Vision insurance is an important benefit to employees in California small groups.  Just like dental, employees are more likely to perceive a functional value from group vision insurance since they use it even in good health (for preventative and lenses).  Not only do employees value the annual corrective eye exam and lenses (contacts or glasses), increasingly, signs of serious illness or other health conditions can be detected through a thorough exam.  From an employer's point of view, dental benefits are very inexpensive so it is a nice complement to medical and dental coverage for a California group benefits package in providing a complete offering to attract and maintain quality employees.  Let's look a little more at small group vision benefits.

Some basics about Group vision insurance

Vision breaks down into three main categories and most plans are very simple in design.  This is good as it makes it easy for employees to understand exactly what they are getting.

Annual Eye exam.

This is really the core provider benefit with vision coverage.  Usually, you get an annual eye exam within the network of participating vision providers at no cost or low copays.  This exam is typically used to evaluate both eye function for corrective purposes, look for illness of the eye, and to find signs of other health conditions that show symptoms in the eye.  The latter is becoming more important with time as people without corrective needs can catch more serious issues earlier.

Corrective Lenses. 

Corrective lenses or glasses are usually a benefit as well.  The policy will typically give guidelines for what's allowed such as: "Single vision; lined bifocal and lined trifocal lenses".  "Polycarbonate lenses for dependent children".  This basically dictates the type of lense that is covered by the plan.  The policy will separately stipulate the type of frame available.  The range of pricing varies significantly as frames have become objects of style.  Due to this range, the policy will typically cap the amount the policy will pay up to for frames.  For example, it may read, "Frames of your choice up to $120".   The benefits above are usually allowed during a certain period of time.  For example, the lenses may be "every 12 months".  This means that the policy will only pay the benefit once per year.  If you lose or break that pair, you will have to pay out of pocket or wait till the 12 months are up.  The frames may have a different period of time as they are more expensive than lenses.  This period of time and the dollar amount allowed for the frames is typically what changes from plan to plan.  12 and 24 months are standard periods that you see with most plans

Contact Lenses.

When you choose contact lenses, the allowed amount (for example, $120 above) may apply to both the contact lenses and the contact lenses exam (fitting and evaluation).  This exam is usually a separate benefit from general eye exam with the policy. 

The eye exam, corrective lenses, and contact lenses are the main benefit points with Group vision insurance in California.  In addition, there may be discounts for laser vision correction, sunglasses, and contact lenses.

Vision Networks for Group insurance

Vision network with California group insurance are given in order to get the best benefits (such as above).  Vision networks tend to be very large depending on the vision carrier.  VSP has a significant network and the other carriers are getting pretty comparable.  The large vision providers such as Pearl or Lenscrafters are usually part of the networks.  If you use a provider outside the network, you will pay more.  It is important to try and stay within the network in order to get the most out of your policy. 

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

Small Group RAFF
Why offer Small Group health insurance
Guide to Group health insurance in California
Group health anniversary date
California group health insurance