Should Insurance underwrite eyewear?

[MarcE]

There is a difference between insurance, managed care, and discount plans.

one more catagory - pre-paid vision plan.

[tdnod]

This really gets to me about BCBS also! And here in NC I just started to notice this about 2 years ago. Nothing on the card tells you the vision is thru Davis or Eyemed. Here we have to take 30% off glasses, which is rediculus and absurd. Also, I haven't seen any fee increases in ten years from these guys (BCBS- I don't take these others). They pay a lousy $96 max for 92004 (new) and $70 for established eye exams WITH refraction. How long can we keep taking this abuse, while the executive make huge salaries?

Thank the lord this is happening everywhere... I thought just FL. We've got VSP and VCP to add to that drop down list for BCBS, not to mention the discount plan up to 60% off frames and 40% off everything else. Have fun figuring out that. And most of our patients are 65+ with Cats and MD as a primary Dx. They don't want you to use their medicare, "that'll make me pay my deductible", just give me a routine exam. Gotta pay for the jets and 4 week vacations. Haven't heard of a vacation in 10 years.

On a lighter note: Glad you get a better max in NC.:bbg:

[MarcE]

Q: What other Medical device/service (if you believe eyewear is) follows this model?

Dental "insurance". $20/month gets you one cleaning a year and x-rays every other year and 50% off any actual work you may need. I wonder what the dentist has to write-off? Probably 30%. On a crown you pay 100, the DDS writes off $60 and gets a nifty check for $39 (minus a 5% administration fee). And it only took his/her staff 1 hour of time and 6 weeks to collect the $. Sound familiar?

A few years there was a scam of a publicly-traded company called Pre-paid Legal. The name says it all. Pay for a lawyer that you may or may not need just like insurance. I'm sure you will get a high-quality lawyer that will devote hundreds of hours of his/her personal time and their staff's time in your time of need just because you have been paying $30/month for the last 10 years:hammer:
Let's see. A company formed by lawyers designed to make money for lawyers and then sell stock to make even more money for said lawyers. Same said lawyers write the contract that you have to sign in order for them to take your money. I'm quite confident that contract will not allow for any benefit to be realized by the client.:shiner::shiner::hammer::finger:

They used the "insurance" model.

[orangezero]

Dental "insurance". $20/month gets you one cleaning a year and x-rays every other year and 50% off any actual work you may need. I wonder what the dentist has to write-off? Probably 30%. On a crown you pay 100, the DDS writes off $60 and gets a nifty check for $39 (minus a 5% administration fee). And it only took his/her staff 1 hour of time and 6 weeks to collect the $. Sound familiar?

A few years there was a scam of a publicly-traded company called Pre-paid Legal. The name says it all. Pay for a lawyer that you may or may not need just like insurance. I'm sure you will get a high-quality lawyer that will devote hundreds of hours of his/her personal time and their staff's time in your time of need just because you have been paying $30/month for the last 10 years:hammer:
Let's see. A company formed by lawyers designed to make money for lawyers and then sell stock to make even more money for said lawyers. Same said lawyers write the contract that you have to sign in order for them to take your money. I'm quite confident that contract will not allow for any benefit to be realized by the client.:shiner::shiner::hammer::finger:

They used the "insurance" model.

Actually many dentists I know aren't willing to take any dental plans and seem to be doing quite nicely. They do take the plans that allow for balance billing of the patient. They have balls. Optical/Optometry just doesn't, collectively.