Professional Fees (2019)
Comprehensive Eye Exam $99.00
Comprehensive Eye Exam + Contact Lens Fitting $159.00
Office Visit $60.00-99.00
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Answers
1. What is the Contact Lens Fitting Fee ($60)
Why is there a yearly contact lens fitting fee?
The fee covers the extra tests performed by the doctor with any necessary follow-up visits and trials lens needed. Contact Lens Rx are valid for 1 year.
Why doesn’t my insurance cover that fee?
Insurance companies view most contact lenses as an elective vision correction and generally offer a 10-15% discount towards the contact fitting fee. If your vision can be corrected with glasses, then contacts are not considered medically necessary and are not covered.
How are glasses and contacts different?
Many options for vision correction exist and have varying levels of complexity in order to determine the optimal Rx. These include spherical lenses, toric lenses for astigmatism, monovision, and multifocal lenses. The patient’s ocular health including eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea, and tear film all affect the optimal contact lens material, shape, and care.
2. What is covered with CalOptima (Medi-Cal)?
--Exam is authorized every 2 years (no exceptions). Contacts Lens Fitting is NOT covered under any conditions. (The yearly contact lens fitting fee is $60) Please take out your contact lenses before coming to the eye exam if you do not want to be charged the fitting fee.
--Office visits or checkups before the 2 year period that need immediate attention will need a prior authorization from the primary care physician. Please call your primary care physician FIRST.
--Glasses are covered every 2 years for patients ages 0-20 years old. Patients age 21 and older are eligible for EXAM ONLY.
3. Why are our prices higher than online prices?
We offer discounts for private pay patients and many times our prices are lower and sometimes higher than online prices. Vision insurances reimburse us only a small portion of your "frame allowance". For instance if you have a frame allowance of $120, we might get $40 as a reimbursement. We have lost money in the past by pricing frames similarly to that of online retailers because vision insurances (ie VSP, Eyemed, Davis Vision, Spectera) reimburses such a small percentage of the allowance. We have to price frames taking in account our taxes, shipping costs, and reimbursements.
4. Are your prices competitive?
Yes! We will match any frame or contact lenses prices found at another private practice optometry offices Every year we review our prices and rebates compared to other big-box retailers and price our materials at the same price or lower. While the costs of our materials to us has consistently been increased by manufacturers and distributors, we have resisted the necessary move to raise our prices for patients for the past 10 years.
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Comprehensive Eye Exam $99.00
Comprehensive Eye Exam + Contact Lens Fitting $159.00
Office Visit $60.00-99.00
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Answers
1. What is the Contact Lens Fitting Fee ($60)
Why is there a yearly contact lens fitting fee?
The fee covers the extra tests performed by the doctor with any necessary follow-up visits and trials lens needed. Contact Lens Rx are valid for 1 year.
Why doesn’t my insurance cover that fee?
Insurance companies view most contact lenses as an elective vision correction and generally offer a 10-15% discount towards the contact fitting fee. If your vision can be corrected with glasses, then contacts are not considered medically necessary and are not covered.
How are glasses and contacts different?
Many options for vision correction exist and have varying levels of complexity in order to determine the optimal Rx. These include spherical lenses, toric lenses for astigmatism, monovision, and multifocal lenses. The patient’s ocular health including eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea, and tear film all affect the optimal contact lens material, shape, and care.
2. What is covered with CalOptima (Medi-Cal)?
--Exam is authorized every 2 years (no exceptions). Contacts Lens Fitting is NOT covered under any conditions. (The yearly contact lens fitting fee is $60) Please take out your contact lenses before coming to the eye exam if you do not want to be charged the fitting fee.
--Office visits or checkups before the 2 year period that need immediate attention will need a prior authorization from the primary care physician. Please call your primary care physician FIRST.
--Glasses are covered every 2 years for patients ages 0-20 years old. Patients age 21 and older are eligible for EXAM ONLY.
3. Why are our prices higher than online prices?
We offer discounts for private pay patients and many times our prices are lower and sometimes higher than online prices. Vision insurances reimburse us only a small portion of your "frame allowance". For instance if you have a frame allowance of $120, we might get $40 as a reimbursement. We have lost money in the past by pricing frames similarly to that of online retailers because vision insurances (ie VSP, Eyemed, Davis Vision, Spectera) reimburses such a small percentage of the allowance. We have to price frames taking in account our taxes, shipping costs, and reimbursements.
4. Are your prices competitive?
Yes! We will match any frame or contact lenses prices found at another private practice optometry offices Every year we review our prices and rebates compared to other big-box retailers and price our materials at the same price or lower. While the costs of our materials to us has consistently been increased by manufacturers and distributors, we have resisted the necessary move to raise our prices for patients for the past 10 years.
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The above Pricing is our Package Deals. We simplified the process to offer the highest quality lenses at lower prices.
VSP Insurance Choice Plan example of Lens Options add-on costs. Cost can range from $0-538 for the lenses for this specific insurance plan (without copay included). Frame cost is also not included in this example.