Maternity Expenses and Coverage

Having a child is no child's play. You need to be financially prepared along with emotionally. Expenses associated with pregnancy to the child's birth is expensive and prolonged.

In India, on average 3 crores, of women are pregnant in India. In 2015–2019, there were a total of?48,500,000 pregnancies annually. Of these, 21,500,000 pregnancies were unintended and 16,600,000 ended in abortion.

The types of maternity expenses can vary depending on a number of factors, including the location, healthcare coverage, and individual needs of the mother. However, some common types of maternity expenses in India include:

1. Prenatal Care: This includes regular doctor's visits, lab work, ultrasounds, and any necessary medications or supplements. Nowadays, doctors ask the expecting mother to visit every 2 to 3 weeks and in the 9th month they ask to visit almost every week or twice a week. This means almost 20-25 visits are required which will cost Rs 25,000 - 30,000 depending upon the consultation fee.
2. USGs, Blood Tests - On average, 4-6 ultrasounds are done during the entire pregnancy and the same number of blood tests which cost approximately 50K - 75K.
3. Medicines - Mostly multivitamins, calcium, and iron tablets are prescribed but they also don't come cheap. Approximately, 5K - 7K is spent on the medicine which will again cost 40K - 50K.
4. Delivery and Hospital fees: This includes the cost of the delivery itself and any fees associated with staying in the hospital for a certain length of time after giving birth. In the case of normal delivery, expenses range from 50K to 1.5L and in the case of C-Section the cost ranges from 75K to 2.5L
5. Postnatal care: This includes follow-up visits with the doctor, any necessary medications, and additional treatments or procedures that may be required after giving birth. For the next 90 days, very good care of the mother is required especially in case of caesarean delivery. You might have to hire a nurse as well apart from the medication expenses. This will also cost approximately 20K - 30K.
6. Neonatal care: This includes any medical expenses associated with the new-born baby, such as vaccinations, check-ups, and any necessary treatments. Nowadays, hospitals keep the child in NICU at least for 24 hours for observation and a total of 10K - 25K is incurred very easily there.
7. Childcare expenses: This includes the cost of hiring a nanny, putting the child in day-care, or any other childcare services that the mother may require in order to return to work. Even if you had to hire for 3 months, the cost might go from 10K - 25K every month for at least 3 months.
8. Maternity leave: This includes any lost income due to taking time off from work for maternity leave.

Overall, if you add all expenses, this comes very easily from 2.50L to 5L excluding the time off / break taken from work.

Despite being such a common medical expense, maternity is not covered in most of individual health plans & in some plans, if it is covered then either the premium will be too high or the plan will have drawbacks, sub-limits etc.

This is where Group Medicare policy offered by the employer comes into the picture. This is where a compressive Group Health Insurance plan helps you in the best possible manner compared to traditional group health insurance. We at Loop offer modern age health benefits to the employees.

Loop is a platform that bundles health insurance coverage for employees with access to a primary care doctor, unlimited free consultations and discounted diagnostics.