Last week I talked about the pros and cons of having dental insurance. Vision insurance is a little bit different story. Usually, I find that people have vision insurance through an employer or have standalone vision coverage through VSP or I Met, which are probably the two biggest companies.

I really like and recommend the VSP plan. One of the key benefits is you get a $15 copay per eye exam. And then you can get an allowance towards glasses or contacts (one of the other), every 12 months. You also get 20% of anything above the allowance. This plan allows you to save tons and tons of money.

Tips for VSP plans:

• If you wear glasses or contacts, you save a lot more than what you’re paying for the premium
• If you don’t wear glasses or contacts, it would be cheaper for you not to have a plan and ask for a Groupon or cash price if you need an eye exam
• Not every family member has to be on the plan – you can add only those who need the coverage.

The other vision plan that’s available is through UnitedHealthcare with the golden rule. It does give the option of purchasing a plan that has been fit for both contacts and glasses. It has a $10 copay for annual eye exams and costs similar to the VSP plan, but costs more to add family members. Their network is smaller than VSP, and it may be more challenging to find an optometrist on their network.

Both plans require a 12-month commitment and work for glasses and contacts. I personally recommend the VSP, but other works well too.

Overall, my top tip is only to sign up for vision coverage if you need glasses or contact.

With open enrollment coming up, I’ll be asking more and more people if they need vision insurance, or do they wear glasses or contacts, just to make sure I’m covering all the bases. If you don’t need it. I won’t recommend you get it. But if you do need it, I usually recommend you consider it.

And then circling back to cover a little bit of what I talked about with COBRA a few weeks back; it is usually more beneficial for you, if you are staying on COBRA, to go with their vision and dental plans.

I am here to help! Please feel free to reach out to me.