Nearly three years ago, one of the largest single pieces of legislation — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — to transform our nation’s healthcare system became law. A large portion of this law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2014. The law aims to increase access to healthcare insurance, lower costs and improve quality of care, but it may actually limit choices for consumers. In order to achieve these benefits, Connecticut is in the process of setting up its own insurance exchange, which will act as a healthcare insurance shopping market, to enable residents to access these benefits.
Surprisingly, stand-alone vision plans, like VSP Vision Care and Eyemed, have not yet been included in the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange when care begins on Jan. 1, 2014. If these plans are not permitted to participate when the Exchange begins or at any future point, millions of people in our state could be forced to find new eye doctors.
With such major changes affecting our healthcare delivery model, it’s more important than ever that we urge our Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange Board to recognize the benefits of vision care and the importance of protecting consumer choice with the inclusion of stand-alone vision plans.
I have worked as an optometrist in Connecticut for 39 years and am concerned about the impact the new law could have on the health of my patients. The number of people who utilize their vision benefits is expected to drop significantly if stand-alone vision plans are not able to participate directly. People with stand-alone vision plans are twice as likely to receive comprehensive eye exams as those who have vision benefits bundled within their medical plan.
This is particularly significant because eye doctors are often the first medical professionals to identify serious health conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. In addition to chronic conditions, the Connecticut Department of Public Health reports 11 percent of adults suffer from ‘low vision’ and the rate is even higher for Hispanics (31 percent) and African Americans (15 percent) in our state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 36 percent of local residents have near visual impairment and 22 percent have diabetic retinopathy. We can’t afford to reduce access to vision care and risk increasing the number of people who have undetected visual impairments and other serious health conditions. Doing so will increase healthcare costs in the long-term and place a bigger burden on our healthcare system.
What’s even more confounding is the fact that stand-alone dental plans are able to directly participate in Connecticut’s insurance exchanges. Ultimately, patients should also have the option to choose which vision care plan is the best for them. In my opinion, we need to provide residents with every option possible to live healthy lives rather than eliminate resources they are currently utilizing. If stand-alone vision plans are able to participate in the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange, then adults and children will have greater access to eye care and more doctors will be available to address the public’s health needs. Most important, our state will demonstrate that patients have, and always will, come first.
Joel Roffer owns Roffer Eyecare Center in Farmington and has been practicing optometry for more than 39 years.
