

ĭuring the 1980s, the company expressed its intention to become a national company, the first time a vision care specialist made a concerted bid to develop a 50-state membership base. By the end of the 1970s, VSP became a star in the vision care market, boasting 2.4 million members. In 1979, under the VSP name, the company signed its first contract with a health maintenance organization (HMO), marking its entry into the managed care market, which represented a major market for VSP at the end of the century. In later years, the Sacramento lab would produce more than 2,000 pairs of eyeglasses a day.

In 1972, the company opened its own optical laboratory in Sacramento in a bid to keep its costs down. In 1976, CVS officially became VSP and the company widened its operating territory to a four-state area by assuming responsibility for Oregon Vision Service Plan. In 1974, it assumed control over the administration of Nevada Vision Service which led to CVS signing its first client in the state. īy the late 1960s, efforts were underway to expand beyond California's borders and in 1968, the company signed an agreement with Hawaii for future work in the state. With its novel concept at the time exceeding initial expectations, CVS was forced to move to larger headquarters in 1968 from Oakland to Sacramento. Seven years later, after numerous smaller agreements added to the legitimacy of the company's concept, in 1965, CVS signed a contract with the Western Conference of Teamsters, who agreed to include the company's vision care program in its benefits package. In the agreement, CVS would pay claims in the port cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Galveston, Seattle, and Portland. Undeterred by the lack of interest, CVS forged forward with expansion plans and signed its first multistate contract in 1958 with Masters, Mates, and Pilots Local 90 Union. Three years after its founding the organization began to offer itself for purchase or merger with other organizations but none showed any interest. CVS became a champion of vision care coverage because of these practices. Eye care, if the subject was broached at all, typically was at the end of the line. Employers, labor unions, and parties involved in collective bargaining arrangements generally focused first on medical coverage before moving down the line to employee benefits related to death, disability, dental, pharmaceutical, pensions, profit sharing, and vacations. The program offered by the founding group of optometrists restricted the development of CVS to some extent and perhaps more of hindrance to the program's acceptance was the general perception of vision care as a benefit. It began as an employee benefits program that drew its first members from labor and management trust funds and school districts. The formation of CVS was from a group of optometrists in the San Francisco Bay Area who decided to offer prepaid vision benefits in a small shopping center in Oakland, California. A year later, the two groups decided to merge, creating the California Vision Services, or CVS. In 1954, two organizations were formed, the Alameda Contra Costa Optometric Society and the Joint Council on Vision Care. In 2003 the Internal Revenue Service revoked VSP's tax exempt status citing exclusionary, members-only practices, and high compensation to executives. įormed in 1955 as a nonprofit organization by a group of optometrists in Oakland, California, it became a national provider, and expanded internationally by 2007. It is a doctor-governed company divided into five businesses: “eye care insurance, high-quality eyewear, lens and lens enhancements, ophthalmic technology, and connected experiences to strengthen the relationship between patients and their eye doctors.” It has about 80 million people worldwide and is the largest vision insurance company in the United States. VSP Vision Care ( VSP) is a vision care health insurance company operating in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Marchon Eyewear, Inc., Office Mate, Altair Eyewear, Visionworks Eye Designs, Eyeconic, Eyefinity, VSP Optics Group, Marchon Eyewear, Altair Eyewear
