When Should I Purchase Maternity Health Insurance?

Becoming a parent brings a new, joyous, and transformative change in a person's life. The opportunity to nurture a life can be a blessing and give you a sense of profound fulfilment. While a person is sufficient in themselves, having a kid around can provide new dynamics to life. 

Investing in maternity medical insurance can be a great choice if you plan to extend your family. The childbearer needs a range of medical expenses and care, and maternity medical insurance can help manage these expenses without hassle.

Pregnancy health cover can be different than usual health insurance plans. The plan's terms and conditions and the parents' eligibility can be of primary concern. So, knowing about maternity health coverage before moving any further is quintessential. Planning out your pregnancy and parenthood with maternity medical insurance can give you an edge over upcoming medical expenses. So, let's get started.

What is a Maternity Insurance Plan?

Maternity medical insurance is health plans that target the pregnancy-related medical expenses of a child-bearer. Like many other health insurance plans, health plans for pregnancy are specifically designed to cater to the medical needs during pregnancy.

In an urban town, at a good hospital, the delivery alone can easily cost in 5 figures. The mother and the newborn may also require pre- and post-hospitalisation care. Owing to the constantly soaring medical inflation, hospital expenses in the coming time will only scale higher. So, it is best to safeguard your hard-earned savings by investing in pregnancy insurance coverage at the right time. You may wonder what is the right time to invest in maternity cover. Let's discuss it further.

Maternity Insurance Plan: When Should You Purchase One?

The working of a pregnancy insurance policy can be the same as that of any other health insurance plan. You get the coverage for the admissible medical expenses. However, the eligibility and the conditions for raising a claim may differ. So, let's discuss what can be the ideal time to invest in maternity medical insurance:

Know the Waiting Period

The waiting period plays a vital role in pregnancy health cover. The waiting period for pregnancy claims may differ depending on your chosen insurance company. Usually, the waiting period for pregnancy in maternity medical insurance is nine months. Under the Care Joy Maternity Insurance Plan, the pregnancy waiting period is nine months.

The pregnancy health cover may have other waiting period clauses besides the pregnancy waiting period. Here are the details of the waiting period in the Care Joy health plan:

• Initial Waiting Period: 30 Days: Most health insurance plans, including maternity, have a clause for the initial waiting period. You must pass this period before claims can be raised under the specific plan. The Care Joy health plan's initial waiting period is 30 days.
• Pregnancy Waiting Period: 9 Months: As discussed above, the waiting period for pregnancy-related claims has to be 9 months. There must be a minimum gap of nine months from the start of the policy date until the day you raise a claim for pregnancy.
• Named Ailment Waiting Period: 24 Months: Named ailments refer to the list of diseases that a health insurance policy covers. The insured person has to wait 24 months for any named ailment claim.
• Pre-existing Diseases Waiting Period: 48 Months: If the insured has any pre-existing illness when purchasing maternity medical insurance, it is termed a pre-existing disease. To raise a claim for any pre-existing disease, the insured has to serve a waiting period of 48 months.

You must note that the waiting periods of 24 months and 48 months are only applicable in cases of continued insurance plans. To pass the waiting period, you must continue a health plan for 24/48 months without a break.

Purpose of Waiting Periods

The waiting period is vital in health insurance plans.The waiting period in a pregnancy insurance policy benefits both the insured and the insurer.

Due to the waiting period clause, the premiums charged are low. On the other hand, the insurance company also doesn't have to bear the high medical expenses right after an insured purchases it. So, due to the waiting period, the insurer gets sufficient time to arrange the future claim amount. The waiting period maintains fairness in a health plan by discouraging fraudulent claims.

Care Joy Maternity Insurance Plan

Care Health Insurance offers a super maternity insurance plan: the Care Joy Maternity Insurance Plan. The policy covers not just pregnancy-related expenses but various named and pre-existing ailments. It also covers medically expensive expenditures for both the mother and the newborn.

Here are some of the striking features of the Care Joy Maternity Insurance Plan:

1. You have the choice to choose from two types of Care Joy Plan: Joy Today and Joy Tomorrow
2. There are two  sum insured options: ₹3 lakhs and ₹5 lakhs. So, you can choose as per your needs
3. The plan covers the expectant mother's medical expenses of up to 30 days for pre-hospitalisation claims and 60 days for post-hospitalisation expenses
4. The newborn baby is covered for up to 90 days since a newborn may require special health care
5. Under Care Tomorrow, the newborn is covered against congenital disabilities (cerebral palsy or Down's Syndrome)
6. Other coverages include expenses for ICU rooms, ambulance charges, and in-patient hospitalisation.

To Sum Up

The joy of welcoming a new life is of utmost happiness and emotions, and it is also a huge responsibility. To assist you financially in your journey of parenthood, Care Health Insurance offers a comprehensive maternity insurance plan. While planning your parenthood, make sure you plan the best for your baby, so early planning can be an advantage. 

Know all about the maternity insurance plan you pick, especially the waiting periods that have to be served. Usually, maternity medical insurance includes a 9-month waiting period. Many people find investing early in pregnancy insurance coverage suitable so they don't have to stress over the waiting period later on.

>> Also Read: Options Available in Maternity Health Insurance

Disclaimers: All plan features, benefits, coverage, and claims underwriting are subject to policy terms and conditions. Kindly refer to the brochure, sales prospectus, and policy documents carefully.