Popular Blog Tags

Related Posts

Need help finding something?

Office Location & Hours

903 William D. Fitch Pkwy
College Station, TX 77845
Phone Number: (979) 779-9000
Fax Number: (979) 690-1510

Get Directions

Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri:
Wednesday:

8am - 5:30pm
9am - 5:30pm

Patient Testimonials

  • Matthew G.

    Absolutely amazing facility! They helped my son and even helped watch him for a minute when my bank gave me trouble. They were very kind and understanding....

  • Rebecca K.

    I went in for vitamins and information. The young lady at recept. Desk did an awesome job with my qqq and handled the vitamin sale with more information needed for my eye condition....

  • Bernadette H.

    Had to find a new eye doctor for my family and I due to insurance changes. I was very pleased with my first experience. Staff and Dr. Dobson are very friendly and professional. Felt comfortable and welcomed to the practice. Would recommend giving...

  • Alexander M.

    I am new to the bryan college station area being a college student. I needed to find a new eye doctor. I am one of those people that, take a long time exsploring my options online. When I first started my search they were the first ones that poped onto my screen. When I looked at there website I intantly felt like this was the one...


    The eye care medical field has an unusual split between two different types of insurance for covering eye issues: health insurance and vision insurance. Not all patients have both.

    In most cases, your health insurance is used to cover medical and surgical eye problems but not routine exams or the cost of contacts or glasses. Those things are often covered by separate vision insurance.

    Why the difference? Originally, health insurance was created to take care of health “problems” and wasn’t designed to cover “routine,” “screening,” or “wellness” exams.

    Since health insurance wasn’t going to cover “routine” eye exams, the vision insurance industry arose to help insure/cover those routine exams as well as the costs of glasses and/or contacts if they were needed.

    That dichotomy now often causes great confusion when you make an appointment at your eye doctor. When making your appointment, the office is going to need to know which insurance, if you have both, you are going to be using for this particular visit.

    Why does the office need to know in advance which insurance you are using?

    The main reason is that the rules and sometimes the providers are different for each insurance plan. The vision plans often require the office to check on your availability for coverage and get pre-authorization for the visit BEFORE you get to the office. There are also differences in which providers within an office are in network for the insurance. For example, in some practices the optometrists might be in all the vision plans but the ophthalmologists might not in those plans. If you make an appointment with one of the ophthalmologists and tell the office you are using your health insurance, you can’t change your mind the day of the appointment and use your vision insurance instead.

    There are also differences in what the insurance will cover as a reason for the exam.  Vision insurance typically covers ONLY routine exams. Those are exams for which you are coming in specifically to get your vision, glasses and/or contact lens prescription checked and get an overall eye health screening.  That means you CAN’T have a medical complaint about your eyes that you want the doctor to deal with. Eyes itchy? Need to use your medical/health insurance.  Dry eyes? Need to use your medical/health insurance.  Have a cataract? Glaucoma? Macular Degeneration? Need to use your medical/health insurance.

    Why not just use your medical insurance all the time? That’s mostly because if you have no complaint at all your medical insurance won’t cover that visit (and “my vision is a little blurry” usually won’t cut it).  There is one other issue and that is the refraction.

    A refraction is when we check to see if you need a new eyeglass or contact lens prescription. For the most part, health insurance won’t cover the fee for the refraction, which is a procedure that is separate from your eye health exam. Your vision insurance will cover the refraction but not the exam if you are having a medical problem.

    Here’s the real kicker. Your health insurance will cover your medical eye problems and your vision insurance will cover your refraction, BUT you can’t use both insurances at the same visit. It has to be one or the other.  (Ridiculous right? I didn’t make the rules, just trying to abide by them.)

    So, what are your choices if you have both a vision plan and health insurance? If you have a problem, you need to use your health insurance. If you want to have your eyes refracted so you can get new glasses at the same time you can either pay out of pocket for the refraction OR you can come back in for a second visit, using your vision plan to get a refraction and eye health screening exam so that the refraction gets covered. (Again - I didn’t invent these rules--I am just trying to help you navigate them.) If you don’t want to make two visits, then use your health insurance (with the appropriate complaint) and pay for the refraction and just use your vision insurance to help pay for the actual contacts or glasses you are going to buy.

    If you have a question, it’s best to ask when you call the office to inquire about an appointment.

    Article contributed by Dr. Brian Wnorowski, M.D.

     

    Exceptional Staff

    Exceptional Staff

    You'll be hard-pressed to find a more experienced, caring vision care team in all of Texas!

    Our History

    Our History

    Since its inception in 1983 by Dr. Sue Simpson, O.D., Eye Care Center has always been committed to quality eye wear, top-notch eye exams, and exceptional patient satisfaction.

    Common Patient Questions

    Common Patient Questions

    Odds are that someone else has asked us the very same question you're wondering about. If not, feel free to reach out to us!

    What Sets us Apart

    What Sets us Apart

    From the moment you arrive for your visit, YOU are our number one priority. Our belief is that if we truly get to know our patients and what makes them happy, we can visually accommodate them in every stage of life.

    Featured Video

    Please take a moment to browse our high definition educational animations and videos to learn about vision health. Please contact us with any questions.

    bcm_videoplayer_banner

    Office Location & Hours

    903 William D. Fitch Pkwy
    College Station, TX 77845
    Phone Number: (979) 779-9000
    Fax Number: (979) 690-1510

    Get Directions

    Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri:
    Wednesday:

    8am-5:30pm
    9am-5:30pm

    Accepted Payment Methods

    payment cashpayment checkpayment care creditpayment visaMastercardDiscoverAmerican Express