Vision insurance will typically be subsidized by the employer around 50% or more, so it could still be more expensive to not use the vision insurance.

The crappy "vision insurance" we got "for free" was still more expensive out of pocket than a Walmart optometrist visit + 5 pairs from Zenni.

It's entirely a racket; would be like selling oil change insurance.

Not all of us have FSAs. We're both self-employed, no FSA money.

You know, the kind of health care self-employed people are more likely to have (high deductible) is more likely to qualify for HSA -- and an HSA is great because it's like a pre-tax extra IRA allowance if you don't use it for healthcare.