Understanding Vision Health Insurance Before You Purchase a Plan

Vision health insurance is very confusing to most people. Understanding what this insurance is all about will help you determine if you need it or not. This insurance is an important part of any health plan and you have to understand it so that you can take advantage of its great benefits.

If you are wearing eye glasses or contact lenses, getting a vision health plan will greatly help you cut down on costs for eye glasses and contact lenses replacements. If you have perfect vision, getting a vision health plan would still help you save money on scheduled eye exams that you would most likely have from time to time. Here are several types of vision insurance that you have to know.

Vision Plans offered by major insurance providers offer great benefits and are accredited by many hospitals and private practitioners. Health care financing are offered by a lot of private practitioners. Flex accounts are usually set up by your employer. Talk to your employer about the healthcare plan that you have in your company and ask if a vision plan is included in your health plan.

If you are still not sure if you need vision health insurance or not, it's good to know the differences of the benefits included in a normal medical health plan and a vision plan.

Not all examinations and procedures are carried by a medical health plan. In some instances, you'd have to pay for your eye exam on your own, as a routine eye examination is not usually covered by most insurance policies. A medical insurance may only cover your eye examinations if you are diagnosed with an eye health problem. Diagnoses like astigmatism and far sightedness may not be covered by your health insurance provider. Also, fees for eyeglasses and contact lenses are not usually included in a medical health insurance policy.

Vision health insurance is an important part of any health insurance policy. If your insurance does not have a vision plan, you might want to get a separate plan. Don't take your eyes for granted. Serious eye conditions usually do not have symptoms until they are already in their late stages. Most people don't find out they have serious eye problems until they go for an eye exam. With a vision health plan, you can have affordable routine eye exams and have the peace of mind that your eyes are healthy.

Tips to Get Great Vision But With Help From Insurance   

Is Vision Insurance For You?

It is important to understand what insurance do before opting for visual insurance. In general, the insurance company earns income from your small premiums and in exchange you take advantage of the services. Some insurance companies will negotiate discounts in order to pass them on to you and other members. The federal and state laws regulate the work of insurance companies, and they make sure their functions are legal.

What is vision insurance? Vision insurance helps significantly to reduce the cost of annual eye exams and glasses. Some insurance policies cover services offered by a care professional to view the family, and lenses. Some of their plans are generally offered through employers, but also offer individual and family coverage and therefore, everybody can have access to a visual quality care and reasonable prices.

Let us look at some of the benefits of visual insurance:

Vision care insurance is very advantageous because everyone needs an eye exam yearly, and most families have at least one member who needs glasses or contact lenses.

Large retail stores, or shopping malls, often publish major discounts and coupons on lenses. In certain cases they notify the insurance company and they report to customers in order to give the discounts. usually need to increase its prices. Incredibly, a 40% discount on most retail stores is about the same as a discount of 20% received care from a family doctor.

Visual insurance usually cover these general aspects:

Coverage from 12 to 24 months. Depending on your specific visual insurance policy, your coverage can be up to 2 years. In order to receive these advantages of course you have to pay a premium, or it is your employer who does it.

Visual exam: During the annual comprehensive eye exam, doctors will carefully look for vision problems and other possible diseases.

One of the most important parts of the glasses is the frames. Some visual insurance policies will include the frames. You may be able to choose from a great variety and designer's frames. Most doctors will choose one for you if you cannot decide. Some policies will give you a discount on a second pair.

Prescription Glasses: visual insurance policies may pay the standard prescription lenses and for your family also, according to your plan you will be offered significant discounts on lenses that are not covered.

Tips to Get Great Vision But With Help From Insurance   

Vision Insurance - Spectera

Spectera touts its principals of high quality while maintaining affordable costs associated with vision care. Their vision plans offer flexible programs, with and without co-pays, and with a full range of choice of frequency options and methods of funding.

Spectera's benefits include:

Comprehensive Eye Exams-the eye doctors that partner with Spectera provide complete and thorough vision exams which include both the diagnosis and a treatment plan if required. Frames-Most frames on the market today are covered, in full, except for applicable co-pays. Contact Lenses-Spectera's contact lens benefits are unparalleled in the market. The exam, the fitting, the contacts (even disposables) and up to two follow-up visits are covered in full, after the applicable co-pay. Laser Eye Surgery-partnering with the Laser Vision Network of America, Spectera members have access to substantially discounted laser eye surgery. Members have access to more than 400 NCQA, National Committee for Quality Assurance, credentialed laser vision locations and receive a 15% discount off the standard or usual and customary price, or 5% off of any promotional price that may be offered at the time.

Spectera is proud of its unmatched network availability. Not only do their clients include both private and retail chain providers, but they own their own chain of United Optical stores. This means that most members of Spectera will have no problem finding a conveniently-located provider. From their site you can even look for a provider before ever signing up, which ensures that you will have the access you need. You can search on either your zip code and within up to a 50 mile radius or you can search by city and state. You can also search by doctor or practice name and get complete driving directions. How could it get any easier?

Spectera also has the means to oversee their quality control and cost containment. Spectera's optical laboratory, Crown Optical, maintains stringent quality standards, even more than the ANSI, the American National Standards Institute. Leading edge technology and software has resulted in the highest quality and efficiency in the fabrication of eyeglasses in the industry. And in order to deliver on their cost-containment pledge, Spectera's providers deliver services at 20 to 40 percent below the usual and customary charges for eye exams, lenses and frames. Spectera even has a double-claims system in place, allowing for easy processing of both electronic and paper claims.

Spectera also offers in and out-of-network benefits and has a handy toll-free number and an email support system to determine coverage and to help in the claims process.

So, when making a decision on vision insurance, or if you are a company looking for vision coverage for your employees, make sure to include Spectera in your cost and benefit comparison.

Tips to Get Great Vision But With Help From Insurance   

Vision Insurance - Spectera

Spectera touts its principals of high quality while maintaining affordable costs associated with vision care. Their vision plans offer flexible programs, with and without co-pays, and with a full range of choice of frequency options and methods of funding.

Spectera's benefits include:

Comprehensive Eye Exams-the eye doctors that partner with Spectera provide complete and thorough vision exams which include both the diagnosis and a treatment plan if required. Frames-Most frames on the market today are covered, in full, except for applicable co-pays. Contact Lenses-Spectera's contact lens benefits are unparalleled in the market. The exam, the fitting, the contacts (even disposables) and up to two follow-up visits are covered in full, after the applicable co-pay. Laser Eye Surgery-partnering with the Laser Vision Network of America, Spectera members have access to substantially discounted laser eye surgery. Members have access to more than 400 NCQA, National Committee for Quality Assurance, credentialed laser vision locations and receive a 15% discount off the standard or usual and customary price, or 5% off of any promotional price that may be offered at the time.

Spectera is proud of its unmatched network availability. Not only do their clients include both private and retail chain providers, but they own their own chain of United Optical stores. This means that most members of Spectera will have no problem finding a conveniently-located provider. From their site you can even look for a provider before ever signing up, which ensures that you will have the access you need. You can search on either your zip code and within up to a 50 mile radius or you can search by city and state. You can also search by doctor or practice name and get complete driving directions. How could it get any easier?

Spectera also has the means to oversee their quality control and cost containment. Spectera's optical laboratory, Crown Optical, maintains stringent quality standards, even more than the ANSI, the American National Standards Institute. Leading edge technology and software has resulted in the highest quality and efficiency in the fabrication of eyeglasses in the industry. And in order to deliver on their cost-containment pledge, Spectera's providers deliver services at 20 to 40 percent below the usual and customary charges for eye exams, lenses and frames. Spectera even has a double-claims system in place, allowing for easy processing of both electronic and paper claims.

Spectera also offers in and out-of-network benefits and has a handy toll-free number and an email support system to determine coverage and to help in the claims process.

So, when making a decision on vision insurance, or if you are a company looking for vision coverage for your employees, make sure to include Spectera in your cost and benefit comparison.

Tips to Get Great Vision But With Help From Insurance   

How to Find Out If You Need Individual Vision Insurance?

For people with vision problems, vision insurance can be a real life saver. When you consider that one has to spend anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars every year on prescription glasses, contact lenses, and regular eye visits, it makes a lot of sense to get insured and drastically cut down these costs.

Individual vision insurance can be easily obtained through your employer. Most companies offer individual as well as group packages to insure not just yourself but also your family. This is a great plan for families that have more than one person with vision problems.

There have been cases when insurance providers haven't lived up to their promises and charged people hundreds of dollars through some clause in the fine print of the contract. Therefore, it is recommended that you carefully go through your policy and comb out any suspicious clause that may have you pay hundreds of dollars extra for treatment.

Points like the one mentioned above make many people think whether individual vision insurance is even a justified expense. After all, a policy costs around $15-20 each month. If you have just mild vision problems, can take care of your contact lenses/prescription glasses (i.e. you can manage not to break/lose them), then your total expenses for treatment every year might be just around the expenses on an insurance policy. For such people, it may make financial sense to not purchase such a policy.

But for others who have severe vision problems or keep on losing/breaking their prescription glasses and contact lenses, individual insurance can cut down the costs drastically. You can literally save hundreds of dollars, especially on prescription glasses and contact lenses, which usually cost hundreds of dollars.

In the end, you have to sit down and analyze your total expenses every year on vision related problems. If it is more than $150, then by all means, go for a vision insurance policy.

Tips to Get Great Vision But With Help From Insurance   

Vision Insurance Plans

Visiting a qualified eye care professional for a routine eye examination is crucial to ensuring the long-term health of the eyes. The high-costs of eye examinations can often leave a strain on the families' finances if one of the vision insurance plans isn't in place. And the cost-effective plans are easy to arrange and cover everyone in the immediate family                 

Vision insurance is often a supplemental aspect to a regular health or medical indemnity plan. A standard health policy is there to provide care and treatment for unexpected eye disease or injury. The vision insurance is to cover eye care expenses and the fees for routine eye examinations, including glaucoma and cataract screening, as well as corrective lenses or eyewear. A doctor or clinic that's associated with the organization examines the patients.

Eye care insurance policies offer discounts on - annual eye check-ups, prescription lenses and frames, contact lenses, non-prescription sunglasses, eye drops and medication. And often at extra cost, discounted rates for LASIK or PRK vision correction treatment.

When viewing the availability of vision indemnity schemes its essential to compare the extent of coverage. Restrictions and limitations will vary with the specific plans and insurance providers. Some schemes cover the fees for an annual eye exam, but do not help with the cost of glasses or contact lenses. Savings in the region of 20% to 55% are often seen in these care plans.

In view of the number of adult US citizens that wear contact lenses or glasses, with latest studies indicating this figure at 63%, it shows the importance of having adequate vision insurance plans in force. Taking the steps to ensure preventive care of the eyes is essential to ensure the long term health of vision in later years.

Tips to Get Great Vision But With Help From Insurance