Rough economic times, rising medical costs and frightening unemployment numbers across the country haven't discouraged employees from enrolling in voluntary benefits—vision insurance in particular. Despite employees paying a slightly increased portion of their vision benefits—37 percent paid 100 percent in 2010, up from 35 percent in 2008—demand for vision insurance is still strong.

"Even in our volatile economy right now, none of my clients are dropping vision, because it's a low-cost addition to a comprehensive benefits package for employees, something we know is strongly tied to employee attraction and loyalty," says Patsy Akridge, president of Akridge Insurance and Financial Services in Martinsville, Va.

In fact, Akridge's clients had a minimum of 10-15 percent enrollment increase this year. She says she also saw increases in membership changes from employee-only coverage to dependent coverage.