My son attends a Jesuit high school in Kansas City where part of the curriculum includes a two-year course in Latin. While reviewing his first semester progress recently, I was reminded of my own experience in the same institution, nearly thirty years ago. I thought to myself, “Tempus Fugit – time flies. ” The next day at the office, I received a phone call from an agent I had not heard from in ten years. (Tempus Fugit.) He had seen an article I had published in the Health Insurance Underwriter magazine and called to say hello. We talked for quite a while, he reminded me... Read More

The future wellness of sales of ancillary group medical insurance products – dental, vision, long-term care, for example – could fluctuate depending on the final health care reform package bestowed on U.S. citizens. It is too early to predict what this package will be and how everything that comprises the group market will mesh. Regardless, savvy life and health insurance professionals won’t be waiting to see what may or may not happen; they’ll be out making sales in the ancillary group products market. Agents and brokers have the opportunity to fill in coverage gaps... Read More

What do Pizza Hut, North American Van Lines, Cunard Ship Lines, Coca Cola, Warner Lambert, Hershey Foods, International House of Pancakes and the Government Employees Hospital Association have in common? They have all added vision care plans or enhanced existing vision plans for their employee benefits over the last two years, much to the delight of the brokers/agents servicing their accounts. Lest anyone be misled by the recent flurry of interest in vision care benefits and programs, this highly affordable, much appreciated benefit is not new. For more than 30 years, vision care has been... Read More

by Paul J. Disser, President, Chairman, and CEO Spectrum Vision Systems, Inc. Ancillary benefits additions to small and large employer group plans provide needed services while creating new sales and revenue opportunities. There is an interesting anomaly that has been occurring during the reconstruction of employee benefits packages over the last couple of years. Whereas the conventional wisdom would have us believe that employers are “slashing” benefits and not adding new benefits, growth statistics in certain niche categories appear to run counter to this wisdom. According to... Read More

The Upbringing of a Billion Dollar Stepchild By Paul J. Disser What do Pizza Hut, North American Van Lines, Cunard Ship Lines, Coca Cola, Warner Lambert, Hershey Foods, International House of Pancakes and the Government Employees Hospital Association have in common? These companies have all added vision care plans or enhanced existing vision plans in their employee benefits plan over the past two years. Although garnering much interest, this highly affordable and much appreciated benefit is not new. For over thirty years vision care has been available to the labor force and general public... Read More

Paul J. Disser is chairman and chief executive officer of Spectrum Vision Systems, Inc., Kansas based PPO with more than 3,200 independent optometrists under contract servicing over 1.7 million members in the Preferred Vision Care and Preferred Vision Care Plus plans throughout the United States. Disser is also president of Spectrum Benefits Management Corporation, a consulting TPA working primarily with ancillary benefits products. He serves on the board of directors of the Mass Marketing Insurance Institute (MI 2) and chairs the committee for education and seminars for MI2 . He is also... Read More

The story headlined “ODs Accept Managed Care – Grudgingly” in the Jan. 25, 1993, issue of Vision Monday reminds me of the story of two people riding a bicycle built for two up a steep hill. Upon reaching the top of the hill after an arduous climb, the rider in front turns to his companion and says, “That was one tough climb!” To which his partner replies, “It sure was. If I had not kept my brakes on all the way up, I am afraid we would have slid all the way back down.” My point is simply this: If change is inevitable (and, according to the Vision... Read More

Paul J. Disser is chairman and chief executive officer of Spectrum Vision Systems, inc., Kansas based PPO with more titan 3,200 independent optometrists under contract servicing over 1.7 million members in the Preferred Vision Care and Preferred Vision Care Plus plans throughout the United States. Disser is also president of Spectrum Benefits Management Corporation, a consulting TPA working primarily with ancillary benefits products. He serves on the board of directors of the Mass Marketing Insurance Institute (MI2) and chairs the committee for education and seminars for MI2. He is also... Read More

Spectrum Vision Systems’ Preferred Vision Care (PVC) program has about 3,000 independent optometrists under contract to service approximately 1,350,000 members. (That number includes people employed by 5,000 companies and those employees’ dependents.) PVC, which is sponsored by about 40 insurance companies as well as employers, operates as a member discount program, according to the company’s chairman and chief executive officer Paul J. Disser. The contract with dispensers is a uniform contract in that every patient, no matter who his employer is, receives the same benefit. The... Read More

To the editor: Judith Lee’s column (Vision – Monday, Aug. 15), “Profitable Pricing Calls for Strategy” addresses an issue we have been dealing with in the independent professional sector for more than five years. Of the components comprising professional services marketing, the art of pricing is second only to promotion (advertising) in terms of sensitivity. If our results in working with/for independent optometry are any indication, the thought put forth in Lee’s column should be well-received. The ability to distinguish between product pricing and professional... Read More