My employer does not provide vision insurance. What should I do?

When I wore glasses, I paid retail, out of my own pocket. I would buy new glasses every 6-10 years, so the expense really wasn't that bad spread out over time. I never considered getting vision insurance, and doubt it would have been worth it in my case. FWIW, I had to get emergency replacement lenses in my frames (after cracking one in an accident) from Lenscrafters. Those lenses never seemed quite right to me—I even got myself re-examined and a replacement set of lenses from Lenscrafters (under their guarantee). No change. Then I came into a small windfall and got LASIK. Yay me. ... more

Honestly, I have "vision insurance", and it's marginal whether it's worth it. An extra $20 a month, and the only reason I come out ahead is because my lenses are frightfully expensive. ... more

I imagine that since you already wear glasses, you know the prescription you should be wearing. If that is the case, consider buying glasses online. I would suggest Zenni Optical, but there are quite a few alternatives. There's no reason to go with VSP though. It's a ripoff. I guarantee you if you went to a VSP-covered doctor and offered than 15% off of whatever rate VSP wants to charge you, they'd work out a deal that's just as good. There's rarely a good reason to buy unsubsidized insurance for necessary expenses. ... more

I am right now going through a glasses mess, so I feel for you. On the good side, I have figured out a few things: Don't bother with VSP or getting other vision insurance on your own. It would be a waste of money. Even if you go to a more spendy optometrist for a prescription, the cost of the exam probably won't be as much as a year of premiums. And it certainly doesn't help that much with the cost of glasses because I know VSP doesn't contract with the more reasonable places, only the smaller stores with less selection and insane markup. The only reason to buy glasses at a retail outlet is to make sure that you can return them if your script is wrong, or they don't fit or something. This is especially important if you are changing to progressive lenses or something major like that. For that you really need a good optician. Use any discount you can find. However, when you have all of the measurements and know what you want, glasses are so much cheaper online. more

Insurance is a lousy deal for necessary expenses, whether paid for by you or by your employer. So your employer, recognizing this, isn't providing it. I can assure you that WalMart optical will be cheaper than buying vision insurance. If you can, wait for one of their two-for-one deals on frames, then you can have prescription sunglasses as well as regular glasses. Or, you could get lasik, since that is much cheaper over the long run than a steady stream of new glasses. Lasik isn't ever covered by insurance, AFAIK, so you'd be paying for it anyway. ... more

I recommend against LensCrafters for a variety of reasons. 1) I went there for the first time last year, and they told me that my Traditional Blue insurance (Same thing as BlueCross/BlueShield) couldn't be used with them, even though I'd called and they said they take it. I had to call, ask specifically for a doctor, and come in and speak with said doctor before they'd take my discount. 2) They told me I'd be able to drive fine after they dilated my eyes. I told them I'm sensitive to light and don't have prescription sunglasses. They told me I'd be fine. When I left, there was no way I would have been able to drive, and I had to wait in the parking lot for an hour before I felt safe. I talked to two separate eye doctors later, and they said they'd never let a patient drive alone if they didn't have sunglasses after dilation. 3) Instead of letting me choose what glasses I wanted, they tried to choose them for me, and basically tried to sell me on specific styles. When I tried to take a ... more