LASIK eye surgery is a laser eye surgery and so it is considered as an elective procedure, in the medical industry. Usually LASIK and other laser eye surgeries are preferred and performed to reduce dependency over contact lens and eye glasses. Insurance companies usually do not offer insurance for these elective procedures, as these are more of cosmetic procedures. However, there is another dimension to look at this surgery.
Insurance Offers By Some Insurance Companies
Insurance providers offer vision insurance plans, but LASIK, which is a refractive surgery is not qualified to be part of an approved vision insurance plan, as it is not medically necessary procedure. There are certain insurance companies, which prefer to grab more customers and retain existing customers, offer some discounts for these elective laser eye surgeries.
Certain insurance companies offer insurance for the Lasik and other laser eye surgeries in following conditions.
- Laser eyes surgery is required as a result of another surgery.
- Laser eye surgery is mandatory, as a result an injury.
- The patient cannot use either contact lens or eye glasses, because of physical limitations and Lasik or other laser eye surgery becomes mandatory to perform.
- Severe refractive errors made the laser eye surgery as mandate.
Insurance Support From Employers
Some of the employers negotiate with the Lasik medical centers or refractive surgery centers and make arrangements and offer some special discounts for Lasik eye surgery to their employees. In case you work for a big company, there is more likely that you can get certain discounts for the refractive surgeries, like Lasik.
And some employers offer some discounts for Lasik surgery through subsidized health plan offers.
Other Financial Supports
FSA or Flexible Spending Accounts can help to pay partially for the Lasik laser eye surgeries. These provisions allow pre-tax income to be diverted to health care expenses from the job expenses. There is also another option called HSA (Health Savings Account) to get discount for Lasik surgery. This provision is available for the people, who are covered by HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) at the workplace. This way, you can start saving money and contribute it for your HSA for a couple of years to cover even entire cost of the Lasik surgery.
Hence, insurance is not a very feasible option for many Lasik patients, however, it is better to contact the respective health insurance providers to see how far they can be eligible to get the discount.