You have heard enough about the dos and don’ts of a new parent; about how to feed, clothe and handle a newborn baby. You are excited, anxious and nervous ….. But along with these feelings you are wondering if you can handle the expenses of delivery and all that follows.
With a simple hospitalization costing thousands of rupees, you are worried that a caesarian delivery will certainly increase your expenses. With all these concerns you think of health insurance and wonder if it covers maternity expenses. Here is all you wanted to know about Maternity benefit in health insurance policies.
Regular health insurance policies doesn’t provide Maternity Cover!
Before you start blaming the health insurance companies for being unfair, listen to this: the basis of insurance is protection against unexpected risks. health insurance for Pregnancy is not an unexpected risk and so most health insurance policies don’t cover maternity expenses.
But wait; there are few policies which cover it!
Considering the expenses that hospitalization for delivering brings, certain health insurance plans cover maternity expenses.
Group health insurance:
Most group health insurance plans i.e. health insurance policies provided by companies to their employees, provide maternity benefit. These plans also commonly include- pre and post hospitalization expenses, the actual hospitalization as well as the expenses for the treatment of complications during delivery if any. Also, there are sub-limits or limits to the amount that can be claimed under maternity benefit. There are also features which cover the new born from the day he or she is born.
Note: Not all Group health insurance policies cover maternity expenses. Ask your HR department to confirm. Also read the policy to know the exact conditions and to know what all is covered. In some policies you may even have to shell out extra premium to cover maternity.
Individual health insurance:
There are very few individual health insurance policies which cover maternity health insurance as part of their plans; we go into details of the two most popular plans:
Max Bupa’s Heartbeat Plan
In this plan you have the maternity health insurance benefit if you and your spouse are covered in the family floater option. You also have to wait for 2 years before you can avail of maternity health insurance benefit.
What it covers:
- It covers the maternity benefit upto two deliveries even Caesarian deliveries upto the sub limit mentioned in the policy.
- The newborn is automatically covered in the policy since the day he or she is born until the next renewal of the policy.
- All the vaccination expenses are also covered upto the first year of the child.
Apollo Munich’s Easy Health
This plan covers maternity benefit in both individual as well as family plans. The only difference is the waiting period, if you are covered in the individual plan you have to wait for 6 years before maternity expenses are paid and you have to wait for 4 years if you have a family plan.
What it covers:
- It covers maternity health insurance benefit upto two pregnancies (including caesarian section) or terminations.
- It also includes pre and post natal expenses which are included in the expenses limited for maternity expenses.
- You can opt to cover your newborn in the policy by informing the company within 90 days of birth.
So now that some health insurance policies cover maternity expenses you will have one less worry on your mind…
