouble seeing may work more slowly, make costly mistakes or perhaps miss work because of headaches or other physical symptoms related to eye issues. Companies that offer vision insurance, and encourage employees to use it, can potentially avoid some of these issues.