Vision health care refers to preventative or corrective health care people receive that addresses vision. Getting regular eye exams, having glasses prescribed, or even obtaining surgery might be part of this. In most cases, the term is used to discuss health care plans that offer some or exclusive vision benefits. These are potentially obtainable from a variety of sources.
In some countries, vision health care is part of a national health care plan. People might be encouraged to get regular eye exams to catch vision problems early that can become quite severe. Ability to get exams might be based on critical need, like sudden eye injury, or a schedule of preventative services based on age. Should interventions or treatment be needed, coverage for this might be part of national health care. Sometimes it is not, and people pay for vision health needs separately.
There are many countries without a national plan or government vision health care coverage. In these cases, a number of private insurers may offer some form of help with payment in exchange for upfront fees. Frequently, people purchase vision health care insurance through employers and the cost is not that high, even for coverage for a whole family. Another option is to buy private insurance, and here, cost must be weighed against potential coverage.
Each insurance plan is different, and sometimes benefits are part of regular health insurance. Most often, a vision plan is purchased separately, and both health and vision insurance might provide different kinds of coverage. Health insurance would be more likely to cover surgeries needed for traumatic eye injury, while a vision health care plan would usually give some coverage for routine preventative exams and correctives like glasses or contact lenses.
When vision health care insurance is separate, the types of coverage it may offer, and this can vary depending on plan, could include free yearly exams, some percentage or coverage up to a certain amount yearly or every other year for frames for eyeglasses, a percentage of coverage for lenses, and other benefits. It can be fairly easy to exhaust benefits if additional eye care is needed, but basic expenses like glasses might not involve much additional expense. If these plans are purchased from employers, they can be an excellent deal, particularly when a couple of people in a family require glasses or contact lenses.
On the other hand, health insurance for vision purchased privately may not be as economically sound. Once people start paying $30-40 US Dollars (USD) or more per month for care, they might ultimately end up paying more for the insurance than they would paying privately for vision care needs during the year. Additionally, vision plans may exclude people based on health care or eye health issues, and it’s not always possible to obtain a private plan. The matter of whether these plans are ultimately beneficial may be different decided by each individual, depending on cost and circumstances.
