I'm an optometrist who owns my own practice. Over the past year and a half of working, I've seen several things come up over and over again that I wanted to share as things that people do to save money but don't in the end.
- Buying CL online without comparing prices. This is the big that drives me up a wall. I have people come into my office, get and exam and contact lens fitting and ask to take their Rx to go and buy somewhere else online (which is 100% ok and I have no issues with this). The problem I see is that a lot of people put blinders up having heard that "you should always buy contacts online." When I see a prescription verification fax or a 5 minute robocall from 1800contacts come in I compare prices and often my office is cheaper! So it's fine if you want to shop around but make sure that you're actually comparing prices.
- Not using vision insurance. This came up yesterday and is very similar to the above. A guy wants new glasses. Has eyemed insurance that pays $130 for frames and single vision lenses are $15 with his plan. He could have ordered glasses from any office that takes his insurance and had a pair of glasses for $15. He wanted to get the glasses online because he felt they would be cheaper. I'm sure you could find very cheap glasses somewhere, however if you are planning on doing this consider canceling your insurance. This guy was buying insurance every year for the past 3 years at least and never using the frame and lens plan that he was paying for because he was trying to save money. So if you're not going to use the benefits your paying for you should consider canceling your insurance and paying out of pocket and saving money.
- Not buying the year's supply of contacts. When you buy a year's supply of contacts you can typically get rebates from the manufacturer and reduce your cost significantly. It may be a stretch buy if you can get the year's worth of contacts all at once do it. It will save you money.
February 01, 2019 at 04:39AM
