Stand-Alone Vision Plans Get Excluded from the Exchange

The California Health Benefit Exchange Board voted to exclude stand-alone vision plans from coverage through the California Health Benefit Exchange, at least for the first year. However, stand-alone dental plans will be allowed to compete in the exchange. Daniel L. Mannen, OD, FAAO writes in a VSP Global blog, “Since all vision care will have to be delivered by or in partnership with a health plan in the new California Exchange, the decision greatly advantages programs that are owned by health plans (Spectera, Davis Vision, and Kaiser) and means that stand-alone vision plans, like VSP, will have a harder time competing for patients. This is significant because independent optometrists may see fewer patients as people transition into the exchanges and into plans that lock them out (like Kaiser) or that pay less (like Spectera and Davis)…Access to patients is the key to optometric independence, and organizations like VSP Vision Care should be allowed to compete in the California Exchange and Exchanges across the country.”