California health insurance - Group health insurance in California - Group vision coverage for California companies
Vision insurance is a very valued benefit to most employees on California small group health plans. It's interesting since the big risks in health care are covered by the health plan but it's vision and dental coverage that garner an inordinate amount of attention. Let's face it...these are benefits that employees are more likely to used on a regular basis where medical is seen as possible but improbable.
Employees see a real functional value to vision since they can plan on using the benefits even in great health. Employees that need corrective vision benefits (such as glasses or contact lenses) immediately perceive a benefit but these days, the preventative exam can detect signs of more serious health issues.
The best reason for Vision is that the
benefit is relatively inexpensive to the
California employer relative to the perceived
benefit by the employee. The individual family
market does not have stand alone vision benefits
so Vision is a benefit that employers can offer
to attract and retain valued employees.
There are three main benefit categories to Vision which makes it pretty easy to compare.
This is a key benefit that all employees can
use especially in light of today's heavy
reliance on computer screens. Most California
group vision plans offer this exam through their
network for a copay. Not only does the exam look
for corrective needs but it can also find early
signs of other more serious health issues. Every
employee can use this benefit.
The Vision plans then define separate benefits for the two common corrective benefits.
Glasses or corrective lenses are a core benefit for vision plans. The level of benefit will dictate how much you will be reimbursed and what type of lenses are eligible. As for the amount, the vision plans will typically dictate up to a certain amount (let's say $150) for frames of your choice during a fixed period of time (Let's say 18 months). This means you can get one set of glasses up to $150 every 18 months on this plan. Since glasses are more expensive than contacts, they usually have a a separate time frame (longer). 24 or 12 months are the standards for most vision plans.
With contact lenses, amount of reimbursement might apply to the exam (contact evaluation and fitting) and the actual contacts themselves. This is handled separately from the main vision exam mentioned above (annual eye check up).
Vision Networks for Group insurance
California group vision plans have networks just like medical or dental plans. In order to get the best benefits and keep your out of pocket expenses to a minimum, you will want to access Vision benefits within these networks. The networks can be pretty varied across the different carriers. VSP's network is probably the biggest on the market.
Many large Vision "retailers" such as Lenscrafters or Pearl participate in the main networks.
Again, there is absolutely no cost to you for our services. Call 800-320-6269 Today!