Health Benefits

Most companies have Extended Health Benefits for staff which covers things like Prescription Drugs, Vision and Dental. However, are the benefits effective? i.e. Provides enough coverage for the average family? What about coverage that are specific to the job?

It’s that time of the year again for our annual Benefits Enrolment and I thought I’d explore deeper into the Vision Care portion of my personal benefits.

I am a techie, so I sit and stare at a computer screen > 10 hour a day. Not all of that is from work but still, most of us use our eyes all of our waking hours and could not function without them. So, given our eyes are the most important tools we have, how good is the Visions benefit?

Blue Cross covers me $275 for every 24 months. So that works out to $137.50 annually.

Heading over to one of the most popular site for contacts and glasses, I see that the list price for Air Optix Night & Day for $64.89/Box. I wear this brand because I couldn’t be bothered to take my contacts out and cleaning/storing them every night only to wake up blind as a bat. Air Optix Night & Day is designed to be worn continuously for 30 days. At 4 boxes, I get a volume discount for $59.99/box. Each box contains 6 lenses which can be worn for 30 days each. I have two separate prescription for each of my eyes so for 2 boxes, I get 6 months worth of contacts. At 4 boxes, that is one year worth.

$59.99 x 4 = $239.96
$239.96 + 12% tax = $268.75
$268.75 + shipping/handling = …

So, for the price of 1 year worth of contacts, I have already blown my 2 year budget. I am then left with the option of:

• Glasses
• Be blind for a year
• Wear each pair for 2 months instead of 1 month

Clearly, glasses is the best option above just for health and safety reasons. But, personally, I hate glasses. There’s always a film on the lenses; it smudges easy; it sits on my nose and creates pressure on my sinus that makes me dizzy. And, I have a very light frame. So instead, I’ve picked the worst option of wearing each pair for as long as I can to conserve. It’s probably terrible for my eyes and I’m likely to go blind much sooner.  Mean while… I have $300 in acupuncture credits that I never use but can never transfer to anything else I actually need. Note: $275/2 years is the highest possible level I can go for Vision care.

So, how good are your benefits? Do they cover what you need? Do have any praises or beefs with your benefits provider? Let me know in the comments.

*Note* This post uses actual figures, however, it’s for illustrative purposes only. There are other parts to my benefits that are actually quite fantastic. I’ve used the Vision portion as an example only.