Five Best Maternity Insurance Plans in India
Having a baby in modern times sure isn’t easy at all. There’s an emotional aspect to it, and then there’s the financial aspect too. The cost of having a baby is sky-rocketing with hospital costs like nursing charges, surgeons’ bills, piled up with extravagant room charges, and bills of frequent check-ups in every trimester.
Getting maternity insurance helps you focus on what’s important- the emotional aspect of welcoming a new member in the family. If you’re an expecting woman, this is the only time you will feel a life develop inside you and discover the strength you never knew you had. It enables you to forget about the stress of the financial aspect of it and enjoy each moment, each little kick, each small development, as and when it happens.
What is Maternity Insurance?
So, what exactly is this stress-knocker that is known as maternity insurance? It often comes as an additional or add-on benefit to most health insurances with some extra cost in premium. Some women employees are also offered maternity insurance as a benefit of employment by their employers along with unique maternity benefits like maternity leaves and day-care options.
Maternity insurance is an insurance that covers the costs of your pregnancy, such as room rents, doctors’ visits, surgeon’s fees in case of both a regular and cesarean delivery, anesthetist’s charges, and other related costs.
Why Should You Get Maternity Insurance?
Now that you know what maternity insurance is, let us consider if and why you should get one. From many reasons, here are the top 3 why more and more mothers are choosing to get maternity insurance.
Save your precious money for the more critical needs of the baby in the future.
When maternity insurance covers most of your pregnancy costs, you could save your money for more critical future needs of the baby. You can even start a fund for the baby’s college or school fee, which will ease off the burden which most parents feel at that point of time. This will ensure the long-term well-being of you and your baby as well as a stress-free environment which will enable him/her to grow better.
- Relieve yourself from the financial stress of having a baby
Remember, planning is the key to minimizing the impending stress that can affect not only the health of the babies but also their IQs and can affect their cognitive abilities. However, stress due to financial distress is completely avoidable now that you have the innovative tool of maternity insurance, which covers all your pregnancy costs from doctors’ check-ups to surgeons’ cots.
- You get to transfer your risks and worries while saving on taxes!
Since maternity insurance also covers the expenses on the baby’s health for a considerable period of time, you will have no worries haunting you at the back of your mind. This is very similar to having health insurance for a person, not even born yet or who’s just born. This means that you are transferring all your worries and risks regarding the baby’s health to your insurance company, meaning that now you can lay back, relax and focus on what’s important- your happiness and your baby’s health. This insurance will also get you tax deductions using Section 80D of the Income Tax Act 1961 of the Indian constitution.
Who Should Consider Getting It?
Since most maternity covers have a waiting period of up to 3 years, maternity insurance is perfect for newly-wed couples who are planning to have a baby in the next three to four years. In this manner, they would only have to pay high premiums for three years.
Next, soon-to-be mothers are also encouraged to take up maternity insurance. Not only that, but fathers-to-be can also get maternity insurance to cover the cost of having their child! So, the concept of maternity insurance is completely gender-neutral!
However, if you are already pregnant, your chances of finding maternity insurance which would cover you are meagre. This is because, for the insurance company, this would be like selling life insurance to someone on his deathbed. So, the earlier you get it, the better off you will be!
The Top Maternity Insurances You Must Consider
- Religare Joy Maternity Insurance
This insurance comes with two sub-categories: Joy Today and Joy tomorrow. Both of these have different sets of sums insured ranging from 3 to 5 lakhs and other additional benefits. The policy covers bills of an ambulance, room rent of a private air-conditioned room, boarding and nursing charges. What’s more is that if you do not claim the policy for three years, you will get 100 per cent of the sum insured. It covers both- the pre-hospitalization and the post-hospitalization charges. The waiting period of the two variants of the policy is in alignment with their names- Joy Today has a waiting period of 9 months, and the waiting period of Joy tomorrow is 24 months. The entry age of the policy is 18 to 45. If you are above the age of 45, you might have to go through a medical screening process. However, a significant drawback of the policy is that it does not cover the costs of defects of the new-born baby.
- Star Health Wedding Gift Insurance Plan
This is a comprehensive policy which can be availed between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a renewable policy, but only until the age of 45. It covers the expenses of delivery of the baby through normal or cesarean methods, costs of medicines, drugs, hospitalization, prenatal and postnatal expenses. You can even add on a cover to secure the baby against congenital disabilities. One obvious drawback of the policy is the maximum entry age of 40, especially at a time when more and more women are choosing to become mothers later in life due to professional and personal reasons.
- Apollo Munich Easy Health Family Floater Plan
This policy covers the costs of a new-born between day one and day 90. However, this is not exclusive maternity insurance; instead, this is just an add-on feature of the Apollo Munich Health Insurance. It covers individuals from the age of 5 to 65. The insurance covers ambulance charges, including that of air or helicopter ambulance, maternity insurance for pre-natal as well as post-natal expenses. Moreover, this is one company which is probably equally as happy as you when you heal and makes it clear by giving you a recovery benefit of Rs.10,000 for hospitalization greater than ten days for people insured for over Rs.15 lakhs. Apart from a maternity cover, you can also add on a cover for critical illnesses and critical advantage rider. You will also be getting a daily allowance for accompanying an insured child during his/her hospitalization.
- Royal Sundaram Health Plus Policy
This policy can be the one for you if you’re planning to have a baby after 3 years as this policy has a 3-year waiting period. At the same time, the policy itself does not offer a considerable sum insured amount, ranging only from Rs.30,000 to Rs.50,000. But one huge benefit that comes with this policy is that it covers potential congenital disabilities of your beloved new-born too. This is especially important given that there’s always a risk of these defects. This policy upholds these views, enabling it to be welcomed in this list of best maternity insurances.
- ICICI Lombard iHealth Plan’s Maternity Cover
This is a policy for all of the responsible parents-to-be out there. While the sum insured indeed is not the most attractive feature of the policy, only ranging from INR 10,000 to INR 50,000, it also covers other costs like normal/cesarean birth, & lawful and willful termination of pregnancy which other maternity insurances rarely do. What’s more; your baby’s health is insured even after birth for 90 days. Prenatal and postnatal expenses are also taken care of by the insurance company, leaving nothing for you to worry about!
In Conclusion, the earlier you plan about pregnancy, the lesser you’ll have to worry about the costs of it later on. After all, having a baby is not a financial decision that you’ll have to decide on a balance-sheet, instead, it’s a decision for you to choose your stick in old-age and a child to take you back to your childhood days when the world was innocuous, and everyone was kind.
You must enjoy this unique phase of life that will bring along joy for you and your life-partner! Let’s make sure that we are responsible parents and teach our children the merits of being financially literate early on!
FAQs: Best Maternity Health Insurance Plans in India
Can I get maternity insurance if I'm already pregnant?
You might be a little too late to enjoy all the benefits as most policies come with a waiting period of over 3 to 6 years. However, you can still look for policies with no waiting periods. Yet, these tend to charge high premiums.
I am a male; can I still get maternity insurance?
Yes, maternity insurances are gender-neutral, and all people can add-on a maternity cover, irrespective of their gender. More and more fathers are taking up maternity cover to set an example in the new world and the modern age, where the fathers are sharing responsibility more equitably.
How do I confirm if my employer's health insurance covers maternity costs?
Each employer has its own set of health insurance policies and rules surrounding it. This is why you must contact your Human Resource Manager for the correct answer to this question.
