Your health insurance budget should include more than just the cost of your health insurance premiums. Non covered services can add to your health expenses.

Ancillary Services

Some expenses are not covered even though they are part of your body. Vision care includes eye exams for vision screening and the purchase of glasses and contacts. Dental care includes most expenses for services to your teeth and gums. Hearing care includes hearing testing and hearing aids. These kinds of medical costs are covered by separate plans, which you should factor into your health insurance budget.

Cosmetic Surgery

Cosmetic surgery and treatments make you look better. But unless they are due to a medical problem they are not covered by health insurance since they are not medically necessary.

Home Health Care

Home health services care for a patient when they become ill or disable and can no long perform daily activities such as bathing, and dressing. Home health care also includes skilled nursing visits to take vitals and give IV medications. Home health care is usually part of long term care insurance plans.

Learning or Behavioral problems

Conditions like dyslexia and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) may be non covered services. Check with your insurer.

Pre existing conditions

Pre-existing conditions are those things that you have been treated for before you insurance coverage began. If you were treated in the 12 months before coverage then you may have a 12 month waiting period after your coverage takes effect.

Circumcisions

Circumcisions for newborn boys used to be covered under almost all health insurance plans. There is a move toward considering this either cosmetic surgery or unnecessary surgery.

Prescriptions drugs

There are certain drugs that are usually excluded including over the counter medications, experimental drugs and drugs to re-grow hair or clear skin. Other drugs that may not be covered are drugs not on the insurer's preferred drug list.

Preventative care

Your yearly check up and well baby checkups are examples of preventative care. These are sometimes covered under insurance but can be on the exclusions list.

Fertility Treatment

Although sometimes fertility tests and some treatments are covered most fertility treatments are not covered especially procedures like in-vitro fertilization.

Reversals of Vasectomies or Sterilization

When a man wants to reverse his vasectomy in order to have children, it is not covered by insurance. Sterilization procedures like vasectomies and tubal ligations are covered by some plans and not by others.

Every health plan has its own list of exclusions. These exclusion may be on one list or listed throughout the terms of the policy. In order to be able to estimate you expenses when making a health insurance budget, be sure to include non covered services and plan to pay for those out of your own pocket.