The pair shown on the top was the prior pair -- and I like them so much, I have yet to stop wearing them! The pair in back are my new set, and while I like them, they were not worth the price. You see, I have come to realize that vision insurance is just not worth what you pay for it and you don't save enough to make it worthwhile.
Almost all vision insurance originates from one company, and that company has a monopoly of about 75 percent of the eye-wear and vision market too. They make money when they sell you the coverage, and they make money again when you buy your glasses through a retail outlet. I purchased a pair of regular glasses and a new set of sunglasses. With insurance, the two pairs set me back $360. A better bet would have been to buy them on-line. TBG spent $160 for his.
Eschewing coverage and brick & mortar retail, an eye exam might set you back $50 but then you'd get the frames and lenses for about the same amount on-line (as opposed to a hundred or more in a store). If you went with a higher end frame, you might pay $100 -- but most frames that are similar to what I bought ranged from $30 - $50. I know this because I often purchase back-up pairs on-line. The truth is that my prescription changes very little from year to year and it takes quite a long time for me to feel my prescription needs to be changed. Therefore, it's not worth it to buy vision coverage that costs over $200 per year (for a family/couple) plus the additional four or five hundred on glasses. Next time, I'm skipping vision coverage and just getting an exam when I need it so I can buy my glasses on-line.
We are pretty lucky since the 4 of us covered under the eye insurance all wear strong rx(yes we are all blind as bats without glasses). I pay 4.18 every two weeks for the insurance but we get up to 200 off our frames(and we stay under that) a 10.00 co pay at the optho, our lenses are free(yes even my no line bi focals. So for us it is worth it. This year one of the kids(adults) rx didn't change so they got rx sunglasses and I also got rx sunglasses this week since I got my new glasses in December. So for us it works out. If only that I don't have to worry about how everyone is going to pay for their glasses. So for a little over 200.00 each year we have our glasses for less than the price of the frames and lenses. I know we could do the 14.00 on line places but we would still have to get check ups. So as far as this goes we are really luck with our insurance :) J
ReplyDeleteFunny you talk about glasses today. I was looking for new frames this morning and found only two pairs I liked. One was $350 and one was $380. Just for the frames, mind you. I know my lenses cost close to $300. I did increase my insurance coverage for this year, so we'll see how good it is for an extra $13 or so a month. This site (heh) has different deals every day. https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.partner=sbc&.rand=d8r5mqna289uj#mail
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