Is the gold standard that is most predictable, for a person who now wears distance glasses, still a standard iol for cataract surgery?

Yes: Monofocal IOLs and glasses give excellent vision. In addition, people who have normal macular function and a good tear film do well with the various IOLs used in vision correction. The premium IOLs are more expensive and give you an extended range of uncorrected vision. Use of the ORA, an intraoperative wavefront aberrometer, substantially decreases the risks of using these lenses.