Waiting to check your discount health insurance plan's coverage until the day you need it is one of the worst moves you could make. Many insurance plans simply do not cover the treatment you may need. Insurance coverage differs from plan-to-plan, so it is important to know ahead of time what your plan covers so that you can be better prepared to make decisions that affect your health and well-being.

Discount health insurance plans often dictate a multitude of exclusions within their fine print. These exclusions describe the various injuries, conditions, treatments, and medical items the policy will not cover. Examples of these include (but are not limited to) the following: suicide, sexually-transmitted diseases, vision correction, travel-related injuries, or any injury that one inflicts upon themselves. Some of the more exotic exclusions include war injuries and even injuries related to acts of terrorism.

One exclusion that tends to hit home the most is one known as "pre-existing conditions," or namely the ability for an insurance carrier to deny coverage for treatment or medically necessary items because it relates to a condition you possessed prior to signing up for their insurance coverage. In other words, a condition is considered to be "pre-existing" if you were diagnosed or treated for it prior to starting your current discount health insurance policy. The medical industry keeps track of treatment patients undergo specifically for the purpose of weeding out those patients who already suffer from something before they purchase new discount health insurance. This prevents patients from immediately signing up for new coverage just before they need to be treated for something they already had. Fortunately, this type of exclusion goes away after a certain period of time. This waiting period varies from company to company, so make sure you are aware of how long you must wait in case you see a future need to treat some issue you may have that is pre-existing.

Insurance coverage also varies from company to company with respect to where you can go for treatment. Some plans will not cover urgent care. Some will not cover non-urgent care issues you experience while traveling out of state. Insurance coverage may also vary depending upon whether you check in to an urgent care center instead of a hospital for emergency care. With urgent care centers, it is almost always financially prudent to check into one that's within your insurance provider's network. This is generally never the case with hospitals. Whether dealing with urgent, non-urgent, or emergency health care issues, it is always important to know what is covered and what is excluded well ahead of time, preferably before you sign up for coverage.