When browsing vision plans to offer your clients, you are likely to discover that many plans have minimum prescription restrictions. These restrictions limit the value your clients receive and may mean that they don’t receive the care they need or the coverage they deserve. Consider restriction-free plans for use at any of our providers nationwide such as our Tulsa eye doctors to provide value to your clients.
What does a vision plan usually include?
As brokers know, most vision insurance plans include essentially the same basic benefits. Vision plans accepted by Tulsa eye doctors and all our providers across Oklahoma and nationwide do not ordinarily cover eye-related medical issues, including floaters, cataracts, injuries, infections, surgery, and problems related to diabetes. Since these are medical conditions they are covered by a consumer’s major medical plan and are submitted to that plan by providers.
Minimum prescription restrictions
If you aren’t familiar with them, a minimum prescription restriction means that when a patient’s prescription is below a specified level indicated by the vision plan, benefits for frames, contacts and lenses will be denied.
Due to this, if the employee doesn’t fit the carrier’s definition of poor vision, they will miss out on the value of the plan. It’s also important to note that many circumstances can impact vision needs. A person may only need slight corrections, however because of the type of work they do, they still need to have those problems corrected.
For example, some plans will only include coverage for prescription lenses when the combined power is ±0.50 diopters or greater in at least one eye. This number translates, in effect, to mild nearsightedness or farsightedness. In those kinds of plans, if a doctor issues a prescription for a weaker lens, there will be no insurance coverage.
Exceptions may apply, including for special lenses such as protective eyewear or where the two eyes have significantly different prescriptions. However, in general, the plans won’t include these if the minimum correction requirement is not met.
What value can a plan provide for those who don’t need glasses?
Even those individuals who don’t need any kind of vision correction can benefit from a plan without minimum prescription restrictions. With the right plan, such as those offered by Vision Care Direct, you can use your frame allowance to cover other vision items.
Some popular non-prescription items include sunglasses, blue light glasses, and even contacts that can improve vision over 20/20 vision.
This means that anyone on the plan such as spouses or children can still access the vision products that lead to a healthier, happier life.
VCD offers restriction-free plans for use at any of our providers nationwide such as our Tulsa eye doctors.
VCD of Oklahoma, a provider-based plan, offers patients options that aren’t always available in other plans. VCD also offers options for sunglasses or plano lenses not usually offered by most vision insurance plans.
Don’t settle for offering a vision care plan that may shortchange your employees and their families. Vision Care Direct of Oklahoma can help you give your employees a broad range of benefits for use at Tulsa eye doctors and across the country. VCD lets you provide the best of both worlds: an eye health exam option with a materials vision plan.
Annual eye exams can detect many illnesses and thus reduce overall medical costs and even save lives. They can also detect developing eye problems, like glaucoma or cataracts, that will eventually be treated under a medical plan rather than vision care. Let VCD help you offer your employees the best vision care options for the right price.
