Singapore Expats

Hello,

I am American and my wife is Japanese. We will be moving to Singapore in August.
We are trying for our 2nd child at the moment so will be (hopefully) having a child from September to December 2019)
The problem is my insurance doesn't cover any maternity costs until I've completed 1 year of employment.
My wife and I have talked and agreed on her coming back to Japan to have the baby. Depending on the timing could we get insurance coverage in Singapore from August till November (if having a December baby for example). We would only need it for a few checkups in between, is it better to get insurance (if so what would you recommend) or just pay out of pocket for a few monthly checkups?

Thank you so much for your advice!

Assuming you are looking for insurance against birth complications, From what I recall, most insurance companies will only consider insurance if taken out before conception.

Even then, there may be a comprehensive evaluation of the couple to determine any risk of abnormality.

If you want to buy insurance to cover pregnancy related checkups, quite a few clinics offer package deals.


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BBCDoc wrote:Assuming you are looking for insurance against birth complications, From what I recall, most insurance companies will only consider insurance if taken out before conception.

Even then, there may be a comprehensive evaluation of the couple to determine any risk of abnormality.

If you want to buy insurance to cover pregnancy related checkups, quite a few clinics offer package deals.


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Do you have any details about the clinic package deals, or where to start looking?

Quite a few Ob/Gyn in private Hospitals will offer them.

Walk into any in Gleneagles or Mount E ( My Wife went to one in ME Novena), should be easy to get.


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If we move in August and have a due date of December would be be able to get insurance when we arrive, or just have to pay out of pocket? I keep reading about how we have to sign up before we are even pregnant?

Do you think it would be a good business model to allow someone 6 months pregnant to get insurance, pay 3-4 months of installments and 100% liklihood of the company paying out?

You would be much better getting insurance that offers global cover, or risk it and pay out of pocket.

BBCDoc, they are not inSingapore yet so they cant walk in, but they may know someone here who can walk in on hteir behalf.

Technically, most maternity plans in the market which cover delivery costs have a 12 month waiting period (read blackout period). This doesn't mean you absolutely cannot be pregnant during this time.

Case in point, if I get pregnant at Month 9, then I will pay for all prenatal costs myself, but once we cross the 12 month mark, I start to have prenatal coverage, etc. It probably works the same for your company insurance.

Next, there is no short term maternity insurance (probably not the sort you are thinking of), but there is another kind of insurance you can only buy when you are at least 13 weeks pregnant. This is not suitable for purchase in Singapore if you intend to deliver in Japan though. That'll leave you with only option 1 above.

Cheers!