What should a good maternity health insurance cover?

Navigating the journey of parenthood can be both exhilarating and challenging, and having a robust maternity insurance is essential to ensure peace of mind during this period.  In this blog post, we'll delve into the key features that make a good maternity health insurance, from prenatal to postnatal care. You’ll learn how these provisions can ease financial burdens and help families like yours focus on what truly matters—the health and well-being of both mother and child.

How is maternity health insurance different from traditional health insurance?

Maternity health insurance will typically include specific coverages for everything from infertility treatments, prenatal appointments, birth and delivery, and postpartum care. Traditional health insurance or basic healthcare plans might not include all of these coverages, or it might have extra costs or copayments for these services. If you are thinking of forming a family, it is a good idea to look for a policy with specific covers for pregnancy. 

Essential coverages for a good maternity health insurance in Spain

• Prenatal monitoring and checkups: During your 40 weeks of pregnancy, you’ll do a series of at least three ultrasounds (one per trimestre), check ups with the obstetrician for the size and heart rate of the baby, and checkups with the midwife for the mother’s weight, blood pressure, and habits related to diet, exercise, and smoking, for example. 
• Diagnostics and routine pregnancy tests: Important tests during pregnancy may include blood tests and analytics, chromosomal testing and other genetic tests, glucose test for pregnancy diabetes, fetal heart monitoring, bacterial swabs, and more. 
• Vaccinations:The whooping cough vaccine is typically administered during the third trimestre to protect the baby from whooping cough in the first months of life. Depending on the time of year, the mother may also be given the flu or Covid vaccine to protect both mother and baby from possible symptoms. 
• Labor and delivery: This involves everything around the birth, including having your chosen doctor and birthing team, type of birthing method such as a water birth or induction, access to pain relief methods like gas or epidural, delivery in a private room with your partner, etc. 
• Postnatal care for you and your baby: Care after the birth may include in-home visits to check the status of mom and baby, postpartum pelvic floor rehabilitation, and mental health counseling for mothers who suffer from postpartum depression. You’ll also want to consider the ability to add your baby to your health insurance plan.

Other factors to keep in mind for good maternity health insurance

• Waiting periods: First of all, all health insurances count on a waiting period. You need to be aware of this time limit so that you can receive coverage during your entire pregnancy journey, and not risk out-of-pocket costs. For maternity-related coverage, this waiting period is typically 9 months or more. That means, well before you start trying to get pregnant, you need to have contracted your insurance. 
• Infertility coverage: If you have been experiencing infertility or you’ve been trying to get pregnant for over a year, fertility treatment options may be something you want to explore as part of your health coverage. This usually includes fertility testing, as well as treatments such as in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination, among others. 
• High-risk pregnancy or complications: Did you know 6-8% of pregnancies experience high-risk complications? A high risk pregnancy can be diagnosed depending on the mother’s age, family history and previous birth history, or via tests and scans. Look into what specializations and emergencies are covered in the event that you are higher risk.
• Premiums, reimbursement or copays: Cost is an important factor to consider for every policy. Understand the upfront costs or premiums, if you have to pay for deductibles or copayments, and what the process looks like for claims. Some generic healthcare plans may offer maternity tests and coverage at an additional cost. Knowing the ins and outs of what’s included and what’s not will help you choose the most cost-effective policy based on your needs. 
• Choice of hospitals and clinics: Lastly, you need to consider if your doctor of choice is part of your network. Many insurance providers offer a large list of doctors, specialists and clinics that you can choose from. Or the provider may offer reimbursement of costs if the doctor is out of network. 
  
  

Caser maternity healthcare plans

Caser Expat Insurance offers four healthcare plans with varying degrees of maternity care. We specialize in expats in Spain who want to navigate the Spanish healthcare system peacefully and in their own language. See the breakdown of coverage below:

• Integral: A family plan, with or without copayments, that offers comprehensive maternity services, including prenatal care, childbirth, and postnatal care, family planning services, and assisted reproduction services. There is a waiting period of 8 months for childbirth hospitalization and 24 months for assisted reproduction treatments. 
• Prestigio: This reimbursement healthcare plan offers the similar maternity coverages to the Integral plan, but with no copayments. Same waiting period as Integral. 
• Médica: Our affordable policy offers basic maternity services for prenatal and postnatal care, including family planning and the birth preparation program. 8 month waiting period for childbirth hospitalization. 
• Adapta: This is our no-copay health insurance with dental coverage. Maternity care is similar to Medica, but also includes genetic testing. It has an 8 month waiting period. There is also a version of Adapta for Residency, which has no waiting period. 

Caser resources for pregnancy in Spain

If you’re looking for more information about pregnancy, childbirth, and healthcare in Spain, Caser offers many articles that can give you all the tips and knowledge you need. See our curated list below: 

• Pregnancy facts and myths
• Spanish words to use when you’re pregnant in Spain
• Pros and cons of Spain’s free healthcare system for maternity
• How to create a birth plan for your Spanish pregnancy
• The dangers of maternal stress and how to get help
• Mental health and pregnancy in Spain
• Maternity appointments in Spain
• Caser Maternity Insurance: waiting periods, fertility help, screenings
• 7 reasons to get private maternity insurance in Spain
• Top considerations for expats when choosing medical insurance for pregnancy

You don’t have to look too far for good maternity health insurance in Spain. Caser Expat Insurance is here to help you every step of the way, from fertility treatments through postnatal care. When your baby is born and the health of mother and child has been cared for, everything will have been worth it!