5 things you need to know about Maternity Insurance in India

It is perhaps safe to assume that if you’re reading this article, you’re either already pregnant or planning pregnancy. Alternatively, you may be reading this more out of a sense of curiosity. Either ways, there are a number of finer aspects you need to know about maternity insurance. Maternity insurance has proved to be a game-changer for mothers and fathers, enabling them to save money on delivery, hospitalization, early checkups, and to invest them at a later stage in their child’s life; say in their college education! Therefore, maternity insurance not only provides you with a sense of financial security and stability but also helps you enjoy a stress-free pregnancy!

However, before you go out to search for the right maternity policy, here are five things you must know about maternity insurance in India!

1. Instead of thinking about maternity insurance as pregnancy insurance; think of it as a wedding gift!

Here’s a snippet out of the experiences of thousands of mothers worldwide- always plan your pregnancy! Better future planning allows lower financial stress, better health of the baby, long-term well-being of the mother and child, and possibly even a happier life! Although the name of maternity insurance suggests that pregnant mothers must take it; that is not the case! Like you don’t buy life insurance on your deathbed, you do not buy maternity insurance when you’re already pregnant! Here is why!

Most maternity insurances have a maturity or waiting period of three to five years. This essentially means that you have to wait for 3-5 years before the insurance company pays for your delivery; which is a fairly long time. Therefore, it’s better to get maternity insurance, at least, 3 years in advance from when you plan to have a baby. Nowadays, since most couples want to have their first child only after three years, on average, maternity insurance acts as a great wedding gift! So, make sure that you are either gifted this privilege, or gift it to yourself!

2. Your maternity insurance, probably, won’t pay for your IVF treatments

Way to kill a party, we know! But you need to know about the upsides and the downsides of the maternity insurance policy, before taking it up. It is rather surprising how insurance planned for motherhood wouldn’t pay off for IVF or infertility treatments, and most women and even men miss out on this fine print before signing for their policies! If you’re afraid of fertility risks due to your age or habits, make sure that you consult a doctor who can assess the chances of a natural pregnancy for you. This can help avoid a situation where you end up paying a hefty premium for very limited coverage. Although, the bright side is that there’s a large possibility that your maternity insurance is just an add-on benefit to your mainstream health policy, which would’ve anyway required you to get a health screening done beforehand!

Moreover, you should anyway always be enthusiastic about health checkups as frequent health check-ups enable early detection of possible diseases that you might have and hence, will lead to speedier treatment! Therefore, it is better to get the hang of frequent health checkups for the sake of your health and your baby’s well-being. Fortunately, some maternity policies help you cover these costs as well, so you have nothing to really worry about!

3. The coverage each policy provides for your baby could differ significantly!

This is another question that most companies won’t want you to ask; to what extent is my baby covered in the policy? What if the risk of congenital disorder runs in your family? In that case, it automatically raises the possibility of the same for your baby, and if it does, you should start hoping for the best but planning for the worst. The treatments can be expensive, over and above the soaring costs of having a baby. Therefore, it becomes necessary that you safeguard your precious baby against all sorts of uncertainties and that you transfer your risk to the insurance company. The more comprehensive policies are more expensive than the basic ones, but of course, they do pay off better in the future when faced with the eventuality of such congenital disorders.

Some policies are better than others; there’s no denying that. Some policies would cover the check-up costs of the baby too! However, this would only be for a limited amount of time, ranging from neonatal care from day one to the age of ninety days, at the very best!

In a nutshell, it is always better to choose a policy that provides the maximum cover for your baby; both, for checkups as well as for any possible congenital diseases!

4. Maternity Insurances can be more beneficial than you imagine!

Maternity insurances do not only cover the costs of your natural / C-section surgery but also cover your transport costs to the hospital. They also cover your medicines, hospitalization, routine checkups and other help you might need from the hospital. Therefore, at the end of the process, there’s hardly anything left for you to pay for as your insurance company already covers almost all the significant costs. Moreover, maternity insurances allow you and your child to grow and experience things for the first time in a peaceful, stress-free, and healthy environment.

An additional benefit of maternity insurance is that since you’re probably getting more frequent check-ups than a mother who’s not covered by her insurance policy, any likely issues are likely to be detected earlier and also treated more efficiently! Maternity insurance also provides you with a foundation for financial stability at a time when the costs of having a baby keep rising. Therefore, this allows you to plan more long-term than your other women. You can use this money, so saved, to create a small pool of savings for the future of your baby!

Remember, there’s no price for a worry-free mind and a healthy baby!

5. Maternity Insurances can be more expensive than you would think

All insurance companies run on profits. How do they earn this profit? They insure people by calculating the probability of occurrence of a particular risk event. Now, as you can guess from your own experience, the possibility of a house catching fire or a person dying an accidental death is relatively low. But, on the other hand, an event like pregnancy is almost inevitable, or at least it is a highly likely event. This is why most maternity insurances do not pay off well to the company in terms of profits. This is also the reason why you do not see big insurance companies spending large amounts of money on advertising maternity insurance, as actively as they give publicity to life or health insurance. In short, the insurance companies want you to pay higher for an increased risk they’re taking on your behalf. However, do not be discouraged by these costs because most mothers have been very happy with their maternity insurance experience.

In conclusion, there’s no one-size-fits-all policy for all mothers, and you need to evaluate your scenario, needs, risks, and costs to find out your tailored solution! However, what you must do before finally deciding to buy a policy is to research! Research like your life depends on it! Your policy is only as good as your study and your analysis are! This is what your baby’s future and your future financial standing depend on, so make sure you give it your best shot and ask around for good, trustable advice from your friends, colleagues & family!