Can you Buy Health Insurance for a New-Born Baby?

One of the best feelings in the world is becoming a parent. But this doesn’t change the fact that adding a new member to your family comes with its own set of responsibilities. One of the most important responsibilities is securing their health. This raises a key question: Does health insurance for a newborn baby exist? And what does it cover?

Can You Get Your Newborn Covered With Health Insurance Policy in India?

Yes, you can cover a newborn baby through health insurance.

The question now is: how?

In India, individual health plans (health plans that cover a single person only) do not come specifically for newborns. However, you still have the option to cover your newborn baby with health insurance. A baby can be financially secured through a family floater health insurance plan. Such plans cover each of your family members under one insured sum.

According to a recent circular by the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India), a new-born baby is a baby that is born within the tenure of an insurance policy tenure and is at least 90 days old. Hence, you have the option to add your newborn baby into your family floater plan once she or he turns 90 days old. Just like all of your other family members, your baby can then use up its Sum Insured.

Consider Maternity Plans that Have Children’s Expenses Covered

If you wish to acquire a child health insurance plan to make sure that your newborn's health is secured the second he/she is born, then you can opt for a maternity cover. Maternity plans for children cover expenses such as their treatments, vaccinations, and other costs. Apart from covering expenses for your baby, the benefit of a maternity plan also covers the health expenses of the mother throughout her pregnancy. Many comprehensive health plans have a maternity cover built in. However, insurers also offer it as an add-on for which one will have to pay their health insurance additional premium.

Benefits of Health Insurance for a Newborn Baby

While it comes with benefits such as tax reduction, some other benefits of health insurance specific to newborn babies are as follows:

1. Protection against the high costs of medical care or any surgical expenses for one’s newborn.

2. Absolute peace of mind with the knowledge that your newborn will be protected by a health insurance plan.

3. A high sum assured in case of a financial emergency for low monthly premiums.

Takeaway: How to Choose Child Health Insurance Plan

Looking for child health insurance can be tricky, especially since people are very particular about securing the health of their newborn babies. For a newborn child, in India there exist two health insurance options: either a maternity plan in a child health insurance policy or a family floater plan. To know which is right for you, you simply have to evaluate the pros and cons of each of these options against your situation.

The general con of a family floater plan is that your newborn will not be secured for the first 90 days, but the benefit is that your entire family will be covered under a single plan. But now there are new Family Floater plans in the market which provide coverage for a baby from the day it is born at no added premium cost. The only thing that you need to take care of is that during renewal, the baby needs to be added to the plan as a new member under current policy terms. In case of a child insurance policy you will probably be paying higher premiums by opting for a separate policy just for your child. By assessing the benefits of health insurance, and the cost of both, assess which plan offers the most value for your money to you so you can cover your baby in the best way possible.

Conclusion:

Having a child can be one of the happiest experiences of one’s life. To ensure that unexpected financial expenses do not hamper this experience, it is important to have the relevant insurance in place. Having a health insurance for your newborn takes care of this to a large extent and should be opted for by every parent-to-be.