New Vision Care Offerings from Medavie

Did you see the announcement from Medavie? Three new vision care plans are now available from Medavie for adults ages 21 - 65; Essential, Preferred, and Premium. In addition to comprehensive examinations and frames and lenses, vision care options now include a range of additional benefits:

Follow up eye exams between comprehensive eye exams -- as frequently as every 12 months
Urgent office visits - up to $60 every 12 months
A higher allowance for those requiring multifocal glasses – up to $650/24 months
A higher allowance for contact lens due to disease – up to $400/24 months
Vision therapy assessment and training – up to $750
Lens implants – up to$1,000/eye per lifetime
Laser eye surgery – up to $2,000/lifetime.

CAO applauds the move by Medavie to modernize their vision care offerings. We look forward to working with other insurers to modernize their group vision care options.

Why Change?

We know that early detection of serious eye diseases can prevent more than 90% of vision loss, and that 20% of Canadians have an eye disease that may lead to blindness.

When eye disease is undiagnosed until an advanced stage, it becomes more complex and costly to treat.

Here are some other reasons to consider modernizing vision care benefits:

Diabetes rates are increasing, which means that diabetic retinopathy is also on the rise. Diabetic retinopathy is a co-morbidity of diabetes that will result in vision loss if left untreated. Benefit costs for a person with diabetic retinopathy can reach almost $20,000 annually, nearly double that of an employee with diabetes whose vision health is preserved and leads to 40% more sick days.

The changes Medavie made to its vision care offering are well-positioned to meet the changing needs of Canadians and modern practice standards in optometry using technology like Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Retinal Imaging to identify, diagnose and monitor disease:

During comprehensive examinations
- Technology helps optometrists diagnose and treat serious eye diseases early, which slows the deterioration of vision. The most common diseases that result in vision loss are diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and glaucoma, as well as other serious eye diseases.
- The same technology also allow optometrists to detect signs of other serious health issues, including hypertension, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, tumours and Crohn’s disease and refer their patients to their family physician for early diagnosis and treatment.
Recall exams
- Technology is used to monitoring changes in the eye that can occur over short periods of time for those with signs and symptoms of an eye disease, or with a diagnosis.

Did you know that 74% of vision care costs to Canadians were out of pocket, compared to only 47% for drugs and 44% for dental. Medavie's changes in allowances for those with multifocal glasses and contact lenses due to disease will make these medically necessary vision aids within reach for more plan members and their spouses. Lens implants and laser eye surgery allowances will remove the need for glasses for many patients.

If you or your organization would like to hear more about best practices in vision care, the role of the optometrist, or how you can modernize your vision care offerings, please contact us. You can reach out to info@opto.ca or download the CAO handbook and tip sheet as well as other resources at www.dontlosesight.ca

Read the announcement

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