Becoming a parent is an exciting and life-changing experience. However, it can also be quite expensive. One of the most important things to consider when pregnant is your medical aid maternity benefits.
In South Africa, numerous insurers offer medical aid to pregnant women, each with its own benefits and premiums. In this blog, we’ll discuss the basics of maternity cover in South Africa and compare some of the country’s top maternity medical aid providers.
What is Maternity Cover?
Maternity coverage is a benefit that some insurance companies provide as an add-on to a medical insurance policy. This usually covers the costs of pregnancy, birth and postnatal care consultations. Maternity cover helps ease the financial burden that expectant parents often feel and helps ensure the baby receives the best possible medical care.
Various types of maternity cover policies are available in South Africa, ranging from basic to completely comprehensive plans. Basic maternity cover typically covers the baby’s delivery at the hospital and the postnatal care to a certain extent. On the other hand, comprehensive policies cover prenatal consultations, tests, ultrasound scans, birth and all postnatal care.
It’s important to carefully review all the benefits specified by a potential medical scheme and ensure their maternity benefits suit your needs.
Medical Aid Cover That Provides Maternity Benefits in South Africa
There are several medical aid providers that offer maternity benefits. Here are some of the top providers and the benefits that they offer:
Discovery Health
Discovery Health offers comprehensive maternity coverage with multiple benefits. This plan covers one flu vaccination and up to 12 gynaecologists, GP or midwife visits during your pregnancy. Discovery covers your hospitalisation costs during childbirth, two consultations with your GP after childbirth, lactation classes and a 24-hour nurse helpline.
Momentum Health
When you register for the maternity programme at Momentum Health between 8 and 12 weeks of your pregnancy, you qualify for up to 12 antenatal visits to your GP, gynaecologist or registered midwife. The maternity program also covers two paediatrician visits for your child during their first year.
Bonitas Medical Fund
Bonitas medical fund offers comprehensive maternity benefits. You qualify for up to 12 consultations during pregnancy, two 2D ultrasound scans, one amniocentesis, online antenatal classes, four consultations with a midwife after delivery and a newborn hearing screening.
Bonitas also has added benefits, like the Bonitas baby bag, which has all the necessary items in that expectant parents might need.
Fedhealth Medical Scheme
Fedhealth offers rich maternity cover benefits. These benefits include two antenatal scans and 12 ante- and postnatal consultations with a GP, midwife or gynaecologist. Fedhealth also provides a once-off payment for a doula if you prefer a home birth.
Medihelp Medical Scheme
Medihelp offers remarkable maternity benefits to their medical insurance clients. Medihelp offers 10 antenatal and post-natal consultations with a midwife, GP, gynaecologist or another healthcare provider. As well as two antenatal and post-natal consultations with a dietician or lactation specialist. The comprehensive scheme option includes two 2D ultrasound scans and nine months’ antenatal iron supplements.
It’s important to note that each medical aid scheme has varying client tiers. All of the benefits may not be available on the budget-friendly tiers. Reading through the benefits of your chosen medical aid carefully is vital.
Also, most insurance companies require you to be a member of their medical aid before you fall pregnant. This means they usually implement a waiting period of 6 or 12 months before a new client can access the maternity benefits. You will likely have to pay a predetermined amount to access maternity cover if you are already pregnant.
How To Chose the Best Medical Aid For Your Pregnancy and Birth
There are many factors to consider when choosing maternity cover for the birth of your child. Making an informed decision is important to ensure you have the best possible care during pregnancy and childbirth. Here are some factors to consider:
- Cost: This is probably the most important factor to some expectant parents. The cost of medical aid can vary significantly between different medical aid providers and even between different client tiers for the same provider. You should search through medical aid quotes and select one that you feel is the best value for your money.
- Coverage: Carefully review the benefits of each medical aid provider. Focus on the hospital benefits (can give birth at a private hospital? Does this plan cover a c-section and normal birth?) but also focus on antenatal and postnatal care.
- Reputation: If you have friends or family that have recently become parents, ask them about their experience with their medical aid maternity cover. Alternatively, you can search reviews on social media for the specific medical aid company you are considering. If many others express negative thoughts about their experience with this insurer, it might be a sign to look elsewhere.
- Network Providers: If you live in a rural area, check that your local GP and hospital are covered by the medical aid insurance you are considering. If you need to travel 100km to get to the nearest network-approved GP, it might not be the best option for your circumstances.
By considering these factors and carefully reviewing and comparing the maternity benefits each medical aid provides, you should be able to decide. With the right medical aid coverage, you can ensure that you receive the best possible care during your pregnancy and childbirth and enjoy the many benefits of starting a family.
Final Thoughts
With so many medical aid options to choose from, planning a family can be a daunting task. By comparing the top medical schemes in South Africa, you can better understand the coverage available, including the maternity benefits, cost, reputation, and network providers. In this way, you can find medical aid that meets your needs.
Ultimately, an appropriate medical aid insurer should provide peace of mind, care and support for anyone planning to expand their family.
