4 Eye-Opening Reasons to Offer Vision Care Coverage

Quick look: Eye health is incredibly important; 83% of U.S. adults require vision correction, and routine eye exams can help detect health conditions before they become serious. However, approximately two-thirds of Americans don’t have vision insurance, and the racial and socioeconomic discrepancies in vision coverage are alarming. Here’s what brokers need to know about vision care and how it can benefit both their clients and the broader community.

While many health plans include a vision care offering, the opportunities it can present to brokers may be surprising. Over 80% of U.S. adults require some sort of vision correction, yet almost two-thirds aren’t enrolled in any vision benefit.

Let’s explore how brokers can help close that gap while enabling small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to lower costs, attract and retain talent, and contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

The ins and outs of vision care

While vision care may appear to be a standard offering, it’s essential to understand what it truly covers—and what might be excluded.

To clarify, it’s important to distinguish between an optometrist (OD) and an ophthalmologist (MD):

• An OD takes care of all the “basics.” They examine, diagnose, and treat eyes, assist patients who need contacts or glasses, and act as the first stop in treating uncomplicated eye conditions.
• Specializing in more complex conditions, an MD is a medical doctor who performs medical and surgical interventions for all eye conditions. MDs perform operations like cataract and glaucoma surgery and treat complex eye conditions.

Vision care typically covers an annual visit with an OD and is the first line of defense to discover the first signs of any underlying eye conditions. Health insurance plans normally don’t cover preventative vision care, making supplemental or standalone vision plans a must. Without a vision plan in place, people are faced with either paying out-of-pocket or avoiding receiving care altogether—a potentially costly and dangerous action.

It’s important to remember that eye surgery or specialty care from an MD typically isn’t covered by vision care but by health insurance. In fact, ideally, the two coverages combine to provide patients with a comprehensive solution for any eye health problem they may face.

Who has vision care, and who doesn’t?

In many states, vision care costs range between $5-30 per person each month, yet unfortunately many individuals still lack coverage. Nearly two-thirds of Americans don’t have vision insurance, meaning they must pay out-of-pocket for routine eye exams (which can cost between $75-200 per person).

However, just because millions of people lack vision coverage doesn’t mean they don’t recognize its value. In fact, the opposite appears to be true; a recent Harris poll revealed that 94% of employees believe vision benefits are valuable. This discrepancy creates an opportunity for brokers to offer a highly sought-after benefit to the people who want it most.

A blurry understanding of benefits

That same Harris poll also found that 43% of employed adults with vision benefits have some difficulty understanding what’s covered, and nearly 60% wish their employer provided more helpful information. Additionally, 28% of workers say the biggest reason they don’t always use benefits to cover vision care costs is confusion about what is and isn’t covered.

Brokers can help educate their clients’ staff by offering a partnership with a professional employer organization (PEO) that provides ongoing benefit communications, guidance during onboarding and open enrollment, and employee-level customer support to answer questions as they arise.

The benefits of vision care are crystal clear

While eye health is crucial, the advantages of vision care coverage go far beyond that. Here are four potentially unexpected ways it can positively impact both individuals and society.

1. Improves quality of life

If you wear contacts or glasses, you’ve probably experienced how frustrating it is to squint to see everything around you. Vision care helps people avoid this and other pain points by enabling affordable access to ODs.

Frustration isn’t the only hindrance poor eye health can cause. Dry eyes, eye strain, and other serious eye conditions contribute to headaches, itching, back and neck soreness, and light sensitivity.

Brokers can combat these issues by offering affordable vision care to their SMB clients.

2. Reduces healthcare costs

Here’s a tough pill to swallow: chronic conditions cost the U.S. over $1 trillion every year. However, preventative eye care covered by a vision plan can help by discovering these ailments, like diabetes.

Diagnosed diabetes alone costs the country more than $400 billion per year. What’s more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 8.7 million Americans have undiagnosed diabetes.

The savings also extend to employers. Vision impairment results in $411 billion in lost productivity globally each year, making vision insurance a low-cost benefit with a potentially high return on investment (ROI) for businesses.

3. Contributes to DEI

Offering vision care as part of a benefits package to clients can contribute to overall societal DEI efforts.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology Taskforce on Disparities in Eye Care found that minority populations experience a higher risk of ocular diseases, visual impairment, and blindness. Further, the CDC reports that:

• People with lower incomes are less likely to access preventive eye exams or be able to afford eyeglasses and are more likely to experience vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy.
• Those with less than a high school education are less likely to have had an eye doctor visit in the last year than those with more than a high school diploma.
• People with vision impairment or blindness are more likely to be uninsured and have more problems accessing care due to cost, insurance coverage, transportation, and providers refusing service.

Brokers can help level this playing field by including an affordable, high-quality vision care plan in their benefit offerings.

4. Attracts and retains top talent

Offering a vision plan can help SMB employers tailor their benefits packages to attract and retain today’s talented multigenerational workforce. For example, it can help aging employees receive screenings for age-related eye diseases like macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataracts. It also enables families to provide their children with any necessary vision correction, like glasses or contacts.

See more clearly with a PEO

It’s clear how vision care can benefit everyone—from helping an employee avoid headaches at work, to enhancing a small business’s competitiveness and cost efficiency, to reducing disparities in healthcare access across racial and socioeconomic groups.

Partnering with a PEO can allow brokers to offer their clients cost-effective and quality vision care plans, which helps them acquire and retain top talent and experience a higher ROI.

A high-quality PEO, like ExtensisHR, can equip brokers with vision care plans and more by providing a wide range of Fortune 500-level employee benefits, including:

• Health insurance, including vision and dental care
• 401(k) retirement plans
• Student loan repayment programs
• Family-forming support
• And more

ExtensisHR’s dedicated benefits administration and customer support teams are also readily available to explain plan terms and differences, help workers navigate qualifying life events, share benefit information throughout the year, and more.

The right benefits empower employees and strengthen your book of business. Contact the experts at ExtensisHR to explore how we can help you grow.