In the broadest of terms you should assume that a health insurance plan will not cover Lasik as it is generally viewed as an elective surgical procedure used in lieu of wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses. There are case situations though where the use of Lasik may be deemed medically necessary and the claim paid by the insurance carrier. Some examples might be the need for corrective surgery due to an accident or as a result of other surgery.
Many health insurance carriers offer vision insurance plans as companion coverage for their individual and/or group medical plans. While these plans generally don't cover Lasik in the vision plan's scheduled benefits the quite often come bundled with a discount or flat fee arrangement for Lasik procedures as a value added benefit. As a result, some persons can or may have some discount arrangements in their existing benefit plans and some may not even really be aware of it of have forgotten about it. Check your coverage certificates and if you have a separate vision insurance plan - especially check those as that is where any possible benefit is most likely to show up.
If your employer offers a medical Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and you are planning for Lasik in the coming year then you should definitely consider setting aside pre-tax dollars in a FSA to pay for your costs if you have no coverage at all or for after any cost sharing you might have through any coverage. FSA dollars can be used for a variety of out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by your insurance up to $2500 per year. So, when you know or are pretty confident you are going to have some level of out-of-pocket expenditure(s) for health care in the coming year you are essentially getting a discount equivalent to your tax bracket for the money you were going to spend anyways. Avail yourself of this option if it is available, if not, ask your employer to consider adding such a plan, it can be in the employer's best interest from a tax perspective as well.
Other than the obvious "you pay for the whole thing" option, this pretty well covers the spectrum for the non-coverage/coverage conditions for Lasik in health insurance and how the need is often addressed to some degree in many vision insurance plans.
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Many health insurance carriers offer vision insurance plans as companion coverage for their individual and/or group medical plans. While these plans generally don't cover Lasik in the vision plan's scheduled benefits the quite often come bundled with a discount or flat fee arrangement for Lasik procedures as a value added benefit. As a result, some persons can or may have some discount arrangements in their existing benefit plans and some may not even really be aware of it of have forgotten about it. Check your coverage certificates and if you have a separate vision insurance plan - especially check those as that is where any possible benefit is most likely to show up.
If your employer offers a medical Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and you are planning for Lasik in the coming year then you should definitely consider setting aside pre-tax dollars in a FSA to pay for your costs if you have no coverage at all or for after any cost sharing you might have through any coverage. FSA dollars can be used for a variety of out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by your insurance up to $2500 per year. So, when you know or are pretty confident you are going to have some level of out-of-pocket expenditure(s) for health care in the coming year you are essentially getting a discount equivalent to your tax bracket for the money you were going to spend anyways. Avail yourself of this option if it is available, if not, ask your employer to consider adding such a plan, it can be in the employer's best interest from a tax perspective as well.
Other than the obvious "you pay for the whole thing" option, this pretty well covers the spectrum for the non-coverage/coverage conditions for Lasik in health insurance and how the need is often addressed to some degree in many vision insurance plans.