Is Vision Insurance Separate from Health Insurance? - Trusted Senior Specialists

This comes down to defining vision and health insurance. You don’t want to pay for more than you have to. In fact, enrolling in a vision insurance plan in which the costs for keeping your plan exceed the treatment costs it covers will make you lose money. 

The future is unpredictable — just like emergencies that send you to the ER. It was a good idea not to enroll in a policy at one time, but in retrospect, what was once the wrong decision is now the best choice. That’s why you need to know what your policy covers because the answer to this question is… sometimes.

Here, we’ll first dive in by defining health and vision insurance, highlighting similarities and differences between the two. From there, we’ll evaluate the consequences of having one, but not the other. We’ll then look at ways you can have both with just one plan.

Defining Health Insurance and Vision Insurance

Health insurance has a near-limitless variety of options. There’s no standard premium, deductible, copayment, or coinsurance cost. They do, however, operate under the same principles – this benefits you in case of emergency room visits, which can be from multiple forms of serious bodily harm.

Health insurance is applicable to a variety of settings, too – outpatient visits, hospice care, pharmacies, and skilled nursing facilities. The scope is broad because any number of conditions can land you in those facilities. 

Vision insurance, on the other hand, is purchased separately for those needing routine eye appointments. If you go often, it’s relatively inexpensive and will keep eye appointment costs from piling up. If you don’t suffer from eye health issues, it can hurt you more than it helps, because you’re paying premiums for something you never use.

Risks of Not Having Each

Another way to show how these are separate is by looking at what you have to lose.

If you don’t have health insurance, you’re in a lot of trouble. In fact, some states will impose tax penalties for not having health insurance. Without health insurance, you’re implicitly assuming nothing will happen to you. But if something bad happens to you, you’ll have bills that may take years to pay off.

As mentioned before, vision insurance can be a loss if you don’t need it. Vision insurance doesn’t cover the same variety of conditions. For example, it’s highly unlikely you’d find a vision insurance plan that also covers treatments for coronary artery disease.

So far, it sounds like you have no choice but to pay for both at once if you need vision care. Luckily there’s a way to have both within the same plan.

When They’re Not Separate

Earlier, we touched on health insurance being so broad that there’s not a single answer on this. The previous sections reference health insurance policies that don’t include vision insurance because that’s why there’s no definitive answer on this.

Fortunately, there are health insurance policies with vision care built-in. These policies give you a specific network of healthcare providers who will treat you for a reduced cost. Health Maintenance Organization and Preferred Provider Organization Plans fit this criterion. And this is where vision insurance isn’t separate, and because of this, you don’t have to go out of your way to obtain a second policy.

Want a Plan with Both?

You’ve come this far, and while at first, it seemed like there was no way other than risking losing money, you now know that you can get everything you want under one plan.

We at Trusted Senior Specialists have set a precedent in excellence — 15 consecutive years of recognition for our outstanding service. Call us today at (855) 952-1941, and you can have a video chat appointment with us for free.