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Insurance & payment

Do vision benefits expire at the end of the year?

From the doctors at Webb Eyecare

Most do. The majority of vision plans run on a calendar year and reset on December 31, and whatever you have not used does not carry over. You paid for it either way.

What usually resets

• Your exam allowance: typically one covered comprehensive exam per plan year.
• Your frame or lens allowance: often every year, sometimes every two.
• Your contact lens allowance: usually instead of the frame allowance, not in addition to it.
• Flexible spending money: FSA funds often expire, and eyewear is an eligible expense.

Two things people get wrong

The first is assuming a plan year matches the calendar year. Most do, but some run from your enrollment date instead. It is worth checking rather than assuming.

The second is assuming a frame allowance and a contact allowance are both available. On most plans it is one or the other in a given year, which is worth knowing before you choose.

How to find out what you have left

Call the clinic nearest you and ask. Our team checks benefits as a matter of routine, and we would rather tell you in November than have you find out in January.

If December is busy, and it is

The last few weeks of the year are the busiest of the year in every optometry practice in the country, ours included. If you know you have benefits to use, booking earlier means you actually get an appointment and your glasses arrive before the deadline.

That is not a scarcity tactic. It is just how the calendar works.

And if you have no vision plan at all

Then none of this applies to you, and there is no deadline. Our membership plan gives self-pay patients predictable exam pricing and savings on eyewear, and financing is available through CareCredit and Sunbit. The full picture is on the insurance page.

Not sure whether we take your plan? The accepted and not-accepted lists are here, including the plans we do not take, so you are not guessing.