Vision Only Plans

[vic120]

BTW, I do not know of anyone that writes a vision only insurance plan. Is there such a thing?

Ive heard stories about them, But are they just legend, Who knows

 

[LostDollar]

BTW, I do not know of anyone that writes a vision only insurance plan. Is there such a thing?

Again, viewpoint from the consumer side of the table:

VSP calls itself vision insurance. Maybe it's more of a discount plan. I don't know which description is more technically correct.

I'm pretty sure that in some of the group coverage we had over a 20 year period, the VSP vision insurance was a separate coverage that could be accepted completely independently of the Health and Dental components.

(I also think there was another company besides VSP that offered standalone vision coverage but I can't remember its name.)

From the agent side of the table:

As I said in a previous post, that is probably not a lot of help to an agent looking for a product to sell.

And, moving away from the group health environment, what I have seen here goes with what you just said, that vision coverage is usually mentioned as an add-on to dental.

Although.....

For your today's entertainment: I just looked at the VSP site for that vocabulary question about insurance and I saw that they have a relationship with another company so you can get dental coverage in addition to your vision coverage!

 

[somarco]

BTW, I do not know of anyone that writes a vision only insurance plan. Is there such a thing?

VSP, UHC, EyeMed, Aetna . . . Humana used to offer one. Don't know if they still do or not. Don't care.

I understand your thoughts on giving the customer what they want, and I agree with that . . . up to a point. When someone tells me they want a Medigap plan from a particular carrier that I know will be a problem, I have no problem suggesting they go direct to that carrier.

And then I explain why.

I don't need that much drama in my life and neither do they.

I don't recall ever having someone tell me they will buy direct after I explain. I also say the same when they ask about dental or vision plans.

Sometimes they buy a dental or vision plan anyway. Most times they come back later and tell me they should have taken my advice.

 

[LostDollar]

Sometimes it not a question of afford or even need. It is just a case of want. I have had people say they want DVH simply because so and so have a plan where they work. Kind of a keeping up with the Joneses thing. I learned to quit questioning the logic of people's wants long ago.

What ds4's post above does not recognize is that everyone does not have the level of financial resources he has.

With a combination of group coverage where the employer is underwriting part of the insurance cost and a family situation where all members of the family wear glasses, vision coverage can be very useful. In addition in the group environment, the health plan usually covers most of the cost of a complete annual eye exam (not just refraction for new prescription).

Moving away from the group world to the individual world, it is just like dental coverage, the cost increases and coverage may be more restricted. that takes more evaluation, but I think some people can still have a benefit from it (the vision insurance).

 

[LostDollar]

VSP, UHC, EyeMed, Aetna . . . Humana used to offer one. Don't know if they still do or not. Don't care.

I understand your thoughts on giving the customer what they want, and I agree with that . . . up to a point. When someone tells me they want a Medigap plan from a particular carrier that I know will be a problem, I have no problem suggesting they go direct to that carrier.

And then I explain why.

I don't need that much drama in my life and neither do they.

I don't recall ever having someone tell me they will buy direct after I explain. I also say the same when they ask about dental or vision plans.

Sometimes they buy a dental or vision plan anyway. Most times they come back later and tell me they should have taken my advice.

I have a UHC vision plan. I thought it was just available as an addon to dental coverage, not a stand alone plan which is why I did not mention it in my earlier post. But, I don't know for sure. I think a lot of folks would be likely to find the UHC vision plan to not be useful because of a very limited network.

 

[rousemark]

VSP, UHC, EyeMed, Aetna . . . Humana used to offer one. Don't know if they still do or not. Don't care.

I understand your thoughts on giving the customer what they want, and I agree with that . . . up to a point. When someone tells me they want a Medigap plan from a particular carrier that I know will be a problem, I have no problem suggesting they go direct to that carrier.

And then I explain why.

I don't need that much drama in my life and neither do they.

I don't recall ever having someone tell me they will buy direct after I explain. I also say the same when they ask about dental or vision plans.

Sometimes they buy a dental or vision plan anyway. Most times they come back later and tell me they should have taken my advice.

Oh, I didn't say sell it to them.. I just said I no longer question the logic of people's wants.