PORTLAND, Ore.— Standard Insurance Company now offers PolicyLink Dental + Vision Plan, which allows employers to designate an amount for their maximum vision benefit from four options--$150, $200, $300 and $350. This flexible approach to managed care also allows employees to allocate unused vision benefits toward dental care. If an employee doesn’t require vision care in a particular year, he or she will have the full maximum available for dental care. If he or she were to use only a portion of the allotted vision care amount, the remaining money could be put toward dental care.

Standard offers three flexible vision plans. With Balanced Care Vision Plan I employees receive preferred pricing on a variety of vision care services when they select providers from the VSP Vision Care nationwide network of doctors as well as discounts for laser surgery. The Balanced Care Vision Plan II provides discounts through EyeMed’s national network of providers, including some of the largest optical retailers in the U.S. such as LensCrafters, Sears Optical, Target Optical, JCPenney Optical and most Pearle Vision locations. Standard’s most flexible plan, the Balanced Care Vision Plan III allows the employee to see the eye doctor of their choice.

“Because of the nature of our new product, we think it will put vision coverage within the reach of many small businesses that previously did not offer vision coverage, thereby allowing more employees to address their eye health concerns,” a Standard spokesperson told VMail.