ShareThisAlthough it is important to maintain one’s vision, it may not be as important to have vision insurance. I consider vision and dental insurance to be “nice to have” coverages but not essential coverages. (Vision insurance is included in many of the medical insurance policies that we offer.)
The reason for this is that eye care insurance is limited. It is often limited to the cost of the exam. You may get a free eye exam or have your eye exam covered with just a small co-pay. Sometimes vision insurance can include coverage that also includes some reimbursement for eyeglasses or contact lenses as well.
As I said above, this coverage is nice have. However, you shouldn’t overpay for it.
It is important to note that medical expenses associated with trauma to your eyes or diseases of the eye are likely to be covered by your medical insurance policy. Vision insurance is usually limited to an eye exam and sometimes includes the cost of prescription lenses.
If the only reason you are considering the purchase of one policy over another is the vision coverage you should do a little math. Find out what it costs to pay for an eye exam out of your pocket. If the policy with the vision benefit includes reimbursement for glasses, add the amount of the reimbursement to the first figure. Subtract any co-pays you would have to pay to get the benefits. Multiply this figure by the number of family members who will be covered by your policy.
When you have this figure, you will know how much extra you should pay for vision insurance. You might also want do similar calculations to determine how much you should pay for dental coverage and prescription coverage.
It is important to get a dollar’s worth of benefit from every dollar you spend on insurance. Prescription, dental and vision insurance can all be worth having, but unless you do the math you won’t know how much extra you should pay for these benefits.
If you have questions about any of the information in this article, or want to talk about your options for health insurance, insurance that covers vision or prescription insurance in Connecticut, please give us a call at 203-374-3645.
