Maternity insurance or pregnancy insurance covers unexpected pregnancy related complications that can affect mother or child. It provides a one-time payout to help offset the additional medical cost, which may be incurred due to such complications. The coverage of pregnancy insurance typically covers two components which is pregnancy complications (affecting the mother) and congenital illnesses (affecting the child). Typically when you enquire about pregnancy insurance, you will be exposed to 2 choices - a standalone plan or a bundled plan.
Why Consider Pregnancy Insurance?
Protect the mother
Most prenatal plans provides a payout for pregnancy complications, some hospitalisation income benefit as a result of these complications and death of the mother. Having said that, the coverage can be deemed minimal.
Protect the baby
Prenatal plans also provides a payout for congenital illnesses, some hospitalisation income benefit due to these complications and death of the child after birth. This is also the only form of insurance protection a baby will have at birth.
Guaranteed Insurability
While most parents focus on the protection aspect of the pregnancy process, many overlook the importance of the guaranteed insurability option that most bundled plans offer. Basically, this allows a baby to attain life insurance or critical illness coverage without medical underwriting after he or she is born up to a capped period of time. While this benefit looks innocent enough because we like to believe that every child is brought to this world healthy and well, it protects against the fear of unforeseen medical conditions discovered at birth or a few months after birth that might deprive a child from insurance coverage. When this happens, the implications can be lifelong and permanent.
Generally this is the gist of why pregnant mothers should consider pregnancy insurance. The content above is just a brief summary and it's important to note that every insurers' pregnancy plans may differ in terms of the number of pregnancy complications covered, congenital illnesses covered, hospitalisation income benefit and even when a bundled policy can be transferred to a child (the extent of coverage for the child at the point of transfer should there be pre-existing conditions discovered differs too). Please seek clarification with your financial advisor before making a purchase.
Disclaimer: The content created are based on my personal opinions and may not be representative to everyone or any organisation. If you have any doubts or queries pertaining to insurance or investment, please seek professional advice from a trusted adviser in an official setting. You may also reach out to me if you do not have a present adviser using the message box under 'Let's Talk'.
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