Overview
Insurance Waiting Periods
When purchasing a Hong Kong Health Insurance plan it is important to understand that some of the coverage benefits which you have chosen to include on your policy may be attached to a waiting period.
Simply put, a Waiting period is the length of time you must have held a policy for before being able to claim for a specific coverage benefit, such as Maternity or Dental. Treatment received prior to the completion of the waiting period cannot be claimed for under the plan, only treatment which has been received after the expiry and completion of the waiting period is eligible for coverage under the policy.
Hong Kong Dental Insurance and Hong Kong Maternity Insurance are two coverage benefits which will normally be attached to a waiting period; however, a waiting period can also impact other types of coverage such as Psychiatric and Optical benefits.
Explanation
Maternity Insurance Waiting Periods
From the Start of the Plan
The most common form of a Hong Kong Maternity Insurance waiting period will occur from the Start of the Plan. In the simplest sense, as soon as you purchase the policy and coverage is confirmed your Maternity Benefit’s waiting period will commence.
Generally occurring between 10 to 12 months from the start of the policy, you must have held your Hong Kong health insurance plan for more than the specified time period in order to receive, and claim for maternity treatment under the policy.
For example, if the waiting period is 10 months from the start of the plan then the policy will not cover you for maternity treatment until you have held it for 10 months. Maternity treatment received prior to that 10 month timeframe cannot be claimed for under the policy, even after the waiting period has expired.
Until Conception
The second type of Maternity Insurance waiting period will revolve around the actual conception of the child. In this case the waiting period will specify the exact length of time you must have held your Hong Kong health insurance policy before you can Conceive, if you would like the following pregnancy to be covered under the plan.
Generally, an Until Conception waiting period will normally occur around 12 months from the initial policy purchase. This means that you must have held you Hong Kong health insurance plan for 12 months before you are able to conceive your child. Conceptions occurring prior to the completion of that waiting period will not normally be covered under the policy.
Understanding Maternity Waiting Periods
When considering having a family it is important to plan far in advance because of the waiting periods attached to maternity coverage. If you do not currently possess a Hong Kong medical insurance policy with a Maternity coverage benefit, but you are already pregnant, receiving plan coverage for that pregnancy will be extremely difficult.
CCW can provide options for the coverage of a New Born Child without a waiting period, but the costs of the pregnancy, including the delivery, will not be covered by such a policy benefit.
If you would like the costs of your Pre-Natal, Ante-Natal, and actual Delivery covered by a Hong Kong health insurance policy it is important to plan ahead.
Dental Coverage benefits are the second main type of Hong Kong health insurance protection which will normally be attached to a waiting period.
In the case of dental waiting periods, these will normally occur on a From the Start of The Plan basis and will usually fall between 6 to 12 months from the initial purchase of the policy. This means that you must have held the medical insurance plan for that length of time before you are able to claim for dental treatment under the HK medical insurance policy. Dental treatment received prior to the completion of the waiting period cannot be claimed for under your plan.
Quotation
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