Vision Insurance Plans: The Most Frequently Asked Question

Time and time again, I am asked if I’ve seen any affordable vision plans. Normally, I reply, “Yeah, I’ve seen some but you’re not really seeing the big picture.” You see, I said “seeing” because I see that they want to see better and still see some money left in their bank account at the end of the month so that they can sometime retire at some seaside community. OK, that’s enough of the seeing.

First, let's get one thing straight and make it crystal clear. Sorry, I couldn’t resist… I promise you won’t see me do that again. Damn! Did it again! OK, I promise you won’t hear me say that again.

Moving on, insurance is not meant for what you know you have. It's not meant to make your prescriptions, glasses or contacts more affordable. That's just not going to happen because why would an insurance company want to lose money? No, insurance is to protect you against that big monster of a medical problem that you don't see coming (sorry, I really couldn’t find another way to say that.) Like getting drilled in the eye when playing baseball or developing glaucoma.

In your case, quality vision insurance plans are meant to protect you when you have to have a $10,000 surgery. For someone making $10 per hour, it would be pretty hard for them to come up with $10,000, correct? Hell, it’d be even hard for someone making $100,000 per year to just come up with $10,000 to pay the doctor. So, think of insurance more of like a group forced savings plan. Everyone pays into it believing that they will need the insurance more than the next guy.

Second, almost all major health insurance companies offer vision insurance plans as well. So you should start with your health insurance company. In fact, most vision insurance plans are only offered to people in a particular health insurance plan or who can purchase it through a group such as your employer, school or fraternal organization. I know that this kind of sucks but the fact of the matter is that most people have good eyesight and don’t feel the need for vision insurance plans.

Next, there are discount vision plans available but from what I have researched (you see that I didn’t say “see”), most of them are not very good. They don’t cover much and the severely limit what doctors you can go to which is why I am not going to even go into them any further.

Now, getting back to the main problem with vision insurance plans: most people don't try to purchase it until they need it so just about everyone that wants vision insurance already needs glasses, contacts or some other such thing. This need costs the insurer a certain amount of money, so the premiums need to reflect not only the cost of the contacts or glasses but also eye surgery, etc.

And the last time that I checked, insurance companies also want to make money for organizing all of this. Although, there is a common misconception that insurance companies gouge customers on their policies because that’s the only way they make money and that’s just not true. In fact, the majority of an insurance company’s profits comes from investing the money paid by customers and reaping a return on their investment. In general, what the insurance companies charge the customers is equal to the amount that it takes to manage everything.

Now back to how vision insurance plans work. Vision insurance absorbs the costs we spoke of earlier with the overall premium by pooling everyone into a group. For a simple example, let's say that there is a group of 100 people. 99 of those people are like you and will only need the relatively inexpensive contact lens or glasses costing say $100 per year. However, one out of a hundred will need some type of surgery that costs say $10,000.

Over the year, this group of 100 costs the insurance company $19,900 which they divide by the 100 people in the group. Assuming a 20% co-pay, each person would pay about $159 a year in premiums plus about $20 for their glasses or contact. And the one person that had surgery would pay $2000 for their surgery.

Now, I can hear you saying something like "Well, that sucks! I got to pay more because that one guy needed surgery! He should have to pay for it himself!" Well, again, when you purchase vision insurance you are not doing it for what you already know you need covered... you're purchasing it to protect yourself from the financial problems that would be caused by having to pay $10,000 or more for surgery or an injury. After all, you can afford to pay $159 per year, right? Could you afford $10,000 if you had to? I don't think so!

So, check with your health insurance company first and see if they offer vision insurance plans. Next check out AM Best and Standard & Poors. These two companies rate insurance companies for consumers. Choose a company with an A rating or higher. That’s very important. Choosing the most affordable plan at the best company is much better than choosing the most expensive plan at the worst company. Why? Because bad insurance companies come and go all of the time by mismanaging their funds or just straight ripping people off. Stable insurance companies might cost a little more but at least you know that you will have no problem getting your money when you need it.

Finally, if you are in the San Diego area, I have a wonderful vision plan offered through Aflac. There is one prerequisite however: I can only offer it through a group plan such as your employer or association. If you employer or association does not offer Aflac, I would be happy to speak with them so that it is made available to you and everyone else. Just call me at 619-495-3537.

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