 "health insurance, insurance")
Soon after Covid-19, the inclusion of an OPD feature in health insurance emerged as a game-changer, as it covered more than just hospitalisation expenses. Similarly, maternity insurance is set to become a game changer as more consumers are looking at comprehensive insurance plans from insurance companies that cover them holistically.
Earlier, maternity insurance used to focus mainly on covering expenses related to childbirth, such as hospital stays, delivery charges, and medical procedures. However, this approach often overlooked other important aspects of maternal healthcare. Now, the newly launched maternity insurance plans provide more comprehensive coverage that includes:
Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp
- already served waiting period will be passed on to your spouse
- covers expenses of pregnancy, prenatal and postnatal consultations
- assisted reproductive treatments & infertility treatments
- surrogacy & delivery for surrogate mothers covered
- charges for adopting a child
- vaccination expenses of a newborn
Given the positive response to these comprehensive plans, the trend is likely to continue, with health insurance providers recognising the importance of offering all-encompassing coverage that caters to the varied needs and aspirations of individuals and families.
"A couple usually starts thinking about health insurance when they are already expecting. They often overlook the waiting period that tags along with maternity cover. Most maternity insurance plans until now had a waiting period of 2 years or more but the recently introduced plans have a waiting period of only nine months if the couple is purchasing health insurance for the first time.
However, if you are planning to get married in a few years, you can still purchase new-age plans offering maternity benefits. Once married, you can add your spouse to the plan, and the waiting period served by you already is also waived for your spouse. In that scenario, the spouse doesn’t need to serve the waiting period of nine months for maternity benefit," said Siddharth Singhal, Business Head - Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com
Thes new-age plans also cover procedures like IVF treatment, and expenses related to surrogacy and delivery for surrogate mothers. "Apart from this, it also covers charges for adopting a child. The policy also accounts for ambulance charges, NICU and vaccination charges for the newborn from 30-90 days of the delivery among other costs," said Singhal.
Point to note: Most insurance companies do not offer maternity insurance if the policyholder is already pregnant as pregnancy is considered as a pre-existing condition and keeps it beyond the policy cover.
But do regular health policies come with a maternity benefit?
But do regular health policies come with a maternity benefit?
More From This Section
"Since pregnancy and childbirth-related expenses involve specific and significant costs, maternity coverage is often offered as an add-on or a separate plan. If you choose to add maternity benefits to your existing health insurance policy, you will be required to pay an additional premium. On the other hand, separate maternity insurance is specifically designed to cover expenses related to pregnancy and childbirth. It may also cover pre and postnatal care," explained Singhal.
Some new-age plans also link infertility treatment cover with maternity cover but the scope of the coverage for infertility in these new-age health insurance plans may differ between insurance plans. Some may cover only specific infertility treatments.Some plans cover infertility treatment may have a more extended waiting period, caps on the expenses, or sub-limits Therefore, it is better to check the inclusions and exclusions and the level of coverage for infertility before buying one.
Policybazaar has curated a list of such new-age maternity plans
Policybazaar has curated a list of such new-age maternity plans
 "preiuminsurdlf")
