It's wise to have maternity coverage

My husband and I have recently moved to the UAE from Pakistan and are planning on starting a family. However, I want to make sure that we can afford the maternity care first. My new employers have made provision for my health insurance, but I am not sure if this includes maternity cover. I also want to ensure that if anything goes wrong, we are covered for all necessary medical expenses, as I hear this can be very expensive.

The UAE has many good hospitals to choose from when having a baby. However, a baby's birth and all the associated medical needs can be expensive, and budgeting is essential to reduce stress associated with costs that will allow you to enjoy the birth of your first child.

Not only do you need to calculate the cost of the actual birth, but other necessities too, such as antenatal classes, postnatal care, epidurals, medication and blood transfusions, plus the possibility that your child may need neonatal care.

These must all be factored in along with the price of all the baby equipment and furniture you'll need to ensure your baby has the best start in life.

As you can imagine, it's difficult to accurately predict the full costs, but as a rough estimate, prices for prenatal care in the UAE start at Dh6,000, with the actual birth costing as much as Dh10,000 to Dh15,000 — depending on whether it's a natural or Caesarean delivery. Other cost-linked options include your choice of private or government-run hospital, having a private or a shared room and the number of nights' stay you require.

For someone in your position who has health insurance provided by an employer, the first step is to find out what kind of maternity care, if any, is included in your work package.

If you are working on an Abu Dhabi visa then your employer must provide medical insurance that includes maternity cover. However, if you work in the other emirates health insurance is not mandatory.

Comprehensive cover

Maternity cover may be fully comprehensive or limited. Normal pregnancy and childbirth benefits are between Dh10,000 and Dh20,000, however, top end providers like Aetna, BUPA provide cover of $10,000. Some plans even offer full cover for complications that arise as a result of childbirth.

You should also check if the maternity benefit on the policy extends to your home country just in case you decide to have the baby delivered in Pakistan rather than the UAE. If you have no health insurance through work, and no maternity cover, then you would be wise to take out your own policy, which an independent financial adviser can help you with.

It may be possible to upgrade your corporate plan, but your employers will have to agree to this first as it must be introduced for all employees and so will come at significant expense for your company.

Also, a word of warning, when adding maternity cover to an existing policy, and when taking out a new individual policy, many agreements stipulate that between nine and 12 months must elapse before any maternity-related claims can be made. You also need to consider insurance to cover for the care of your newborn, as this is not automatically initiated once the baby is born.

Baby's policy

Insurance companies usually require you to notify them of the baby's birth to kickstart the policy, with some setting out a specified timescale for this, so make sure you check the small print and act in time to ensure both you and your baby are covered for all necessary care.

Ian Walton is the director for general insurance at Nexus Insurance Brokers (Nexus Group).