February 21, 2011 
All parents who think that in the purchase of eyeglasses for their child they will get a good save from the Croatian Health Insurance are mistaken. CIHI employee will already over the counter notify you that the Office participates in the cost of glasses with the amount of 74 Kuna!?…
Since children, according to CIHI’s regulations, should not participate in the cost of standard prosthetic devices, i.e. that the overall health insurance of the compulsory insurance is borne on the burden of CIHI, we wondered whether this means that it is possible to find eyeglasses with this price.
This is a standard, or the lowest price for this therapeutic product that was offered by suppliers. Standard, however, does not mean poor quality because the offered supplies had to meet the technical specifications established by CIHI.
The aim was to obtain the prescribed quality for a good price; good for the CIHI and insured ones. Also, please note that the new list of supplies was made, and the application is currently in the preparing process in order to achieve even higher quality for the offered prices – Renata Turčinov kindly explained, a spokeswoman for the Health Insurance Institute.
Plain plastic glasses
In practice, things are something different. In touring the optical stores, we ensured that the average quality glasses and frames for a child cannot be found at a price lower than 200-ish Kuna, in which the CIHI, therefore, participates with only one third of the whole amount.
Most of the opticians who receive remittances from CIHI do not have those standard eyeglasses for the price of 74 Kuna because, as they say, who would even bought them at all.
In optics, “Anda” cheapest glasses cost 133 Kuna (times two, author’s note), and a framework can be found for two hundred Kuna.
– We do not hold social eyeglasses, the optics “Ghetaldus” are the only ones that hold that program – said an employee in this store. A saleswoman from “Ghetaldus” confirmed us this information, and there you really can buy these eyeglasses for children for the price of 74 Kuna – but when we saw them, everything was crystal clear.
– The state pays ordinary plastic eyeglasses without the protection that the child will scratch the other day. I am ashamed to show these glasses to customers at all – said the saleswoman.
Therefore, in only one optical store in Split we managed to find standard therapeutic eyeglasses for children that are fully paid by Health Insurance. After this experience, most parents will probably agree that waiting in line in front of the counters of CIHI is a plain waste of time.
Taken from: www.slobodnadalmacija.hr