You may fall into either of the two categories: you have perfect eyesight and will not need prescription glasses or treatment/surgery for vision in the next several years. Or you either currently have poor eyesight or may develop some vision problems in the near future. Unfortunately, people belonging to the former category are almost impossible to find these days, what with the increased strain put on the eyes by our modern lifestyle where most of our time is spent before TV and computer screens. If you belong to the latter category, you would definitely benefit a great deal by investing in individual vision insurance.
What exactly is individual vision insurance? To explain in simple terms, it is an added benefit that can be purchased in addition to your regular health insurance. It costs only a few dollars each month (around $15-20 for most providers) and covers a variety of benefits. These range from providing coverage for visits to an eye doctor, partial coverage for eye glasses/lenses, and even surgical procedures such as LASIK.
Anybody who has suffered from poor vision knows how expensive the above mentioned treatment options can be. A single visit to the optician for a routine pair of glasses can set you back by a couple of hundred dollars. For most people, this is prohibitively out of reach. Fortunately, by paying your insurance company just a few dollars extra each month, you can cut costs dramatically on these services.
In most cases, your individual vision insurance provider will be separate from your primary insurance provider, although you should be able to find a plan that offers both. One of the biggest vision insurance providers in the United States is VSP and it works in partnerships with various insurance providers to avail you of its services. If you get your insurance through your employer, you should be able to obtain vision insurance as an added benefit without any trouble, though you may have to pay for it through your own pocket (which is a minor expense compared to the possible benefits).
For people who have poor vision, or may suffer from it in the near future, individual vision insur