Time to upgrade the Family Health Insurance by Mim Jenkinson is sponsored by iSelect.
If your family is about to grow, it might be time to upgrade your Family Health Insurance. You might be thinking about starting a family. If so, you’ll need to check if your current policy has the pregnancy insurance you might need.
Or what perhaps your little one has arrived and you just haven’t gotten around to changing your existing policy.
Yes, it’s a bit boring, but it’s also necessary!
Here are some of the factors you might want to consider when upgrading to a Family Health Insurance Policy:
Before you start trying for a baby, consider if you might like to have your baby privately. This could be right for you if you want to be able to choose your own doctor and hospital. It might also mean staying in hospital for longer after the birth, if this is important to you.
If so, you’ll need to ensure that you’ve taken out pregnancy cover on your health insurance at least three months before you conceive. So to be sure, three months before you start trying!
This is because you will need to have had your pregnancy cover for at least 12 months before your baby is born to claim any benefits for pregnancy services.
Top Tip: Not sure if your current policy includes pregnancy cover? Assume it doesn’t and contact your fund to check.
If you decide that the benefits of pregnancy cover are for you, get a quote from your existing provider. Find out how much they will charge you to upgrade your policy to cover pregnancy.
Top Tip: Pregnancy cover might significantly increase the cost of your health insurance policy. If the mum currency shares a policy with her partner, they should think about going back to individual policies while they are trying for a baby and during the pregnancy. That way, she will only be upgrading her policy and paying more. Ever dollar saved will be needed after the baby arrives!
Before you go ahead with the quote from your current fund, consider doing some research first.
Top Tip: If your aim is to get the best deal, and the best cover, you can pop to iSelect to search the market.
iSelect helps with the boring parts of essential life admin – one of those being health insurance! They work with some of Australia’s biggest health insurance providers to find you the best deal on your next policy.
A one-stop-shop for comparing quotes from providers, iSelect helps find you a policy that meets your family’s individual needs.
Pregnancy cover varies between providers so work out what is important to you and if it’s covered. If a quote is considerably cheaper, it probably means the cover provided is more limited.
You should work out in advance what out-of-pocket expenses you might have through the pregnancy. These could include GP visits, obstetrician appointments, blood tests and antenatal cases.
Top Tip: When you have settled on a policy, ask them when you need to add your baby to that policy. For some funds, it needs to be done before they even arrive. Others will give you a small window after the birth to get that done.
So your little one has joined your family! Now it’s time to add them to your health insurance policy too, if you haven’t already.
You might already be on a couple’s policy with a partner, or have your own individual one. To ensure your baby is covered, you’ll need to upgrade to a family health insurance policy to cover all of you (or a single parent policy if it’s just you and bub).
Has your family finished growing?
Now it’s time to contact your fund and remove the pregnancy cover you no longer need. It will significantly reduce your premiums and you’ll by now be realising how much the cost of nappies, wipes and baby products can add up!
If you’re ready to grow your family, hopefully these tips to upgrade the Family Health Insurance will help you out.
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