America's Benefit Specialist January-February 2023

EYE CARE IN AMERICA Many people make it a priority to see their doctor at least once a year, but how often are Americans seeing their eye doctors? NVISION surveyed more than 1,000 people across the U.S. to find out what’s holding them back from prioritizing their visual health. For many people, cost and distance are contributing factors, as the aver age American lives around nine miles from their eye doctor. The report also provides insights into the states dealing with the biggest eye doctor disparities. Are Americans consistently making the trek to get their eyes checked? Ac cording to respondents, 48% go at least once a year, 21% every two years, 18% visit every three to five years, 10% go every six to 10 years, and three percent have never been to the eye doctor at all. Overall, the majority of Americans (63%) do not have vision insurance. This may come as a surprise because many people report needing assistance when it comes to their vision. Seventy percent of Americans have prescription glasses, 23% wear prescription contacts, 13% use reading glasses, and three percent have had laser eye surgery. One of the most common reasons for needing vision assistance is refractive errors, which in clude blurred vision, near-sightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism. Over half (58%) of Americans report having refractive errors. Although some people haven’t recently visited an eye doctor, 53% had their vision checked in the last year. Ad ditionally, 20% had it checked two years ago, and 27% had it looked over more than three years ago. There are four primary types of vision specialists, and many Americans are unfamiliar with the differences. The two most common specialists are an optometrist and an ophthalmologist, and 58% of Americans don’t know the difference between them. An ophthal mologist treats eyes requiring medical or surgical interventions. Meanwhile, NOTEWORTHY

impact on general eye health in those states? Per 100,000 residents, West Virginia has the highest rate (4,094) of people reporting blindness or severe difficulty seeing. Mississippi ranks second, with 3,356 per 100,000 peo ple dealing with severe vision issues. Arkansas follows, with New Mexico and Oklahoma rounding out the top five. When it comes to how much optom etrists are being paid, there’s a big dif ference across the country. Connecticut ranks first for being the state with the highest-paid optometrists. The annual wage hovers around $155,070. Mary land has the second-highest annual pay, at $144,570. Following Maryland is Alaska, at $143,260. The states where optometrists are getting paid the least are Idaho at $85,200, followed by South Carolina ($101,050) and West Virginia ($105,210). For more information, visit www. nvisioncenters.com. NEARLY 40% OF AMERICANS CONFUSED BY MEDICAL BILLS AKASA, a developer of AI for healthcare operations, recently released findings from a survey conducted on its behalf by YouGov. The survey findings high light uncertainty looms among patients about what is included in a bill and if they can pay – two factors that drive the most confusion on medical bills. How ever, there are strategies healthcare organizations can take to be proactive and prevent billing surprises from trick ling down to patients. More than 2,000 Americans were asked: “On a scale from 1-5 (1 being not confusing at all, 5 being extremely con fusing), how confusing are medical bills to understand?” • 11% found medical bills not confusing at all • 14% leaned toward medical bills not being confusing • 37% said they were neutral on the confusion of medical bills

an optometrist manages, treats and diagnoses eye diseases. Among Americans who currently have an eye doctor, it takes the aver age person 21 minutes to get to their optometrist and, on average, people live nine miles away. The most com mon ways people find their doctor are through family recommendations (30%), an online search (27%), an insur ance provider (20%) and a recommen dation from a friend (10%). Forty-eight percent report last seeing their eye doctor in 2022, followed by 34% who went in 2021, 10% who had an appointment in 2020, and eight per cent who haven’t been to the eye doc tor since 2019 or earlier. Despite having an optometrist, 30% of Americans avoid going to the eye doctor due to cost. Among the 38% of Americans who don’t currently have an eye doctor, 33% say they don’t need one. Other reasons why people haven’t established care with a doctor include not being able to afford it (18%), not having the time (16%), being uninsured (15%) and not finding a doctor they like (15%). Additionally, nearly one in four have struggled to make an appointment at an eye doc tor’s office. When it comes to eye-doctor dispar ities across the U.S., some states are faring better than others. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we find that Nebraska ranks first in the country with the best patient-to-doctor ratio of 4,675:1. Following the Cornhusk er state are Rhode Island, Montana, North Dakota and California. Louisiana takes the top spot for the worst patient-to-optometrist ratio in the nation at 18,496:1. Tennessee ranks second, followed by South Carolina, New Jersey and Mississippi. Overall, one in six people doesn’t think there are enough eye doctors where they live and 14% report strug gling to find an eye doctor. With eye-doctor disparities there comes a concern for people living in certain states. Does this have any

benefitspecialistmagazine.com | ABS 5