health insurance advice for pregnancy

[whereintheworld]

I've just moved to HK and am looking in to health insurance. We are hoping to start a family whilst we are here also, so any that are good cover for pregnancy in particular.

Any advice much appreciated!

[er2]

I recently bought health insurance and while I'm not female, the sales staff always 'clarified' that only the most comprehensive options included pregnancy coverage. This seemed to be the case most plans, at least for those I looked into (DKV, AXA PPP and some more). I remember some posts (by carang, maybe you can find them with the search function) stating that the government hospitals' maternity wards offer excellent care, so you might not really need insurance for that. You might find more qualified opinions on geobaby.com, though.

Just for what it's worth, I went with AXA PPP in the end - the only company where the sales staff was able to clearly explain what is covered and what not....

[Oldtimer]

Please check at Geobaby.com. More pregnancy information available there

[100LL]

Depends how much your are willing to spend and what you expect. If you expect birth in private clinic to be covered, you need to have your insurance before you get pregnant for sure. We used DKV and so far it looks like they cover everything. But we already had it for years before, not particularly because we want them to pay for the birth process.

But if your plan is to sign up with an insurance just so that you don't have to pay the birth, think twice. You'll end up paying the same or more. The insurance covers you as the mother, not your baby. So if there are complications after the birth it won't be covered, your baby needs his/her own insurance.

All the visits to the obstetrician before birth are not that expensive in my opinion to warrant an insurance just for that purpose. Even if there are a few "complications".

Get a couple of quotes for insurance, and a couple of price lists from private hospitals and obstetricians as well. Then compare.

I understand that everybody wants insurance in case something goes wrong. But in this case, I'd be more worried something is wrong with the baby and hence focus more on getting the off spring on a good insurance. The pregnancy and birth process is quite easy to estimate in terms of cost.

[PDLM]

Insurance companies aren't charities. You will need to pay in more than they give you back (on average), so why would you want to do this?

Moreover there is a perfectly good public health system here which is essentially free to legal HK residents.

[HowardCoombs]

AXA PPP is one of the most expensive ones out there but it is also IMO one of the best in terms of coverage with (practically) no limits. Their top level also includes pregnancy and its been good value for our entire family.

I have looked at others, many of them cheaper, but found their conditions to be too restrictive in cases of bad illnesses. To put it bluntly, if one of my children happns to get lukemia, I dont want to be bankrupt in the process. PPP covers you (practically) without limit; others have relatively low ceilings.

HC

[100LL]

Insurance companies aren't charities. You will need to pay in more than they give you back (on average), so why would you want to do this?

Moreover there is a perfectly good public health system here which is essentially free to legal HK residents.

While I generally agree with this, I'd rather have an insurance for a baby right after birth. You never know if your baby is gonna be alright or if it has some condition that will cost you a fortune over time. Having a private insurance (for the baby) only binds you for a year and it's usually valid from day 0 (it's my understanding they can't just kick you out if they find out your baby was born with an expensive condition).

I know you can go with the government healthcare system, but if they tell my my baby has serious condition X, I'd rather have a private insurer right away to who I only pay HK$1500/month and be able to speak to as many chief physicians in as many countries I want to, than rely on the public healthcare system. Just imagine for a second you'd need expensive treatment and you are an expat who might move from one country to another - then it's just better to keep paying HK$ 1500/month for the best treatment available than having to rely on government healthcare. And if you know everything is alright, you can still cancel the insurance after the first year. In my opinion, a very small price to pay. And toddlers need a lot of health care in the first year anyway.

But for the pregnant mother, the costs are not very high to warrant a private insurance in my experience. If you go the public hospital route it will definitely be MUCH less than any insurance, it's probably not even the cost of an iPod. If you go private, the cost varies from hospital to hospital and from obstetrician to obstetrician.

For instance, the Matilda Hospital (private) charges HK$ 22k for a normal vaginal delivery and a 3 day stay. You'll have to add the cost of your obstetrician to that. Good private insurance will be much more than that.

Maternity Package

[carang]

two EXTREMELY complicated pregnancies (they needed a cart to move my med records!), 13 hospitalisations over those pregnancies, one major hip surgery including hospitalisation, one hospitalisation for dangerously high blood pressure, follow-up care for 9 years.... i still haven't cracked the $10k mark.... that's using the public system. i'd hate to think what it would cost if i'd gone private for any of it.

100LL< your quote for matilda is very misleading. $22k ONLY covers the birth, not any of hte doctors, supplies, etc. i've NEVER heard of ANYONE having a birth at matilda that cost less than $60k....most are $100k+

[100LL]

100LL< your quote for matilda is very misleading. $22k ONLY covers the birth, not any of hte doctors, supplies, etc. i've NEVER heard of ANYONE having a birth at matilda that cost less than $60k....most are $100k+

Yes, that's the cheapest option but that's why I posted the price list. Most people that pay more than $60k use a private room and c-section. In any case, if you pay $60k or $100k for the hospital/doctor, the insurance is going to get that back already in your first year of coverage (and if they don't then you have to pay a larger amount by yourself anyway through contribution).

As said, we do have private insurance and we had it already years before. But I don't think there is a way to just sign up for a private insurance, go private, and save a lot of money in the birth process.

[carang]

even the women i know who had natural, vaginal births and only stayed the 3 days, still paid a helluva lot more than $22k...