Vision insurance linked to better vision

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COLUMBIA, S.C., Dec. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers suggest vision insurance was associated with eye-care visits, better reported vision and lower healthcare costs.

Yi-Jhen Li of the University of South Carolina in Columbia and colleagues compared the rates of eye care visits and vision impairment among working-age adults with vision insurance and without insurance.

Li said the study involved 27,152 respondents between the ages of 40-64 to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey 2008 and a sub-sample of 3,158 respondents, or 11.6 percent, with glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and/or cataract.

The study, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, found about 40 percent of the study population and the sub-sample with eye disease had no vision insurance.

"Our study empirically tracks an important consequential, process-outcome link both among the total sample of respondents and within the eye-disease sub-sample," the study authors said in the study. "In both groups, respondents who reported having had an eye examination in the prior year, on average, had better vision. These associations highlight the long-term benefits of vision insurance for preventing eye impairment."

"Our study empirically tracks an important consequential, process-outcome link both among the total sample of respondents and within the eye-disease sub-sample," the study authors said in the study. "In both groups, respondents who reported having had an eye examination in the prior year, on average, had better vision. These associations highlight the long-term benefits of vision insurance for preventing eye impairment."

The study also found those with vision insurance were more likely than those without insurance to report having had eye care visits, had no difficulty recognizing friends across the street and had no difficulty reading printed matter.