Best Vision Insurance for Seniors in 2025

It’s always nice to have options when it comes to insurance, and Direct Vision Insurance offers plenty. While Direct Vision Insurance partially covers out-of-network providers, choosing an approved provider from the VSP or EyeMed networks will save you more on routine exams, eyewear, and other services.

This is a great route for seniors who want to cover the cost of exams, eyewear, contacts, and other vision services — without dealing with claim forms or ID cards.

Seniors also appreciate the option to use out-of-network providers, especially those who frequently travel or live a nomadic lifestyle. The downside is that Direct Vision Insurance covers little for major eye care treatments, with the exception of discounts on LASIK or PRK procedures. With Direct Vision Insurance, older adults will need to depend on Medicare, Medicaid, or a private health plan for more comprehensive eye care coverage.

» Related Reading: A guide to Medicare and Medicaid

Direct Vision Insurance makes it easy to get online quotes in seconds. Potential customers can go to the company’s website and enter their ZIP code to get a quote. We examined plans and pricing for Miami, Florida, but keep in mind that prices and plan availability vary by location. We could choose from four plans through two distinct networks (VSP and EyeMed). While Direct Vision Insurance does provide plenty of options to choose from, it doesn’t give you a good way to combine vision and dental benefits like Spirit Vision does.

The cheapest plan, EyeMed Access Plan B, starts at $9.22 per month. It offers one eye exam per year with a $15 deductible, prescription lenses every two years with a $25 deductible, as well as a $150 frame or contact lens allowance every two years. The plan also includes additional discounts and savings on things like lens upgrades, nonprescription sunglasses, and laser eye surgery.

All the plans available through Direct Vision Insurance offer similar benefits, though customers can potentially increase their savings by paying a little more each month. For example, the most expensive plan, VSP Choice Plan A, starts at $12.78 per month. The primary benefit of choosing this plan is that it offers coverage for prescription lenses, frames, and contact lenses once every year, instead of once every two years. However, the downside is that the deductibles for contact lens exams and fittings increase to $60.

Availability and In-Network Providers

Since Direct Vision Insurance works with two separate networks, availability and the total number of in-network providers will vary based on your plan. With a VSP plan, customers have access to 88,000 independent vision clinics and 27,000 national and regional chains, including Costco Optical, Sam's Club, Visionworks, and Walmart.

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Alternatively, an EyeMed plan comes with 29,000 independent vision providers and 6,700 retail locations. This means that EyeMed’s network isn’t nearly as large, so if you’re concerned about having access to a nearby provider in your network, you might be better off picking one of Direct Vision Insurance’s VSP plans. If you want to access VSP’s network directly, you can also sign up for a VSP Vision Care plan without going through Direct Vision Insurance (more on that later).

Spirit Vision is a smaller company that offers dental plans to which customers can add a vision plan. Together, these policies are great for many seniors’ vision and dental needs. Spirit Vision plans are excellent for those who need serious dental work or suffer from chronic eye conditions, unlike the more basic vision plans offered by UnitedHealthcare. The company offers vision policies through the EyeMed Care Network and has some nice add-ons for both families and individual seniors.

» Related Reading: Best dental plans for seniors in 2025

The company’s combination dental and vision insurance is comprehensive, yet the two-in-one packages are often more expensive than traditional vision insurance from carriers like Direct Vision Insurance, VSP, or UnitedHealthcare. However, they do offer immediate coverage and have generous allowances for even costly procedures. If you need major dental work or intensive vision care, Spirit Vision may be the ideal company to meet your needs.

Plans and Pricing

Spirit Vision plans are only available as a supplemental bundled policy with dental coverage. If you add vision insurance, you’ll pay just $7 per month ($14 for couples and $20 for families). That said, the cost is much higher than any other carrier on this list because it includes comprehensive dental coverage. Fortunately, Spirit Vision insurance doesn’t come with any deductibles. In-network copays range from $10 to $25, depending on the type of care required, which is far lower than the copays customers see with VSP Vision.

» Learn More: Affordable dental care for seniors

Even if you opt for the carrier’s most cost-effective preventative dental care plan, you can expect to pay roughly $27.15 in total per month. This is more than double the most expensive vision plan from Direct Vision Insurance and UnitedHealthcare. If you opt for a more comprehensive dental plan with Spirit Vision, prices for dental and vision will start closer to $54.96 per month. Budget-minded seniors may want to pursue other options unless they need extensive dental work, in which case, Spirit Vision and Dental plans are a good deal.

Availability and In-Network Providers

Like Direct Vision Insurance, Spirit Vision uses the VSP Choice and EyeMed networks, which have more than 100,000 nationwide providers combined. EyeMed is the primary network used by Spirit Vision, and it’s available in most states. If Spirit Vision is available in your area but EyeMed or VSP Choice is not, you can choose an alternative provider network. Unfortunately, Spirit Vision insurance is not available as an add-on in every state, so you’ll need to check the company’s website to see if there are plans and providers in your area.

VSP Vision plans are some of the most affordable and versatile options on the market today. However, they are designed to supplement Medicare plans, with policies covering things that Medicare typically does not. This helps seniors keep vision costs under control. By choosing upgraded options, seniors can also save more on enhancements such as trifocals, bifocals, colored contact lenses, progressive eyeglass lenses, and certain types of laser correction surgery.

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Seniors looking to supplement their current vision coverage under Original Medicare will find VSP Vision to be an affordable carrier. They are one of the few companies that provide significant discounts for contact lenses and eyeglass enhancements. Seniors will also appreciate the great hearing aid discounts available should they need one.

Plans and Pricing

VSP Vision makes it easy to find a plan directly on their website. We just input our ZIP and age range to ensure we qualify. Then, we could choose between three different frame allowances: $150 per year, $230 per year, or no allowance (contact lenses only).

With the $150 frame allowance, we could access three plans (in Miami) starting at roughly $11.20 per month for the Standard Plan. The EasyOptions plan costs about $14.80 per month and adds three upgrade options, while the Enhanced plan costs about $16.31 per month and offers more savings on multiple lens enhancements. These prices are a little higher than Direct Vision Insurance, which offers more competitive prices by using both the VSP and EyeMed networks.

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Keep in mind that VSP Vision premiums, deductibles, and copays can vary by location. For example, the plans available in Miami don’t have any deductibles, but they do have copays ranging from $15 to $175, depending on the service and plan. These are relatively high compared to Spirit Vision and Direct Vision Insurance. Still, individuals can save up to $200 annually on their eye exams and glasses while enjoying additional discounts on prescription hearing aids (up to 60 percent) or over-the-counter hearing aids (up to 20 percent) through provider TruHearing. Many of these savings cannot be enjoyed under original Medicare policies on their own.

Availability and In-Network Providers

According to the company’s website, there are over 85 million VSP Vision members nationwide, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 Americans depend on VSP for eye care. Additionally, the carrier boasts more than 40,000 private providers and is widely accepted at popular retail chains like Walmart, Costco, Visionworks, and Sam’s Club. This makes it a fantastic vision insurance carrier for seniors who want peace of mind knowing they can find one or more in-network eye care providers nearby.

As the largest online marketplace for insurance today, eHealth is not an individual vision insurance carrier. It’s a service that connects individuals and families with companies that can meet their vision insurance needs. eHealth works with the nation’s largest providers, such as AARP, Humana, and Aetna, and seniors who may be able to add vision coverage to an existing health policy. The company makes it easy to compare plans, and eHealth has a solid reputation for having friendly and knowledgeable customer service representatives.

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Seniors looking for an easy way to shop for vision insurance with side-by-side comparisons of features, costs, and deductibles should give eHealth a try. They have an extensive network through multiple insurance companies, so it’s likely your current eye doctor is within one of the partnership’s network of providers. eHealth offers those on a budget who also face time constraints a viable option for quickly finding vision insurance.

Plans and Pricing

Since eHealth is an online marketplace for dozens of major insurance carriers, the prices for vision coverage will vary. Age, location, the maximum coverage desired, and the company chosen will ultimately determine premiums, deductibles, copays, and any other costs.

Availability and In-Network Providers

eHealth allows you to compare a wide range of insurance carriers with hundreds of thousands of nationwide providers. The ability to search by doctor also means you could potentially stay with your current provider while shopping for a new vision plan. As an insurance marketplace, eHealth has wider availability and more providers than even some of the most popular vision insurance carriers like VSP Vision and UnitedHealthcare.

UnitedHealthcare is one of the industry’s largest players, and overall the company gets positive reviews from customers. They offer a solid level of benefits with numerous policy options for vision insurance. Typically, customers will have both health and vision insurance bundled with  UnitedHealthcare policies. Seniors will benefit from the company’s large list of in-network providers, in addition to having access to out-of-network providers at a slightly higher cost.

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They offer standard and premium vision plans and are one of the few companies that don’t require an enrollment fee. One thing to note is that it’s a bit harder to get individual or family plans from UnitedHealthcare. The company has shifted more toward catering to corporate-held policies. Additionally, it doesn’t offer the same level of provider accessibility since some retail access points don’t accept it.

Plans and Pricing

Pricing will depend on personal factors to some extent (including tobacco usage), but for vision policies, UnitedHealthcare offers standard plans for individuals starting at about $13 per month for individuals and $27 per month for families. In Miami, we only found one vision plan for seniors, VisionWise Premier, which starts at $13.28 per month.

Similar to most carriers on this list, the plan offers up to $150 annual allowance for frames, but it also has a separate $150 allowance for lenses. Eye exams have no copay (a big advantage over VSP Vision), though most other eye care services have copays starting at $10 per visit. While UnitedHealthcare isn’t quite as affordable as Spirit Vision, the benefits they offer could help save money on out-of-pocket costs over time. There’s also no enrollment fee, and there may be discounts when paying annually or bundling with other insurance services through UnitedHealthcare.

Availability and In-Network Providers

Seniors like that there is both in and out-of-network compensation available and that there are 30,000 providers to choose from on UnitedHealthcare’s network. UnitedHealthcare offers vision insurance through VisionWise, which is available in 41 states. This makes it easy for most customers to find an eye doctor nearby that accepts UnitedHealthcare. Still, its network is not nearly as large as VSP. Additionally, it’s worth considering that while many retail chains accept UnitedHealthcare vision insurance, acceptance can vary by individual location.

» Carrier Overview: UnitedHealthcare and senior care coverage