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Study recommends vision coverage for all health plans, AOA agrees
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The American Optometric Association announced its support of the findings from a recently published study concluding that vision exams should be mandatory in all health plans.
The study, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, compared rates of eye care visits to rates of vision impairment in working-age adults with and without vision insurance.
Researchers used data from the 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey vision module, which involved 27,152 adults and a subset of 3,158 with glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration or cataract.
The researchers concluded that the lack of vision insurance “impedes eye care utilization, which, in turn, may irrevocably affect vision. Vision insurance for preventive eye care should cease to be a separate insurance benefit and should be mandatory in all health plans.”
The AOA stated in a press release that these study results align with previous policy recommendations from the organization that indicate the benefit of all Americans having access to a quality vision benefit.
“Optional, supplemental vision coverage that has predominated over the last 40 years is simply no longer good enough,” Stephen Montaquila, chair of the AOA’s Third Party Center Executive Committee, said in the press release. “Eye health and vision care are essential health benefits that should be fully integrated with the other essential benefits covered by all health plans.”