Sanctions optical aids, including insurance cover to begin with (8)
I believe the answer is:
licenses
'sanctions' is the definition.
(license is a kind of sanction)
'optical aids including insurance cover to begin with' is the wordplay.
'optical aids' becomes 'lenses'.
'including' is an insertion indicator.
'to begin with' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'insurance cover' is 'ic'.
'lenses' placed around 'ic' is 'LICENSES'.
(Other definitions for licenses that I've seen before include "Authorises" , "Grants official permission" .)