Discovery Maternity Waiting Period
What is the Discovery maternity waiting period? It’s a question that you will be asking yourself if you are expecting or planning a baby. Like most medical insurance companies in South Africa, Discovery imposes waiting periods on most packages. These are designed to ensure that the medical aid companies do not get overwhelmed with claims from people who only join when they need care. So, what is the Discovery medical aid waiting period for pregnant women?
Discovery waiting period for pregnant women
The Discovery maternity waiting period is 12 months. That’s longer than the normal waiting period for medical aid in the country which stands at 3 months.
Why is the waiting period long?
That’s the Discovery maternity waiting period. But why is this period longer for maternity than for normal care? There are several reasons for this.
For one thing, it can cost a lot of money for care to be provided during pregnancy. In fact, studies show that you need at least R60000. So, that’s something that’s behind the rather long waiting periods for pregnant women.
In fact, Discovery is not the only company that offers such a long waiting period for maternity care. Others like Hollard have waiting periods that are also long.
We have already discussed waiting periods for medical aid and why they are there? The reason is to prevent fraud. Otherwise a lot of people would only join when they are sick, before leaving when they get better.
The whole idea behind medical aid is to make sure that those who never claim help cover for those who claim often. In turn, when you eventually fall sick, others will carry your load.
Without waiting periods, the entire structure of medical insurance would collapse. So, you need to plan well about your pregnancy and whether or not it’s going to be covered.
Find how to submit a Discovery claim
Summary
That’s the Discovery maternity waiting period. The waiting period is longer than normal because pregnancy and post pregnancy care can be rather costly. In this article, we also discussed why medical aid companies impose waiting periods. It was highlighted that it’s done to prevent fraud, which could occur should people be allowed access to care immediately after joining.
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