Vision Plan Loses Lawsuit

"A health insurance company angry about losing a bid for the state’s vision contract just lost their case in Shawnee County District Court," notes KSNT. "Superior Vision Services, Inc. based in Rancho, Cordova, CA had been the sole provider of vision insurance for the State Employee Health Plan or SEHP. However, following a new request for proposal, the Kansas State Employees Health Care Commission (HCC) awarded the contract to Surency Life and Health Insurance on April 20, 2015. Surency is a Kansas-based company with offices in Wichita and Leawood. Superior sued the state of Kansas on several grounds in October, naming several agencies and entities in the lawsuit. Today, the court ruled that there was substantial evidence supporting the decision to accept Surency’s proposal. The court wrote that the decision was 'no so wide of the mark as to be deemed unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious.'" Read more.

Why the Affordable Care Act Does Not Cover Vision

“Healthcare.gov will reopen for business on Nov. 15, welcoming millions of Americans to an insurance marketplace that offers medical plans and dental coverage. No one will be shopping for separate eye-care plans, an exclusion that roils companies that sell vision insurance. Even though they aren’t getting new customers, vision insurers still have to pay the Affordable Care Act’s tax on health insurance providers. Why did vision get left out of Obamacare?” asks Business Week. “The answer reveals a lot about the rabbit hole of bureaucracy and political gridlock that’s responsible for so much of American public policy in 2014. Vision plans were originally intended to be part of the exchanges when the ACA was being drafted, says Rob Lynch, chief executive of VSP Global, a vision plan that covers eye care for 67 million Americans. Lawmakers became concerned about how subsidies to help people afford coverage would be split among medical, dental, and visual providers, so glasses got left out. But eye-care plans remained subject to the tax on health insurers. When VSP paid the fee last week, the levy amounted to $25 million. In a letter to the Internal Revenue Service along with the payment, VSP’s general counsel said the company intends to seek a refund.” Read more.

Stand Alone Vision Plans Not to Be Sold Through California's Exchange

"Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill [Assembly Bill 1877] that Rancho Cordova’s vision insurer, VSP Global, says was necessary to let it sell coverage through the state-run health care marketplace, Covered California," according to a report in the Modesto Bee. "Brown’s veto appears to tear open an old wound...In 2012, the governing board of Covered California, the electronic marketplace created in response to the federal Affordable Care Act, was finalizing its rules. It had decided not to let 'stand-alone' companies like VSP, which provide only vision care insurance, sell coverage to individuals. Lynch protested and said he was putting on hold a significant expansion of the company’s operations in the Sacramento area. A slew of elected officials and business leaders urged the state agency to reconsider. Eventually, the Covered California board reversed course and voted to let VSP and other stand-alone insurers into the market for individuals....But because of a wrinkle in federal law, the agency later realized that stand-alone vision plans couldn’t be sold through an exchange, according to a legislative analysis of AB 1877." Read more.

Union of America Eye Care Providers Vision Plans Are Anti-Competitive

“Representatives of the Union of America Eye Care Providers recently met with the Department of Justice’s Healthcare Anti-Trust Division to argue the organization’s position that the vision care plan industry’s policies have an anti-competitive affect on the vision care industry,” reports Modern Medicine. “The meeting laid the legal foundation for the Union’s position that vision care plans’ policies and rules lead to higher prices, lower quality, fewer choices, according to Union Executive Director Craig Steinberg, OD, JD.” Read more.

VSP Supports CA Attempt to Stand Alone Vision Marketplace

"VSP, frustrated with its inability to offer adult vision care as a stand-alone benefit through Covered California, is backing an effort to establish a separate vision care marketplace linked to the exchange website," says the Sacramento Business Journal. "The vehicle to do this is Assembly Bill 1877 by Assemblyman Ken Cooley, a Democrat from Rancho Cordova. The bill creates a vision care access council in state government modeled after the state health benefit exchange. The council would contract with vision plans, manage the program and work with the exchange to establish a link between the two programs." Read more.

EyeMed: There's an App for That

A mobile app reportedly makes it easy for the 36 million U.S. members of EyeMed Vision Care plans to access plan information and a digital copy of their member ID card. Members also can locate network providers. It works with an iPhone or iPad, and the free “EyeMed Members” app is now available through the Apple iTunes store. The company says that it will launch an Android version soon. Read more.

Vision Plans Subsidizing Group Health Plans

Time magazine reports that "it’s a common scenario: A medical insurance carrier wants to sell your company a medical coverage plan that is partly paid by your employer. The carrier’s sales representative, sensing your company’s price sensitivity, attempts to sweeten the deal by offering a 1% reduction in your company’s medical premiums. Sometimes this can be as much as the vision premium. But there’s a catch. The vision coverage is employee-paid. So the medical plan which is partly employer-paid, is being subsidized by the vision plan that is 100% financed by your company’s employees. This deal is too good for any company to pass up, right? Not so fast. The truth is, a bundled deal such as the one above may not only cost employees more money, but may also leave your company open to legal challenges." Read more.

Vermont and Kansas Restrict Vision Plans with ODs

"Following the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision affirming the state’s 2010 Patient Access to Eye Care Act, as reported by VMail Dec. 18, 2013, two other states, Kansas and Vermont, have passed legislation with similar language restricting the latitude managed vision care plans have when contracting with optometrists, primarily disallowing insurance companies from requiring providers to give covered members discounts on non-covered materials and services," reports Vision Monday. Read more.

BC/BS of Massachusetts Hooks Up with EyeMed

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) has created a new vision care plan, called Blue 20/20 with EyeMed Vision Care. It will provie for routine eye exams and savings on lenses and coatings through a network of more than 60,000 independent and chain providers, including LensCrafters, most Pearle's, Target, Sears, and JCPenny. For more information about Blue 20/20 contact your sales representative or call (800) 422-3545 for small group direct sales or (800) 531-2563 for small/large brokered sales. Read more.

JD Power Releases Vision Plan Study

Just as the Affordable Care Act comes into effect next week and as Americans learn that adult eye care is not covered, J.D. Powers came out with its rankings for vision plans.

UnitedHealthcare Vision ranks highest in customer satisfaction among vision plan providers, performing particularly well in plan coverage and communication about plan benefits, according to the J.D. Power 2013 Vision Plan Satisfaction ReportSM.

Overall satisfaction among vision plan members is 673 on a 1,000-point scale.
Among members who rate overall satisfaction 10 (Outstanding) on a 10-point scale, 83 percent say they "definitely will" select their current vision plan provider in the future. Some 42 percent of members who rate overall satisfaction 10 (Outstanding) on a 10-point scale have single coverage.
The average monthly premium price paid for a vision plan is $36.33.

Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Scores
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)

1. UnitedHealthcare Vision  704
2. EyeMed 700
3. VSP 687
4. Report Average 673
5. Davis Vision 630

The report is based on responses from 3015 verified vision plan members, questioned from this past August 20 through August 26. The report measures member satisfaction based on four factors (in order of importance): coverage, cost, communication, and customer care.

VSP Launches Online Game

VSP Vision Care (VSP) launched an online game called “Time Crunch Sweepstakes” on the website SeeMuchMore.com. Gamers can win a chance for the grand prize: an island vacation trip for two.  The easy-to-play interactive game teaches participants about the importance of eye health and vision health plans. Participants also can play the instant-win round for a chance to win a pair of designer sunglasses, a Visa gift card, or other prizes. Consumers can earn up to 10 additional daily entries to the grand prize drawing just by sharing the game through social media channels.
Play the game by following these simple steps:

• Visit SeeMuchMore.com, select “Have Fun and Learn” from the top navigation, then “Time Crunch Sweepstakes.”
• Enter your email address to be eligible to win the grand prize.
• Complete three fun rounds to the game: Eye Trivia, Eye Blink and Eye Chart:
• Eye Trivia – Series of five questions on eye health that you must answer as quickly as possible
• Eye Blink – Look for eyes to appear on the screen; click on them with your mouse, or your finger if you’re playing on a mobile device, before they disappear
• Eye Chart – Find the hidden phrase in an eye chart and type it out.

Argus Enters Vision Plan Marketplace

Argus Dental Plan (www.argusdental.com) has formed Argus Vision to offer vision benefit plans as an added comprehensive benefit to employer groups and health plans. Argus Dental currently provides dental benefits nationally to members in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia with future expansion into Texas. Read more.

EyeMed Launches New Plans

EyeMed Vision Care has launched EyePrefer vision plan. It has three levels of coverage. The new plan came about as a result of a study of its members. When offered a choice, members selected an enhanced plan 65 percent of the time. The survey also revealed that 87 percent of members want a tool to help guide decisions about selecting a plan. As a result, EyeMed developed EyeNav, an online tool that guides employees through a series of questions and recommends an EyePrefer plan based on their responses. Read more.

Expanded Coverage Offered by Empire BC-BS

Empire BlueCross BlueShield in New York is enhancing the current Blue View Vision benefits. Some of the enhancements being made to the current Blue View Vision benefits package include:

• UV blocking Transitions lenses covered at 100 percent (when using an in-network provider) for children under 19 years old .
• Negotiated discounts on the most popular lenses and lens options, including premium progressive lenses and anti-reflective lens coatings .
• Scratch coating on all standard lenses at no additional cost.

Read more.

ClearlyContacts Forms Partnership with BC HRMA

ClearlyContacts.ca, a division of Coastal.com, reportedly has signed a partnership agreement with the British Columbia Human Resource Management Association (BC HRMA). The two parties will work together to offer vision benefits to BC HRMA employees and BC HRMA member organizations. The new plans enable employers to provide superior vision benefits to their employees at the same or lower cost than current vision benefit offerings. Read more.

Coastal Contacts Starts Vision Plan

According to a press release on Yahoo! News,  Coastal Contacts Inc.has launched a new vision benefit plan. The Coastal Vision Plan provides each employee and their dependents with an initial Free pair of prescription eyeglasses in addition to significant ongoing savings on prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses. Other options exist that allow employers to customize the plan to suit their needs. The plan is particularly attractive to employers, who are seeking to reduce their benefits costs while providing their employees with enhanced vision benefits. Coastal is currently working with Benefits Consultants, Brokers and leading HR Professionals to bring the plan to market. Read more.

Lincoln Financial Intro's Vision Plan for Employers

Lincoln Financial Group has introduced Lincoln VisionConnect, a fully insured vision plan for employer benefit packages. Available in combination with Lincoln's other group benefit products, the plan reportedly can help improve employees' quality of life and work productivity with a broad range of vision benefits covering glasses and contacts to routine and preventive care. Read more.

California Not to Accept Stand Alone Vision Plans

Ten days ago, "the California Health Benefits Exchange board voted to exclude stand-alone vision plans from offering coverage in the California Health Benefits individual exchange," reports the Sacramento Business Journal. "The reasons given were that these plans are “not allowed” to participate and because of administrative complexity and cost." Read more.

AlwaysCare Teams Up with VSP

AlwaysCare Benefits, Inc. team up with VSP Vision Care to create a vision health plan called Preferred Choice Vision Plans. This arrangement enables AlwaysCare to offer its vision plans side-by-side with plans from VSP Vision Care, providing clients with the choice. Read more.

KY Prohibits Fee-Capping by Vision Plans

Kentucky has become the first state in the nation to prohibit vision care insurance plans from establishing the fees that vision care providers can charge for products or services that the plans do not cover under their benefit packages. Read more.