Business columnist Davidlaz explains how vision insurers have rigged the market to get you to buy their glasses. See more tonight on LATimesToday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on SpecNews1SoCal.
include Armani, Brooks Bros., Burberry, Chanel, Oliver Peoples, Persol, Polo Ralph Lauren and Ray-Ban.
Butler described to me a system by which the big vision plans try to influence where you shop and what you buy, in some cases by greasing the palms of optometrists and opticians to boost sales of their own products.He said the plans often shortchange optometrists in reimbursing for eye exams, with payments as low as $50. This keeps optometrists focused on sales of high-priced frames and lenses to cover overhead and meet expenses.Let’s say you’re a VSP member.
I spoke with more than a dozen optometrists and opticians. They told me that Rancho Cordova-based VSP, which is by far the largest vision-benefit provider with nearly 90 million members, is the most aggressive at promoting its own brands with payments to opticians. He said VSP can provide “more value” to members by giving deeper discounts for the company’s own frames. He also acknowledged that optometrists receive larger reimbursements for selling VSP’s Marchon eyewear and affiliated brands.
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