As if health insurance isn’t confusing enough, the new insurance my company instituted as of September 1st is with one of those managed care providers. Meaning, my insurance company isn’t really, well, an insurance company. To add to the confusion, I have not just a vision discount plan, but vision benefits to boot. Apparently with the vision benefits, I’m entitled to $75/year for an eye exam and up to $200 every two years for glasses/contacts whereas I get certain percentage-based discounts through the discount plan (hence the name). But the interesting thing is with the benefits, I get to choose from a network of Optometrists whereas with the discount plan I’m limited to places like Pearle Vision and Sears Optical.
Joe and I are both overdue for an eye exam as the cute little postcards from our (soon to be former) Optometrists kindly pointed out a few months back. But who wants to travel that far? So we managed to track down a local office that accepts both our plans. I called the office this afternoon to set everything up and spoke with a really lovely woman. She was just so nice I wanted to hug her through the phone. Nevermind the fact that when someone is that nice it totally makes your day because it’s such a rarity.
This new office sounds really nice. They keep some really great hours, including evenings during the week as well as Saturdays from 9-5. I also checked to make sure that they actually give you a prescription if you ask. Believe it or not there are some places that give you a hard time because they want to bully you into purchasing their glasses/contacts which normally turn out costing more than going elsewhere. In fact, my coworker informed me that there’s a sign at the front desk of her Optometrist’s office that says prescriptions will not be given out. I’ve already informed her that this is in fact illegal and she should report them.
The receptionist assured me they do give out prescriptions (and she even noted that it’s illegal not to do so), but also advised me that their prices even blow 1-800-contacts out of the water. I’ll believe it when I see it, but that would be nice if it’s true. I’m all for saving money.
I swear I’m actually excited to get my eyes checked on Friday. It will be so nice to be able to see again. I swear my eyes are continuously deteriorating. And get this – our appointments are at 8:30 pm! Normally their office is only open until 6 pm on Fridays, but they are having some sort of party with the designer frame vendors and there’s going to be hors d’oeuvres and cocktails (although I checked to make sure the doctor wouldn’t be partaking in the festivities until after the exam). What a way to spend a Friday night, huh? It sure beats doing laundry, I’ll tell you that.