Do not be taken in by ads for discount medical coverage' for as little as $30 a month. What these advertisers are hawking is usually a discount health plan. A discount health plan is not affordable medical insurance. In fact it is not any kind of medical insurance. It can be confusing. After all they call it a 'health plan' and you carry a card, much like a regular health insurance card. To make matters even more confusing, many actual and legitimate health insurance plans offer a discount service card for medical epenses not covered by the actual medical insurance plans. Furthermore many less than scrupulous providers of such medical discount cards take advantage of the confusion and make no effort to distinguish themselves from actual affordable medical insurance. Make no mistake though, a discount health plan is NOT health insurance. What it is, is a group of participating healthcare providers who have offered to furnish their services at a reduced rate to members of the discount group. Still while the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAUH) cautions consumers to be weary of such discount health plans, they admit that for some discount plans may be the only option for reducing healthcare costs. The NAHU finds little fault with stand-alone medical discount card providers who market their product in a clear manner and have negotiated true discounts from quality healthcare providers. The organization does take issue with purveyors of such plans that try to pull the wool over consumers eyes and lead them to believe that they are purchasing some type of low cost medical insurance. And the organization points out that there have been many documented cases where these discount plans were nothing more than scams. Before signing up for any discount health plan, check with your states Better Business Bureau or Attorney Generals Office for any claims against the health plan. In some states sellers of discount health plans need be authorized by the States Department of Insurance to do so. You can find such information at your state's Department of Insurance website. Avoid any discount healthplan that uses the word 'insurance' or 'coverage'. It is only 'medical insurance coverage' if there is some kind of financial benefit for catastrophic illness requiring hospital stays or surgery. If all you are purchasing are discounts for services at member providers you are not buying any kind of medical insurance. However, with that clearly understood, a discount healthplan may be a good value for some consumers. People who do have legitimate medical insurance, such as a high deductible consumer driven healthplan, could benefit from the discounts by reducing their out-of-pocket healthcare ependitures until the deductible is met. People who have ehausted every possibility and for some reason or another just cannot get any kind of private health insurance can at least save money on healthcare costs by joining a legitimate discount health plan. But The NAHU also points out that often consumers without medical insurance can negotiate the same discounts with healthcare providers themselves, without the epense of joining the group.'