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02-10-2023

Health insurance funds: visually impaired patients will receive more help

Iliustracija

Good news to visually impaired people - a significant increase in the reference prices of reimbursable spectacle lenses, informs the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) under the Ministry of Health. The necessary money will be provided by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF).

“This is a long-awaited change for visually impaired patients. By increasing the price of spectacle lenses, it is expected that twice as many patients will be able to use the option to purchase the necessary reimbursable spectacle lenses, which will also provide significant financial support to the households of these patients,” said Giedrius Baranauskas, the Head of Medical Devices Reimbursement Division.

From the end of September, spectacle lenses are no longer separated into prescriptions for children and adults, but rather grouped as:

  • Simple spectacle lenses (with refractive power being less or equal to 6.0 sphere dioptres and/or less or equal to 2.0 cylinder dioptres);
  • Complex spectacle lenses (with refractive power being more than 6.0 sphere dioptres and/or more than 2.0 cylinder dioptres).

New reference prices of reimbursed spectacle lenses have already entered into force. For children, the cost of these devices has increased from EUR 40 and for adults from EUR 80 to EUR 95 or EUR 148, depending on the type of spectacle lenses prescribed.

As before, all spectacle lenses are reimbursed 100% by the CHIF.

Spectacle lenses may be prescribed for patients due to different diseases which impair vision: lens, choroid and retinal diseases, glaucoma, diseases of corpus vitreum and the eyeball, optic nerve and visual pathways, ocular muscles, accommodative and refraction disorders, corneal transplants etc.

We remind that spectacle lenses may be compensated both to children and adult patients, if a doctor ophthalmologist establishes that visual acuity of a better-seeing eye with full correction does not exceed 0.5 visual acuity units.

Spectacle lenses are compensated to children not more often than once per year and to adult patients – once per two years.

To get spectacle lenses reimbursed by the CHIF, a patient first needs to go to an eye doctor, who will issue a referral. Then, a patient must use this referral to visit one of the optic shops having a contract with the NHIF. 

(Freepik photo)

The NHIF invites you:

Last updated: 24-10-2023

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