Couple Insurance: Why Your Current Plan Fails When You're Pregnant | Mr. Umang Kalra | The Buzz Bite

A common mistake among newly married couples is assuming their existing individual or corporate health insurance plans will fully cover pregnancy and childbirth expenses. In this segment, Umang Kalra of Policy Ghar explains why standard health policies often fall short during pregnancy. Maternity care involves significant, predictable medical expenses, and standard policies are rarely structured to cover them without specific add-ons or dedicated couple policies.

Most basic individual health insurance plans exclude maternity benefits entirely. While corporate group policies sometimes include maternity cover, they often come with low sub-limits (e.g., limit of ₹30,000 to ₹50,000), which may not cover modern private hospital costs for deliveries or C-sections. Additionally, corporate coverage ends immediately if you change jobs. Standard policies also lack automatic newborn baby coverage, leaving the infant without health insurance protection during the critical first 90 days of life.

To avoid these gaps, couples should evaluate their health insurance options well in advance of planning a family. Dedicated couple policies or maternity riders offer comprehensive coverage for prenatal visits, delivery, post-natal care, and immediate newborn protection. Because these policies carry waiting periods of 2 to 4 years, planning must begin early in marriage to ensure the coverage is active when needed.

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