Brianna's eyesight is... poor. We found out at her 7-year well check that she's legally blind in her left eye, with her vision rated at 20/400. This came as quite a shock to us, since she'd never shown any of the "normal" symptoms -- she'd always done well in school, didn't squint when trying to watch television or read and didn't ever complain about it.
The first optometrist we'd taken her to understood the problem -- he was very smart, diagnosing Brianna with a "lazy eye", and even diagnosing some of the Lovely Bride's... quirks, like constantly telling me that I was stopping too close to the car in front of us, as related to her eyesight. Brianna (and the Lovely Bride) got their glasses (plastic lenses for Brianna, since the polycarbonite lenses were going to be an additional $100 we didn't have at the time), and all was right with the world -- with one exception...
The optometrist suggested a course of vision therapy for Brianna. He said that her brain had adjusted to her poor eyesight, and that her eyes were being used differently than most people. Rather than working in tandem, she was using one eye to determine where things were, and her "good" eye to determine what they were. His vision therapy would work on teaching her eyes how to work in tandem again. Sounds great, right? Well, it would be, except:
Still, being dutiful, concerned parents, we went ahead and put her on the waiting list. We figured we'd take a look at our finances, and maybe by the time she was able to get into the program, we'd have found a way to swing it. Brianna's turn on the waiting list came up, and we had to pass -- finances being what they are for a one-income / four-person family, $7,000 didn't magically appear in the intervening six months. No problem, we thought. We'll just continue on with the glasses, and look for a more traditional (and insurance-covered) method of working through this.
That's where the problems started.
Brianna's glasses broke -- the arm came out of the socket on the temple hinge. We called her doctor, and they said that the glasses were still covered under warranty. No problem, only the frames Brianna had have been discontinued -- they could only get Plum or Honey colored frames, not pink. Given Brianna's complexion and hair color, we opted for Plum.
Shortly after that, Brianna's annual eye exam came up. Her vision was improving a little bit, which was good. We asked her doctor about more traditional methods of treating a "lazy eye", and he again suggested the Vision Therapy as the treatment of choice, and proceeded to make us feel like inadequate and uninterested parents because we weren't able to afford the program.
Let me repeat that:
Her eye doctor made us feel like inadequate and uninterested parents because we couldn't afford a program not covered under insurance.
I can certainly understand a doctor suggesting a course of action as the right thing to do, regardless of the cost. That's their job, to do what's right for their patient. What you don't do, under any freaking circumstances, is tell parents that if they cared about their daughter's eyesight, they'd find a way to fork over $7,000 for something their insurance company doesn't recognize as a valid treatment.
We changed optometrists. No-brainer. Since Brianna had just had her annual exam, we paid for this one out of pocket. Her new doctor is recommending more traditional methods of treatment, and doesn't feel that the vision therapy is necessary. We were glad to be done with the old doctor.
Her glasses broke again last Tuesday, in the exact same way. Crap. That meant we had to go back to her original doctor, since they had the warranty information. We stopped in, and they said that the glasses were no longer under warranty, and we'd have to pay $36 to get a replacement temple for them. We paid them, and then came the phone call. The Lovely Bride took the call from her old doctor's office, and they told her that the manufacturer didn't have any replacement temples -- we'd have to get the only frames they had left, which were the Honey-colored frames. Again, given Brianna's hair color and skin tone, this was less than ideal.
This is where the outstanding customer service comes into play. The Lovely Bride called VSP, our insurance carrier. After explaining the situation, they agreed to authorize an early exam, frame and lens benefit. Brianna's appointment was on Friday, and she's getting her new glasses (with the polycarbonite lenses, which are fully covered by insurance for anyone under 18, contrary to what her old doctor's office had told us) within two weeks.
It turns out that you can still find good customer service -- we couldn't be happier with the insurance carrier, and we're never going back to her original doctor again.
The first optometrist we'd taken her to understood the problem -- he was very smart, diagnosing Brianna with a "lazy eye", and even diagnosing some of the Lovely Bride's... quirks, like constantly telling me that I was stopping too close to the car in front of us, as related to her eyesight. Brianna (and the Lovely Bride) got their glasses (plastic lenses for Brianna, since the polycarbonite lenses were going to be an additional $100 we didn't have at the time), and all was right with the world -- with one exception...
The optometrist suggested a course of vision therapy for Brianna. He said that her brain had adjusted to her poor eyesight, and that her eyes were being used differently than most people. Rather than working in tandem, she was using one eye to determine where things were, and her "good" eye to determine what they were. His vision therapy would work on teaching her eyes how to work in tandem again. Sounds great, right? Well, it would be, except:
- Insurance won't cover it.
- The cost is over $7000.
Still, being dutiful, concerned parents, we went ahead and put her on the waiting list. We figured we'd take a look at our finances, and maybe by the time she was able to get into the program, we'd have found a way to swing it. Brianna's turn on the waiting list came up, and we had to pass -- finances being what they are for a one-income / four-person family, $7,000 didn't magically appear in the intervening six months. No problem, we thought. We'll just continue on with the glasses, and look for a more traditional (and insurance-covered) method of working through this.
That's where the problems started.
Brianna's glasses broke -- the arm came out of the socket on the temple hinge. We called her doctor, and they said that the glasses were still covered under warranty. No problem, only the frames Brianna had have been discontinued -- they could only get Plum or Honey colored frames, not pink. Given Brianna's complexion and hair color, we opted for Plum.
Shortly after that, Brianna's annual eye exam came up. Her vision was improving a little bit, which was good. We asked her doctor about more traditional methods of treating a "lazy eye", and he again suggested the Vision Therapy as the treatment of choice, and proceeded to make us feel like inadequate and uninterested parents because we weren't able to afford the program.
Let me repeat that:
Her eye doctor made us feel like inadequate and uninterested parents because we couldn't afford a program not covered under insurance.
I can certainly understand a doctor suggesting a course of action as the right thing to do, regardless of the cost. That's their job, to do what's right for their patient. What you don't do, under any freaking circumstances, is tell parents that if they cared about their daughter's eyesight, they'd find a way to fork over $7,000 for something their insurance company doesn't recognize as a valid treatment.
We changed optometrists. No-brainer. Since Brianna had just had her annual exam, we paid for this one out of pocket. Her new doctor is recommending more traditional methods of treatment, and doesn't feel that the vision therapy is necessary. We were glad to be done with the old doctor.
Her glasses broke again last Tuesday, in the exact same way. Crap. That meant we had to go back to her original doctor, since they had the warranty information. We stopped in, and they said that the glasses were no longer under warranty, and we'd have to pay $36 to get a replacement temple for them. We paid them, and then came the phone call. The Lovely Bride took the call from her old doctor's office, and they told her that the manufacturer didn't have any replacement temples -- we'd have to get the only frames they had left, which were the Honey-colored frames. Again, given Brianna's hair color and skin tone, this was less than ideal.
This is where the outstanding customer service comes into play. The Lovely Bride called VSP, our insurance carrier. After explaining the situation, they agreed to authorize an early exam, frame and lens benefit. Brianna's appointment was on Friday, and she's getting her new glasses (with the polycarbonite lenses, which are fully covered by insurance for anyone under 18, contrary to what her old doctor's office had told us) within two weeks.
It turns out that you can still find good customer service -- we couldn't be happier with the insurance carrier, and we're never going back to her original doctor again.
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2 comments:
The last eye doctor I saw was awesome, and is still a friend, but his office assistant Mike almost had to use his hospitalization insurance the last time I saw him. I walked out of the office with a pretty expensive set of contacts without paying a dime and never went back. Long story short, they had changed the numbers and shape on my contacts after I had ordered specific ones, and I had to ask about it, they weren't even going to tell me. Then he got an attitude with me like your old doctor and I had to set him straight.
Point is...the whole eyecare thing is kinda ethereal and there's a LOT of trust there, especially when you're dealing with your children...assholes and eyecare don't go together. I've always had bad vision, so I can totally relate to the frustration. I'm getting to the age now where small print (EXTREMELY small) is getting hard to read. Did you ever think we'd get this old while we were drinking Olympia Draft by the twelve pack?
I have had the same problem when I was about 7. Where I was almost legally blind in my left eye (20/200, rather than 400) and my right eye had gotten uber strong in trying to compensate for my left. What my eye-doctor did (And I went to UC-Davis for my eye appointments) was patch my good eye and force my left to get stronger. Start with 15-20 minutes a day, and work up to longer periods. To this day, my eyes are almost equal. My right is 20/40 and my left (last time I checked) was 20/80. I still need glasses, but that is a lot smaller gap than it was when I was 7.
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