Getting mummy and baby protected during pre-birth Part 5

In Part 4 I talked about the Immediately upon Delivery Stage, i.e. likely your last stage before heading back home with +1 (or more). One of the checklists in your pregnancy should be to consider taking up an insurance or takaful policy for your coming new born and mummy. Yes, at first thought, why would anyone want to take up an insurance policy very early on?

Just a couple of weeks ago, I got a query from a parent whose child was born with a cleft lip (sumbing), and asked if she can take a policy to cover for that. I had to be frank with her, that generally in Malaysia, insurance policies will not cover existing illness or situations. So, in a nutshell considering what a pre-born policy covers to what you’d pay in premiums, generally the benefits do outweigh the costs. One of the main reason to take a a pre-birth policy is to cover the coming New Born for congenital conditions and mummy for pregnancy care benefits.

What are these so-called congenital conditions? Basically, a condition present at birth regardless of its cause or simply called a birth defect. An example that many of us might have heard of is a cleft lip. However, there are quite a few conditions that you would want to get your coming baby to be covered for:

• Ventricular Septal Defect (Jantung Berlubang, hole in the heart at the Ventricle)
• Atrial Septal Defect (Jantung Berlubang, hole in the heart at the Atria)
• Tetralogy of Fallot (a combination of four congenital abnormalities in the heart. The four defects include a ventricular septal defect (VSD), pulmonary valve stenosis, a misplaced aorta and a thickened right ventricular wall (right ventricular hypertrophy))
• Transposition of Great Vessels (abnormal spatial arrangement of any of the great vessels) – basically the great vessels in the heart got transposed / swapped in position
• Coarctation of the Aorta (the aorta in the heart is narrow)
• Infantile Hydrocephalus (Water in the brain - Frequency. 1.5 per 1,000 babies). Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain.
  • Children often have a full life span if hydrocephalus is caught early and treated. Infants who undergo surgical treatment to reduce the excess fluid in the brain and survive to age 1 will not have a shortened life expectancy due to hydrocephalus.
• Cerebral Palsy (a group of permanent movement disorders that appear in early childhood)
• Spina Bifida (a birth defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don't form properly) – remember doctor giving Folic Acid?
• Cleft Lip with/without Cleft Palate
• Congenital Cataract (clouding of the lens of the eye that is present at birth)
• Congenital Deafness
• Anal atresia (congenital defect in which the opening of the anus is absent or misplaced)
• Oesophageal Atresia (a baby's oesophagus (the tube through which food passes from the mouth to the stomach). The upper part of the oesophagus doesn't connect with the lower oesophagus and stomach.)
• Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia
• Tracheo-oesophageal Fistula (is an abnormal connection (fistula) between the oesophagus and the trachea)
• Down's Syndrome
• Retinopathy of Prematurity (eye disease that can happen in premature babies. It causes abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina, and can lead to blindness)

Remember again that once there are any signs of the above or once baby is diagnosed, you cannot get coverage anymore. So, to me, that is the MAIN reason to get pre-birth cover.

Every year, 7.9 million infants (approximately 6 percent of babies worldwide) are born with serious abnormalities. These can be related to the anatomy (such as clubfoot or cleft lip), chromosomal abnormalities (such as Down syndrome – Trisomy 21) or biochemical/genetic mutations (such as sickle-cell disease) – Source https://www.ntperi.com/conditions/birth-defects

Currently Prudential offers coverage for your baby in tummy starting from 14 gestational weeks onwards, and covers mummy for pregnancy care (coverage for possible pregnancy complications). Note that there is a cut off, i.e. you can apply for this policy up to around 35weeks of pregnancy. After that, you'll have to wait till baby is born and not be able to get certain coverage like congenital illness and pregnancy complications. So best give it some deep thought and decide a little early, as all pre-born policies will need a simple report from your O&G which could take a few more weeks or even a month to get from your doctor. Drop a comment or just What’s App at 011-1895 3997 or click here to What’s App if you would like to get more information.