Insurance for private birth?

[coralsand]

Hi,
I'm looking at insurance, would you have a recommendation on a good one that covers private birth?

In the UK? I don’t think any do.

I don’t think any do. Why would you like a private birth?

I looked into it, and there are some schemes that cover it for foreign nationals, but not if you're a UK resident. It's because birth is planned (ish) thing rather than something you can insure for.

But some insurers are better than others for helping with complications in pregnancy. I'm with Bupa and they were very helpful for pregnancy complications, even though I gave birth in the nhs.

You might find one that covers some bits of pregnancy…..but not birth …..I mean birth is something you plan…..not like ill health ….that you may or may not get

I've never heard of any. Be very cautious of private maternity wards that aren't part of a bigger hospital, as they wouldn't have emergency provision/ICU/special care baby etc.

You can't insure for it but you can pay for a private birth outright - it's about 15k on average.

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/birthing-options/article/nhs-vs-private-maternity-care-what-are-your-options-aeYb37A1bvRx

@coralsand did you manage to find any providers for this ? I’m considering doing the same and want to get ahead given there’s usually a minimum waiting time for these policies

If you have private health insurance and have a documented medical need for surgical intervention (i.e. placenta previa, eclampsia, breech, etc), from experience I know both BUPA and Cigna would cover hospital and consultant fees, though not 100%. You're looking at about £17-20k all in, so I would assume best case scenario 60% of that. Insurance will most likely not cover anything at all outside of this medical scenario. HTH!

They would but not at a private maternity unit: in fact the more complications you have the more likely you are to be treated privately at an nhs unit which makes it all a bit pointless.

OP you won’t get insurance if you’re a UK national but you could get a loan. Back when I was considering it Portland was offering financing (and so did my bank) but they didn’t want to treat me at all when I had complications.

An option might be to go to a public hospital with an excellent reputation for maternity services like John Ratcliffe. You could then spend your money on nice things like hotel rooms in the area etc

My work insurance (plus a big top up) covered a portion of my private birth (about a 1/3rd). I doubt you will find anything to cover it 100%. Second what others have said about going for a hospital with a private maternity wing rather than a standalone private hospital.

I had an entirely private birth at Stanley Clayton. Due to placenta previa, it was a medically necessary planned CS. I'm a UK resident with UK private health, and my insurance covered the entire £17k bill outside of my copay which was tiny by comparison. So yes, they would cover in a private maternity hospital under specific scenarios.

I had regular BUPA health insurance through work. Due to a previous c section the consultant successfully argued that it was medically necessary to have a c section second time around and about £12k was covered. I had to pay a very significant chunk too.

I gave birth in the private wing of an nhs hospital. DD was born prem and went straight to nhs nicu, I was in private room in private wing : all seamless. I was allowed to stay three nights where as if I was on the nhs ward I would have been out after one night and left to taxi back and forth to the icu.

so all in all it worked out well for us having the insurance.

regular insurance would likely only cover private care for a first time birth if it was something clearly serious and surgical like placenta accretia etc

Ps I was very glad I didn’t opt for the Portland. My consultant could have seen me there or big nhs hospital : so glad I opted for the latter as DD needed the highest level of support that the Portland wouldn’t have been able to offer