When To Buy A Maternity Health Insurance Plan?

A health insurance policy helps an individual in saving their financial funds and has a backup to tackle a medical emergency. The hospitalization and treatment costs have increased dramatically over the last few years and therefore, it has become necessary to invest in a suitable health insurance plan with a wide coverage to cover all your medical expenses. A standard health insurance cover includes the costs of ambulance, room rents, hospitalization, healthcare checkups, medication, consultation, etc. Maternity benefits and critical illness covers are additional inclusions that can either be a part of your existing health insurance cover or you can purchase them separately according to your needs. 

Giving birth to a baby is one of the blissful moments in  parents' life and being a to-be parent you should leave no scope to risk the happy moment of your life. The cost of delivery and hospitalization of the mother during a child-birth has increased and therefore, a maternity benefit health insurance cover can act as a financial support to help the policyholder from spending their savings. A maternity benefit cover looks after the medical costs of the mother and the newborn baby for a certain period of time as decided under the plan by the insurer. 

Why Buy Maternity Health Insurance Cover? 

If you are planning a baby anytime soon, then it is important and wise of you to invest in an affordable and suitable maternity benefit cover. It will help you relieve the financial stress and will let you enjoy one of the most beautiful moments of your life. When pregnant, the women has to undergo a lot of tests and checkups to ensure the well being of the baby and at the time of delivery the complications with the birth of the newborn increases in most of the cases, therefore it is advised to have a maternity cover with appropriate amount of sum assured for your loved ones. This cover will include hospitalization costs, medication, checkups, and a lot more depending on the insurance provider. 

When To Purchase A Maternity Benefit Cover? 

You can buy a maternity cover anytime but it is usually advisable to invest in a maternity benefit cover as early as possible to get through the waiting period of the policy. Do not buy maternity cover when you are pregnant as it will be considered a pre-existing condition and will not be eligible for the claim settlement of the plan. 

Benefits of Buying A Maternity Benefit Cover

A maternity health insurance cover can be included in your existing health insurance policy or can be bought as a top-up plan to add extra value to your health insurance cover. Following is the list of benefits that you can avail from your maternity benefits cover: 

• It covers the cost of prenatal and postnatal expenses. 
• For a certain period, the cover looks after the expenses related to the newborn baby like the vaccination of the baby, etc. 
• It includes all the medical expenses including the basic ones apart from the maternity. 
• Tax deduction benefits are granted under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act to the policyholder. 
• These covers are affordable and can be bought to get some financial support at the time of your childs’ birth. 

Factors To Consider While Buying A Maternity Benefit Insurance Cover 

Let us look at some of the key points that must be kept in mind while buying a maternity benefit cover to make sure that it bears the fruit at the time of claim settlement: 

1. Premium Amount 

Buy a maternity cover that is within the limits of your financial budget to avoid any financial stress.  The premium of this cover can vary according to your inclusions and therefore, you can customize your policy to make sure that it covers your requirements. 

2. Waiting Period

All the health insurance covers come with a waiting period for which the policyholder cannot avail the benefits or features of the cover. The waiting period can range from 2 to 5 years for some policies, and therefore you must be aware of the waiting period of your maternity cover and buy one as early as possible. 

3. Network Hospital 

You can avail cashless claim benefit if you seek treatment in a network hospital of the insurance company. You must know the nearest network hospital of your insurer and get hospitalized there when giving birth to the baby as the claiming process there will be smooth and hassle-free. 

Conclusion

You must be aware of the waiting period and other terms and conditions of your maternity benefit health insurance cover, for which you must carefully read the fine print of the policy-related document. 

Also Read: Does My Health Insurance Plan Cover Me For Maternity Related Expenses?

How To Claim Maternity Health Insurance?

Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.