‘We need to take a picture of the back of your eye‘: Woman shares how eye doctor tried to trick her into spending more money
This eye doctor chose the wrong person to try to upsell.
In a viral TikTok video, a patient explains how she dodged all of the doctor's sales tactics and ended up walking out without paying a cent more than her co-pay.
Tanya (@tanya_01_87) says she went to the doctor for an eye exam and to update her frames, but they were trying to get her to spend more money every step of the way.
First, she was asked if she'd be willing to pay an extra trip $29.99 for a photo of the back of her eye. This helps your eye doctor check for certain diseases they couldn't otherwise see, according to WebMD.
Tanya declined the extra charge, stating her goal was to walk out of there and only have to pay her $10 copay. (It also seems like the person who advised her to get the extra eye image didn't do a great job of explaining the health benefits.)
While the person continued to insist that it was doctor-recommended, Tanya continued to decline.
This was one thing viewers were split about. Some said it was important enough that Tanya should have paid the extra $30, and others wrote that if it is so important, the additional eye imaging should be covered by insurance.
"The $30 picture of the back of my eye is how they discovered I have intracranial hypertension. an issue that could lead to blindness if left untreated so...." a person wrote.
"It's crazy that something vital to eye and overall health would require an extra fee and not just be covered by insurance. This country is wild," another added.
Next, it was time to pick frames. Even though Tanya had a $300 limit for frames, the eye doctor walked her over to the designer frames, where she most definitely would have had to pay money out of pocket to make up for the difference in price.
"I want cheap frames, and she was like, 'But you have a 300 dollar limit.' And I was like, 'Um, no, I'm just gonna go ahead and get the cheap frames," Tanya recounts.
While Tanya picked out two $100 frames, the total still came out to $50 after insurance (and that's after Tanya told them to remove the warranty they'd tacked on). To avoid the extra cost, Tanya put back one of the frames and told them to just use her current pair of glasses.
They still insisted on the warranty for putting lenses in her new frames, but Tanya pointed out she'd had them for three years and didn't need a warranty.
"I don't wanna pay anything out of pocket. That's the point of me having insurance. So I don't have to pay out of pocket," Tanya says.
By the end of it all, Tanya achieved her goal, only having to hand over the $10 copay.
@tanya_01_87 ♬ original sound - Tanya_The_Creator
Eye care can be an expensive but necessary cost—even with insurance like Tanya experienced. About 2 in 3 U.S. adults have some kind of vision insurance coverage, per the Vision Council's 2022 consumer insights report, but that doesn't translate to frequency of care. Only 53% of people reported having an eye exam in the last year.
Tanya's video has more than 160,000 views and over a thousand comments, many of whom called out these costs.
"I get my prescription and order my frames online. Gone are the days of $500 glasses are DONE," a person wrote, echoing other comments about getting your frames cheaper online.
"I love that you advocated for yourself! Good job!" a commenter wrote.
"Standed on business lol," another chimed in.
The Daily Dot reached out to Tanya via TikTok comment.
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