Maternity Health Insurance in China

Insurers in China each have varying approaches and procedures when covering predictable expenses such as vaccinations and health checks for newborns. Talk to us to find easy and effective options, and we’ll explain how waiting times of maternity insurance will affect your policy and go over the time that must pass before any insurer will cover pregnancy expenses.

Waiting periods are a very important factor you must take into account when buying maternity insurance. Insurers put a waiting time on new maternity insurance plans that you must see out before you can make any claims for benefits relating to your pregnancy. These waiting periods are typically 10-12 months depending on the insurer you use. What this means is that you need to plan a year ahead before trying to start a family to have all post-natal care and the delivery costs guaranteed covered. Waiting periods can be applied in two ways that may help to further clarify what they are and why they are important. These versions are (i) Waiting Periods from the start of your plan, and (ii) Waiting periods that last until conception.

From the Start of the Plan

These policies specify an amount of time you have to wait before claiming any benefits on the policy. If the waiting period is 10 months, then if you receive any maternity treatment within those 10 months, you must pay these costs yourself and cannot claim them back later. Once the waiting period is over, all future costs can be claimed back on your maternity insurance policy. So if you were to get pregnant 6 months into your waiting period, you could claim for the last 5 months of your pregnancy as well as for delivery costs, but not for any treatment costs for the first 4 months. To avoid having to pay any costs yourself, make sure you plan far enough ahead that you can wait the entire waiting period before incurring any pregnancy-related costs.

Last Until Conception

Policies with this type of waiting period require you to be on their policy for the entirety of the waiting period before you are able to conceive (with coverage). If the waiting period is 10 months, this means you must wait 10 months before conceiving. If you get pregnant before the end of the waiting period, then you are not eligible for coverage for the entirety of your pregnancy. Make sure you check if your insurer has this type of waiting period before you start your family so that you don’t end up having to pay thousands of dollars for something you thought you were covered for.

Typically, the cost breakdown of pregnancy are; 15% of the costs on pre-natal care, 75% of the costs on delivery, and 10% of the costs on post-natal care. With this in mind, you can decide whether you want full coverage (through waiting the full period before conceiving), or whether you want to start your family earlier and - through a waiting period from the start of the plan - have the latter part of your pregnancy’s costs covered. Be warned that prenatal care can cost thousands of USD, so you may want to wait the full waiting period.