Health Insurance When Planning Children

mum's thoughts, motherhood, pregnancy, parenting 101

There are so many things to think about when planning for a child, from child proofing your home, making sure you have read all the relevant literature to buying all the essential clothes and paraphernalia. But the most important thing to think about when preparing for a baby is you and your child’s health. Health insurance should never be treated as an afterthought so to help navigate you through the world of private cover, here are some pointers:

Reasons for Private Cover

There are many reasons to go for private cover, these include:

  • For birth and after care services, private health care is actually the most affordable option, especially if there are complications
  • You have the power to choose your obstetrician
  • Private hospitals have much lower rates of newborn resuscitation or admission to intensive care
  • The ratios of neonatal death rates are as follows: public hospitals – 3:1000 and 1:1000 –private hospitals
  • The rate of severe perinea tearing is much lower in private hospitals

Waiting Periods

Many health insurance policies have waiting periods, this means your health may not be covered for some time after you have started paying your premiums. With this in mind, it is important to take out insurance the moment you start planning on having children.

If you and/or your partner already have health insurance, now would also be the best time to get in touch with your policy provider and ensure you are covered for all pregnancy and birth related services as well as enquiring about adding your newborn to the family policy.

Getting the Right Cover

All private health funds should cover the following basic needs:

  • Doctors’ and obstetricians’ fees
  • Hospital accommodation
  • Labour ward costs

Some additions to the basic points you may want to consider are:

  • Pre-natal class fees
  • Ultra-sound costs
  • Post-natal check-up fees for you and your baby

The additional points will most likely come with an additional charge. To get the best deal always make sure you compare private health insurance. You should also make sure there is no gap in the cost of your treatment. This could mean making a co-payment and paying an excess for treatments that are supposedly covered under your policy. Some insurers may seem a little cagey about information on co-payments or excess so make sure you check with an online health insurance advice centre like Choosi, for accurate information.

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prelude to the preggie ward reunion

motherhood, pregnancy, meeting up with mum friends, toddlers

Pregnancy has been one of the most profound and enjoyable part of my life, apart from all the beautiful changes taking place in my body {I am a beautiful pregnant, or so they say, and I particularly loved the cleavage! ;)}, what could top the feeling of having your baby kick and move around inside your tummy, right? It was one of the most things I miss after I gave birth.

There are hard times, of course, and don’t ever forget the morning sickness which turned out to be round-the-clock sickness since I get to be sick at any time of day, regardless if it’s day or night. It would have all been a one-woman struggle and the days would have been a tad boring and uneventful if I have not found these beautiful, not to mention very-pregnant, too, women!

See, in my previous place of work, a call centre {yes, it was not misspelled as we work in a UK-based one}, as consideration to women in the family way, they’d let you opt for the best schedule, in the early hours of the morning, mind you {which is a gift in itself as most of the shifts at work begins at 1pm!} to suit the morning sickness and your pregnant body’s demands, as well as allow you to get enough sleep at nights. There are also lesser calls at these times as it was already midnight in the UK by then. So instead of getting the usual work loads, and the usual calls requesting for common listings for locksmiths in Nottingham or a plasterer in Birmingham, we’d normally get calls asking for 24-hour takeaways or restaurants. The worse thing you can get is a drunk caller looking for an escort service, who’d say a litany of expletives before even recalling the name of the business he was looking for in the first place. I would normally cringe at this and worry that my little man’s delicate ears will here the not-so-pleasant words! 😀

Oh, sorry for being a bit nostalgic today. I miss my old workplace and my workmates, I guess, and I also had my reasons, apart from missing our preggie ward so much, you know. ‘Cause last week I had a fun play date with my preggie ward-mate, Moi and our little men. We purchased this online promo for Fun Ranch a few weeks back and decided to use our vouchers last week. A best decision, really, as Jared and Rylan had a blast playing with each other, trying out the slides and roaming around the playground. We did not get to chat much, though, since they arrived a bit late due to traffic, and we were early coming from another event prior to our play date, plus the boys cannot wait to play, it was really nice seeing her again and I hope we’ll be able to do it again with all our other preggie ward-mates very soon! 🙂

photo credits go to Mommy Moi 🙂

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where-to-weekend: pregnant pause 2 {talks for modern mums-to-be}

mommy events, weekends, parenting

What: Pregnant Pause 2 {Talk For Modern Mums-to-be}

When: 04 February, 2012, 1-5pm

Where: UCC Rockwell

What’s in it for you:

Join other pregnant mums-to-be for an afternoon of stimulating talk, insightful demo, fun + laughter! This event is exclusive to expectant mums + dads {or birth partners}.

Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. You may reserve your slot by doing any of the following:

  • send an email to info@mommymundo.com
  • text 09178162524
  • call {02}570-7827

If I were expecting, I would’ve reserved my slot now. This is one event for preggie mums I wouldn’t dare miss! ^ _^

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