Insurance Term of the Week: Maternity Waiting Period
What is a Maternity Waiting Period?
When buying maternity insurance you will find it will always come with a waiting period. This benefit on your medical insurance plan works quite different than the rest of it where you can usually enjoy your cover from day one of the policy starting.
How does a Maternity Waiting Period work?
A maternity waiting period is a time period during which you need to be on the maternity insurance policy prior to claiming for maternity coverage. Each insurer is different in the period that they will need you to be covered on the policy before you can claim for treatment. The shortest waiting period on the market is 10 months however some insurers will require you to be covered for years before you are able to use any maternity benefits.Â
Treatment
If you get treated for maternity related care before you complete the waiting period, you cannot make a claim for your treatment. You can only claim after you have successfully completed the waiting period.
If you are already conceiving a child, then the expenses of the delivery of your baby would not be covered under any available maternity insurance policies.
Conception
While you are unable to claim for costs during the waiting period you can still conceive during that period. Most insurers set their waiting period from when you start the policy and have no rules on when you can actually conceive. There are however some insurers who set their maternity waiting period differently and will have a rule on how long you need to be on the policy before you can actually conceive. This is an important part of the benefit to understand on your policy for anyone looking to buy maternity benefit on health insurance.Â