This is a very common follow up question once a person has decided which health insurance plan he or she wants to apply for.  "What about dental and vision?".  Many times, people that are shopping for individual health insurance in California, they are coming off of group coverage where dental and vision are prevalent.  Although there are many stand-alone dental plans to choose from, vision is quite different.

Vision coverage in the California insurance market

As a standard rule, the carriers do not offer traditional vision benefits for California individuals and families.  Vision is one those benefits where the only people who will purchase it are those with vision costs (primarily glasses and contact lenses).  The insurance would quickly become as expensive as just paying for the services out of pocket based on this relationship as discussed in our "Concept of insurance" section.  Group health insurance can offer vision because they have to offer the benefit to every employee.  Out of a group of employees, a percentage will need vision benefits while another percentage will not.  This helps to keep the total rate down.  This is not the case with individual/family coverage where each person decides whether to purchase vision or not. 

Discounts for being within the carrier's Vision network

For most of the major carriers in California, you typically get discounts when using their Vision network just for being a member.  This usually translates into 20-30% off the rate if you were to just walk in off the street.  The carriers tend to contract with the major vision networks such as Pearl or Lenscrafters.   

New hybrid plans with limited Vision plans built in

Some carriers are starting to roll out plans with limited Vision benefits built in.  For example, Tonik health insurance plans from Blue Cross has a Vision benefit as part of the benefit package (also includes limited dental).  This is a good move for the market since dental and vision have a strong preference among shoppers even though the medical insurance is really the critical piece.  People use vision and dental more often and therefore place a greater value on them.  We foresee the carriers adding this type of benefit going forward if only because they are low cost and work more as a marketing tool than a true benefit that protects the insured from large out-of-pocket expenses.

Other important concepts to help you understand your California health insurance quote are:

Individual health insurance underwriting
Tonik health insurance site
Access to California downloadable and online application
More information on Individual health insurance enrollment
Getting your Individual health insurance quote
Question to ask before choosing your Individual health plan


To run your instant health insurance:

California Individual Family health insurance quote