The health insurance claims process begins the moment the patient walks through the doors of the medical care provider's office, but it should begin even earlier than that. Most discount health insurance carriers have a printed procedure that all insured individuals are expected to abide by in order for coverage of claims to be extended.

This means that there should be research done prior to beginning the process of seeking medical care to ensure that the required documents are on hand and that there is a thorough understanding of what is and is not covered under the discount health insurance policy. A few extra minutes of research and possibly a phone call to the discount health insurance provider's customer care department should take care of any questions the insured has prior to seeking medical care.

Many medical professionals will take care of filing discount health insurance claims on behalf of the patient. When this is the case, the patient will be asked to fill out a number of forms and also provide proof of insurance at the time the medical care is provided. The medical professional's office will then take care of filing the necessary paperwork with the insurance carrier on the patient's behalf. This is of course the easiest way to take advantage of the medical benefits available under the discount health insurance policy.

When claims are handled this way, the patient will most likely be required to provide a driver's license, basic patient information such as a contact phone number and mailing address, a copy of the insurance card, and possibly the pharmacy benefits card. The medical professional's office will handle filling out and submitting all forms and the patient will most likely never see a bill beyond what they may owe for their co-payment and co-insurance for the visit.

In the event that the care provider does not assist with filing insurance claims, the patient will then have to take care of that on their own with the discount health insurance claim department. In this case, required documents will include not only the driver's license, contact information, and insurance cards, but also the receipt from the medical professional's office, complete with care codes required by the insurance company for validating benefits payouts. Also, the patient will be required to obtain all of the mandatory forms that the insurance company will need to have filled out to process a claim. These forms should be available on the health insurance carrier's website.

Having the right information on hand during the claims process will serve to streamline the payout of benefits and reimbursement for out of pocket expenses.