The Upstate Life

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Only .25 More Blind than Last Year

First off - contact lens examinations are a pure sham. A normal eye exam is around $30-40 with insurance. If you throw in the contact lens factor, it somehow adds another $100 to the bill, and for one reason or another, is not covered by insurance. Can someone please explain to me why this is?

Anyway, I liked my old optemetrist office. I really did. Last year, I got my exam, received my prescription, and was on my way. I was able to use said prescription to buy contacts from Vision Direct versus paying at the doctor's office since it was relatively less expensive. I tried to reorder another batch of Acuvue2 lenses earlier this week and was denied because my prescription had expired a few months. I had to schedule another eye examination in order to renew my prescription and get a fresh batch of lenses. However, I switched health insurance companies between that time and my old office was not covered under my new plan. "No problem", I thought.

I found another optometrist office just blocks from my apartment that accepted Aetna and thought I could do what I did last year. Wrong. After paying $146 for another contact lens examination (Aetna was very gracious to discount $10 from it btw - this total also included the $40 eye exam copay), I would also have to come in for a re-check appointment before being able to physically obtain my prescription and order more contacts. Don't get me wrong, the optometrist himself was great, but this office's policies do not make a lick of sense. Oh, and if I decided to buy lenses from the new office, it would've cost me another $146 to order an annual supply, bringing the grand total (coupled with the exam) to nearly $300. I don't know about you, but trying to get a contact prescription renewal and having to leave the optometrist office with a $300 bill isn't what I was expecting. I only paid half that much as I didn't opt to purchase a year supply, but I still have to have see the doctor for a re-check in order to get my prescription.

Speaking of which, I've apparently been behind the curve in regards to contact lens technology. I was using original Acuvue lenses until last year when old doctor upgraded me to Acuve2. New doctor said the original Acuvues are going to be discontinued soon and that Acuvue2 is a 15 year old design. He then prescribed me CooperVision something something (I don't know specifically since the office WILL NOT TELL ME until I go in for my re-check – yes, I called them just to inquire about it and this is what they said) which apparently let your eyes breathe even better than previous generation lenses and last a whole month as opposed to two weeks. The trial pair I've been using haven't been giving me any problems so I can't complain, but this whole post/rant is really telling me I should get the damn Lasik already.

Posted by Brett at 4:21 PM |