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Expecting? Here are 4 things you can do to protect both mother and baby

2022 dot 8 min read
Healthy Finance
Finding out that you (or your spouse) are pregnant can be overwhelming. As you count down the weeks before your little one arrives, you may experience swings in your perspective, feeling excitement, anxiety, happiness and doubt, sometimes all at once.
 
Many soon-to-be parents spend time planning for things they need to prepare for when their baby comes home. Cot, pram, milk bottles, toys, clothes and diapers are some of the usual items on the checklist. Some parents may even spend extensive time researching the best products to buy.
 
When it comes to insuring your baby, parents should also ensure that they spend enough time understanding your needs and suitable insurance policies to get. Being long-term commitments that you can't easily change on a whim, the right insurance plans are as important, if not more so, than choosing the right milk formula and diaper for your baby.
 
Here are four common types of insurance policies to consider to protect both mother and baby.

#1 Pre-natal insurance

Pre-natal insurance can be bought from as early as 13 weeks into the pregnancy. It provides essential coverage for both mother and baby.
 
For mothers, pre-natal insurance provides coverage against pregnancy complications such as placentae related issues, postpartum haemorrhage requiring hysterectomy and others. For your baby, it mainly covers congenital illnesses, incubation admission into ICU and hospitalisation due to Hand, Foot and Mouth disease for up to three years after birth.
 
AIA Baby Protector is a pre-natal insurance rider that you can purchase when you opt to get the AIA Pro Lifetime Protector. Together, they form the AIA Mum2Baby Choices coverage. 

# 2 Hospitalisation plan

With escalating healthcare costs in Singapore, hospitalisation is an area that parents cannot overlook.
 
Babies tend to be hospitalised more frequently than adults as they are unable to communicate how they're feeling when they fall ill or run a high fever. Though babies might be able to naturally recover from minor illnesses, it's possible that doctors may want to keep them overnight at the hospital to ensure their condition remains stable. 
 
Hence, it's worthwhile for parents to look into adequate hospitalisation coverage for their babies from as early as possible. Doing so ensures that there are no exclusions, since most babies usually do not have pre-existing conditions. At the same time, having coverage from a young age ensures that parents do not have to worry about the cost of future treatments at hospitals.
 
The AIA HealthShield Gold Max, a private integrated shield plan covers hospitalisation cost in private, A or B1 class wards. 

# 3 Life insurance

Life insurance is another important area of coverage that you should consider. When you have a new baby, there are two aspects of life insurance that you should note.  
 
Parents' Coverage: Having a baby means having an additional dependant who will be reliant on you to provide for his/her every need, including financial, at least until they are old enough to be to work and provide for themselves. It's important for you to review your life insurance coverage requirements as quickly as possible once your baby is born.
 
Baby's Coverage: While your baby has no dependants, some parents find it useful to buy a whole life insurance policy for their baby while they are still young. There are a few reasons for this.
 
Firstly, because of their age, insurance premiums for babies tend to be lower. For example, if you opt for a limited pay period of 20 years, the premiums that you will pay in total for your child would be much lower than if you were to buy the same insurance policy for yourself.  
 
Secondly, because most babies have a clean bill of health, there will be little problem getting them insured. This may not always be the case, especially if they are found to have medical issues as they grow older.
 
Lastly, a whole life insurance policy provides your child with lifelong coverage. This means that coverage is provided for them for life, even after the premiums have been paid up in earlier years.
 
The AIA Pro Lifetime Protector (II) is one such whole life insurance plan. Aside from providing your child with lifelong coverage, it also allows you to tailor your child's protection need with your investment objectives. This policy enables you to maximise your protection needs during earlier years while your baby is still financially dependent on you, and pivoting to wealth accumulation for your retirement once he or she is financially stable

#4 Wealth accumulation

As highlighted in the insurance plan above, wealth accumulation is an important part of financial planning when you're welcoming a new baby. There are two main reasons for this – saving up for a big-ticket expense, such as tertiary education or even a home, for your child and saving up for your retirement so that this responsibility does not fall on your child.
 
You can consider buying policies such as AIA Wealth Pro Advantage for your baby. This policy helps you to save and invest premiums which can be partially withdrawn when your child needs to pay for university, with the rest of the premiums continuing to earn interest for your child's retirement.
 
AIA Mum2Baby – Giving both mother and baby the protection they need
 
The AIA Mum2Baby Choices policy is specially designed to protect both mother and baby. The policy consists of both a pre-natal plan, AIA Baby Protector rider, which provides essential protection to both expectant mother and baby from as early as 13 weeks into the pregnancy as well as higher risk pregnancies via IVF, ICI, IUI and ICSI[1], and the AIA Pro Lifetime Protector (II), which can be transferred to your baby within 60 days from birth without any medical questions, guaranteeing your child lifelong protection.
 
You can also add on an optional Child Critical Cover rider, a policy that covers 25 child medical conditions including autism, ADHD and Dyslexia. Once your child turns 21, he or she has the option to convert this rider into another whole life or endowment plan without any health questions asked. This puts in place a long-term financial plan for your child's, and even grandchildren's, future.
 
AIA Double Critical Cover, a third rider covering 104 critical illnesses and five special conditions you can add to this revolutionary product. It fully restores your critical illness coverage amount to 100% after 12 months of your first claim, giving you additional peace of mind.
 
Making the effort to understand and choose the right insurance products to protect both mother and baby is well worth your time.

AIA offers solutions made simple to keep up with your evolving wealth accumulation and protection needs. Take the first step to getting your financial planning on track and speak to us at 1800 248 8000. 
References
 
[1]  ICI stands for intracervical insemination. IUI stands for intrauterine insemination. ICSI stands for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. These are various types of assisted conception treatments available to cater to different cases.

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