Medical insurance and pregnancy

[Goochie]

We've just been looking at some quotes for medical insurance which will cover pregnancy costs. However, there is a waiting period of 12 months before you can claim for pregnancy related things under the policy.

 

This is a problem for us because we plan on trying to start a family within this period.

 

Does anyone have any advice on what we can do to get around this?

[JoandJon]

It's pretty standard to have a 12 month waiting period for obstetrics. We're just going public for the birth of little fruit loop though

 

If you have access to medicare this is a pretty good option - if not, it could be expensive, might be worth checking with a local hospital to see...

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[DBC]

We were in the same boat, we wanted a second baby and wanted it very close in age to the first so didn't want to wait. We are therefore having this one through Medicare which is very similar to the NHS. I am due for a scan next week and as far as I know this will cost around $200 but that's all that we have to pay for.

I have spoken to both British people and Aussies who have had babies here using both the private and public system and most of them have said that the public system is great.

[Guest dd536]

HI, I encountered this problem too and, after much research and a good deal of stress, was able to get around it. Australian insurers will honor the terms of the private insurance you had before signing up with their insurance program--it's called portability of insurance. I was able to make the argument that I had full obstetrics care with my private American health insurance and hence they should waive the waiting periods. Much to my surprise and delight, they agreed to this and we now have full prenatal and antenatal coverage. So this will only work for you if you currently have private insurance that covers obstetrics care.