Vision Health Insurance Basics

Posted in Health Insurance , Vision Care

August 4th, 2009

Vision care insurance is one way to ensure annual check ups are part of your yearly exams, but it is important to note that health care insurance does not automatically provide vision coverage. If you are not sure if you have vision insurance as part of your employee benefits, check with the HR department and they can advise you of your policy terms. Additionally, if you are responsible for your own health insurance coverage make sure to review your policy manual to figure out if you have some level of vision health insurance included in your plan.

Some facts about vision health insurance are:

• Vision health insurance is typically a supplemental addition to a health care plan
• Medical and vision health insurance when applying to eye care addresses very distinct issues
• A comprehensive eye exam is generally covered by vision health insurance
• Vision correction devices such as contacts and prescription glasses are generally covered under vision health insurance and a portion of those costs may be offset by your insurance claim
• Both ophthalmologists and optometristprescribe medicine and treat eye disease, and their work will generally fall under the vision health insurance guidelines
• Routine eye exams are typically performed by optometrists
• Eye surgery is performed by ophthalmologists
• Insurance companies tend to focus in on the reason for the visit for determining coverage under their plan and the two distinguishing features are “routine” (like for vision correction) or “medical” (for an eye situation that may require surgery or medicine for corrective purposes)
• Vision care coverage varies from insurer to insurer

Maintaining the health of your eyes is imperative. Not only should you get annual check ups to see if you need any type of vision correction accessory for reading, driving or seeing in general, but it is important for the overall health of your eyes to make sure that everything is working properly and that there is nothing unusual going on that only a professional can spot. Just because you think your eyes are health does not mean that potential issues are not developing.