What is a maternity waiting period?

One of the biggest concerns when purchasing insurance is ensuring that you are able to fully utilize the product you have bought.

But there can be many facets of insurance that simply aren't understood by the common policyholder; one of these is the issue of waiting periods.

Waiting periods most commonly encountered on health insurance policies. they limit the length of time that you must have held a policy before being able to receive coverage for a specific benefit under that plan.

There are myriad reasons why an insurer may use a waiting period on a health insurance policy but the simplest explanation is that waiting periods are designed to prevent claims occurring for conditions and treatments which may not fall under the traditional definition of “insurance” or those which may have pre-existed the purchase of the policy.

What is Health Insurance Protection?

Health insurance is designed to cover the policyholder against the cost of any medical treatment that they may require.

Whether this is the cost of needing impatient surgery at hospitals like the Matilda or Adventist, or a simple outpatient checkup somewhere like the London Clinic, health insurance is a bespoke solution to ensuring that you are not going to have to pay out of pocket when you receive medical care.

However, health insurance is still insurance.

That is to say; health insurance still deals with the equitable transfer of risk, as this is at the core of every single insurance policy on the market today. The risk being transferred under a health insurance policy is that you may get sick and have to pay vast amounts of money for your care. With a medical insurance plan when you get sick the insurance covers the cost of treatment for you.

But health insurance is only dealing, like all insurance products, with risk that is equitably transferred.

That means the insurance is going to take measures to limit risk transfers which could be considered non-equitable, or unfair. One of the ways in which many Hong Kong and international health insurance products manage to ensure equity between both the insurer and the policyholder is by placing limits on the coverage being purchased.

Limits that include the existence of things like waiting periods.

Health Insurance Waiting Periods

Where they exist, health insurance waiting periods dictate the length of time that you must have held a health insurance policy before being able to receive protection under the plan for a specific coverage benefit.

If a waiting period is present for any benefit on your Hong Kong or International health insurance policy then you must have been enrolled in the plan for whatever length of time is required before receiving financial protection against the cost of treatment for the coverage benefit to which the waiting period is attached.

This can be a surprise to a number of policyholders when the existence of a waiting period gets pointed out. Most commonly, the shock of a waiting period appears in relation to maternity protection.

Waiting Periods on Maternity Insurance

When it comes to waiting periods, there is probably no other health insurance benefit which is more concerned about their application than maternity coverage.

A normal pregnancy will last roughly 9 months in duration. Most maternity coverage waiting periods will last roughly 10 to 24 months in duration. As such, you must have held your Hong Kong or International maternity Insurance protection for (depending on the plan) up to 2 years in some cases. Obviously, this presents a little bit of an issue: the waiting period for maternity coverage under a health insurance plan is longer than the total duration of a pregnancy.

This means that it is not possible, in the majority of cases, for a woman who is already pregnant to receive maternity coverage under a newly purchased health insurance policy. Because of the waiting period it is only treatment received after the completion of that waiting period which is eligible for coverage under the plan. treatment received prior to the completion of the waiting period cannot be claimed under the benefit once the waiting period has expired.

This can significantly limit your options with regards to this coverage - especially if you are already pregnant.

Maternity Coverage for (Pre)Existing Pregnancies

Depending on the maternity insurance policy you choose to purchase, your waiting period could last 10 months from the start of the policy or 24 months until conception, which is a significant length of time.

Many pregnant persons will run into the issue of a waiting period when looking at how they will afford the costs of delivery at a private hospital. However, if it is the case that you are already pregnant and looking for a new maternity insurance policy the unfortunate truth is that no health insurance product anywhere in the world is going to be able to cover you, fully, for all the costs associated with the delivery of that child.

In many cases maternity insurance policies will offer some limited coverage for new expectant mothers who have not completed the appropriate waiting period under the plan. for emergency situations in which both the baby and mother's life are threatened Many maternity insurance policies will provide the necessary protection to ensure that both the child and the mother are able to receive the relevant Medical Care despite not having completed the waiting period hurdle under the policy.

Having said this, it is possible to insure your child with no waiting periods under the policy. many maternity insurance plans in Hong Kong will provide for a “Newborn Child Coverage Benefit” that ensures your baby has full coverage from the moment of their birth against congenital birth defects and premature birth, and guarantees that they will never have to face the issue of a pre-existing medical condition as it is possible for them to be born into the health insurance policy.

Free Hong Kong Maternity Insurance Advice

If you would like to learn more about waiting periods, how they impact your maternity insurance coverage, or if you would like to receive a free quote comparing all your best health insurance options, please contact us today.

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