Why Would I Maintain This Vision Plan?

January 6, 2025 10:27 AM

I'm currently out of work and my health insurance broker has suggested I use one of these two vision plans. If i got one of those plans/ paid for the first month, then had an eye exam and ordered glasses or contacts within that first month, why would I then continue to pay for the plan for the rest of the year (I'm assuming/ hoping here that I'll have another job within 12 months)?

By way of comparison, the same company's dental plan makes you wait 6 months before you can get e.g. fillings, which of course incentivizes the customer to maintain the plan, but I can't see any value here in continuing to pay for the vision plan once you've had your exam and got your glasses.

posted by 4th Matryoshka Doll to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

My assumption would be that the plan, like most US health insurance plans, requires you to sign up on an annual basis (to avoid exactly this kind of scenario), even if the premiums are stated monthly. You would only be able to get out of this under Open Enrollment or if you got a new job.
posted by andrewesque at 10:33 AM on January 6 [4 favorites]

Yeah you have to pick a plan and enroll in it for the full plan year. You're stuck with it unless you have a qualifying life event before the plan year ends.
posted by phunniemee at 11:06 AM on January 6

Oh and if your broker is recommending a dental plan that has a 6 month waiting period for anything other than major care (this would be like crowns or dentures) your broker is recommending a bad plan. On a decent plan, basic care (fillings, root canals) should have either no waiting period or 90 days at most. (Preventative and diagnostic care should be in immediate effect.)

Healthcare coverage in this country is warm ass. You unfortunately need to be a very informed consumer to help yourself make good decisions.
posted by phunniemee at 11:11 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

In the US it generally doesn't make sense to get vision or dental insurance unless it is paid for by your employer. You should do the math before signing up for either of those. Don't just buy it because your broker says you should.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:28 AM on January 6 [6 favorites]

On the other hand, supplemental dental insurance can be helpful in cushioning the blow of paying the high cost of good dental care, at least for preventative cleanings, exams, and x-rays. It also pays a small amount toward fillings and some other procedures. I have found it useful, especially in getting me to my cleanings in a timely manner, but it certainly is not as comprehensive as when I had employer-paid coverage.
posted by citygirl at 12:35 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]

You would only be able to get out of this under Open Enrollment or if you got a new job.

Just popping back in to say that I was a bit inexact in this wording and (as phunniemee's comment mentions) any qualifying life event -- not just a new job -- would allow you to change insurance.

I only mentioned only "new job" because it was in the OP, but if you (say) got married/divorced, had a kid, became a US citizen, etc., then those would count as well.
posted by andrewesque at 3:37 PM on January 6

I was a VSP have-r, because it came as part of hubby's benefits package. I struggle to find anything good to say about them. They are a pain to work with, take forever to reimburse, and nothing is as it seems on the surface. Basically none of the glasses anyone wants will be the $0 copay option, everything will get ratcheted up into the higher copay options. There's no actual insurance coverage for things like eye surgery, just vague murmurings about "up to $X in savings", where guess what, $0 in savings falls into that category. They have no in-network doctors anywhere near me, so everything is automatically out of network.

After tallying up what it cost us each year, weighed against the minimal benefits actually realized, we decided we were far better off just paying for everything out of pocket (well, out of our HSA.)

I get an annual eye exam and buy my glasses from Zenni.
posted by xedrik at 4:30 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]