Inconsistency in public health care and private benefits coverage for vision care could be keeping many Canadians from getting their eyes checked regularly, according to Tracy Weng, an optometrist and clinical consultant at Specsavers Canada, during Benefits Canada’s 2025 Toronto Benefits Summit.
About 60 per cent of Canadians have private insurance and, among that group, 60 per cent said their insurance covers all or most of the cost of an eye exam, she said, citing a 2025 survey by Specsavers Canada and Angus Reid. “That’s great, but that also means we’re leaving a lot of people behind.”
The survey also found three out of four Canadians with private insurance reported they follow the recommended frequency for eye exams, which is once every two years. However, one in two respondents without private insurance don’t follow that recommendation. “Coverage drives compliance, compliance drives prevention and prevention will save vision and cost,” said Weng.
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Eight million Canadians live with an eye disease that may lead to blindness and many are working-aged adults, she noted. “[These diseases] often don’t start until [age] 40 onward and often they’re not diagnosed until it is too late.”
About half of the cases of vision impairment or blindness worldwide could have been prevented, she added, with that jumping to 90 per cent in Canada.
Diabetic retinopathy, which causes random areas of distortion or blind spots in someone’s vision, affects more than one million Canadians. About 750,000 have glaucoma, which erodes peripheral vision and about 2.5 million have macular degeneration, which affects central vision.
Employees’ eye health is crucial to productivity, pointed out Weng, noting uncorrected vision can reduce someone’s output by 20 per cent. As an example, she shared that diabetic retinopathy can make it difficult to type or read. And in some professions, vision issues could be a significant workplace safety risk, such as a warehouse worker with glaucoma who doesn’t see a pallet jack coming around the corner.
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Poor eye health contributes to higher absenteeism, increased turnover and lower overall quality of life, noted Weng. Diabetic retinopathy alone can double someone’s chances of leaving the workforce and translate to benefits costs of $20,000 per year.
She encouraged employers to make vision care part of their health and wellness strategies. “An eye exam can be the difference between preventing disease early at a low cost or managing advanced disease state at high cost to the person and the system.”
Read more coverage of the 2025 Toronto Benefits Summit.