Individual Health Insurance with Maternity Coverage: What You Need to Know

Maternity coverage can help pay for the expenses related to a pregnancy, including pregnancy office visits, lab tests and ultrasounds, labor and delivery and post-delivery hospital care for mother and baby for the first few days after delivery.

Significance

• Individual health insurance plans that automatically include maternity coverage can be hard to find, unless you live in a state that requires the coverage on all plans. However, some policies allow you to add maternity coverage for an additional monthly fee.

Time Frame

• Maternity coverage on individual health insurance policies usually includes a waiting period ranging anywhere from six months to two years. If you get pregnant before the waiting period is over, then the policy may not cover any of your pregnancy-related expenses for that pregnancy.

Considerations

• Maternity coverage on an individual health insurance policy can be costly. This can be a shock for those coming off of employer-sponsored group health insurance where maternity coverage is often included and the premiums are often less expensive.