Vision Plans
Vision Options for Kids Can Increase Sales and Promote a Healthy Workforce
by Sam Wishon

People do more for their kids than they do for themselves. Just think of the parent who drives a half hour out of the way to get their child to the best daycare, doubling the commute, or the parent who drives across town during rush hour so their child can go to the highest-rated pediatrician’s office.

Tugging on that parental emotion can provide an extra boost when selling medical and even vision benefits to your clients. There’s no doubt that focusing on an employees’ dependents can build good will between clients and their employees, which is instrumental when tough decisions are being made about cutting costs.

If you’re anything like me, you probably don’t have two hours to spend discussing any one benefit with clients; so keeping it simple is essential. I’ve discovered that weaving children’s benefit options into key parts of the presentation is effective in helping to close the sale. For example, when talking about medical benefits, I stress the importance of preventive care for children -- from the significance of having regular checkups after birth to staying current on immunizations throughout the teenage years.

This conversation about preventive care often leads to a discussion about the value of the vision benefit. I’m a big proponent of vision benefits that offer regular, comprehensive eye exams for children. Not only do they help parents determine if their child has trouble seeing, but they can also serve as a way to detect eye- and other serious health conditions.

Sprinkling in a few well-placed statistics in your presentation can help to tell the story. For example, we know that roughly 80% of learning in a child’s first 12 years comes through the eyes. Unfortunately, 10 million children in the U.S. suffer from undiagnosed vision problems that may lead to failure in school. Parents may also be surprised to learn that school vision screenings identify just 5% of possible vision problems – making regular, comprehensive eye exams critical.
Many people know that an eye exam can help detect some of these common eye -diseases and refractive errors, such as the following:
• Strabismus – eye misalignment
• Amblyopia – “lazy eye”
• Myopia – near-sightedness
• Hyperopia – far-sightedness
• Astigmatism – difficulty seeing fine detail.
What many people do not recognize is that an eye exam can also provide early detection of serious systemic diseases, such as diabetes, which is a growing health problem for children. Diabetes is a total body disease that can lead to vision problems, such as diabetic retinopathy. Left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can cause vision loss or even blindness. Kids who have diabetes or are at risk may also experience light sensitivity and increased susceptibility to damage from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays.

All of us are at risk for eye damage from the sun. This damage accumulates over time and can’t be reversed making eyewear that offers protection from UV rays an important consideration for kids. Photochromic lenses are an ideal choice for kids and adults because they are clear indoors and darken outdoors in the sun blocking 100% of UV rays while reducing glare. Offering a vision package that covers an annual eye exam and covers sight-enhancing photochromic lenses or provides discounts can enhance employee satisfaction and offer a direct benefit for employers.

When parents see the important role that preventive care can have on their children, they may better understand how taking the same steps can improve their lives, too. This healthy mindset could lead to higher employee productivity and satisfaction, while reducing healthcare costs. Consider that even slightly miscorrected vision can decrease an employee’s productivity by up to 20%. By offering a vision benefit, employers are giving their employees more options to protect and preserve their vision and their family’s vision.

Additionally, because the eye exam can help diagnose health conditions in people of all ages, employers can see a tremendous gain. In 2007, undiagnosed diabetes led to an average productivity loss of $1,119 per person, which is alarming considering that a quarter of those with diabetes don’t even know they have it. Diabetic retinopathy is an even bigger cost to employers contributing to productivity losses of more than $3,500 per person annually.

There are a million statistics that I could share, but when explaining the value of the vision benefit to your clients, it’s important to keep it simple. You can do this by leveraging educational tools, such as vision-related newsletters, brochures, and posters in your discussions with employers. There are companies and programs that offer these resources free of charge, such as HealthySightWorkingForYou.org.

The gains of offering a relatively inexpensive benefit, like vision coverage, are astounding. It’s important for consultants to communicate this value and the benefits to employers. Who knows, your clients might even think of you as a hero for helping them create good will with their employees.
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Sam Wishon is president of NUVISION F-inancial Corp., based in Conyers, Ga. He has more than 25 years experience as a broker/consultant. He recently learned more about the importance of a vision plan with kids’ options through the Blue View Vision coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, which offers a comprehensive eye exam and full coverage of Transitions® lenses for kids age 19 and under.