Pregnancy And Health Insurance...MUST KNOWS!!

When it comes to pregnancy and child birth, important doesn't begin to cut it. When there are two lives to take into consideration, most people would want nothing at all left to chance. Unfortunately not everyone is aware of the implications that pregnancy can create in relation to health insurance...

Pregnancy And Health Insurance...MUST KNOWS!!

medibroker.com

With a recent story going viral of a patient in American being billed $55,000 for an appendectomy you can really appreciate just how important health insurance is when living or travelling abroad. So when it comes to pregnancy and child birth, important doesn't begin to cut it. When there are two lives to take into consideration, most people would want nothing at all left to chance. Unfortunately not everyone is aware of the implications that pregnancy can create in relation to health insurance. Specifically some people do not know that taking out a health insurance policy after becoming pregnant is all but impossible.

We recently heard of a woman who had fallen pregnant abroad and was looking for health insurance to cover the birth. However the fact that she was already pregnant meant that no insurance companies could offer her cover. This is due to the fact that when an insurance company covers an individual, the cost is based on a variety of factors ranging from age, pre-existing medical conditions, location and many more. The risk that all of these factors pose and the potential costs that any required treatment from them would incur are taken into consideration too. However when somebody is already pregnant there is guaranteed expenses that the insurance company will have to cover at some stage. This makes covering an individual who is already pregnant impractical for insurance companies and not worth the expense for them. Furthermore even if you have insurance with your company you may not be covered for pregnancy at all. It is absolutely vital to check you policy to see what cover and limitations you currently have in terms of pregnancy.

Medibroker has found in recent months that there has specifically been a rise in requests for health insurance quotes from women in Singapore who have fallen pregnant and are not covered by their existing health insurance policy. The Medibroker experts believe that this is due to the potentially massive cost child birth in that region combined with many work place insurance schemes not covering pregnancy. Unfortunately without thorough research and planning, this does leave many women exposed to large medical costs for pregnancy and without piece of mind should anything go wrong.

Steve Nelson from Medibroker states:

“It is too late to look for health insurance after you have fallen pregnant, I am afraid that your routine costs will not be covered. In some cases we can find cover for complications but you will have to pay all routine costs, including the birth, yourself”

“A little forward planning can ensure that this joyous event does not become an expensive event as well!”

So the answer is quite simple, if you are planning to have a child then take out health insurance before you're pregnant. In fact if there is any risk of falling pregnant, especially in an area where you will not be eligible for local health care, then take out an international private medical insurance policy. You must also be aware that the majority of insurers will only offer maternity cover after you have had you policy for over a set period of time. The amount of time can vary between insurers so it is vital that you find out what yours is. You can expect a period of around 12 month however as stated these DO VARY.

Finally if you know anyone who is trying for a child or could also be left in a vulnerable position, then also make them aware of the implications child birth can have on medical insurance.