Health cover - pregnancy

AMO

Hi all,

My wife and I are planning to have kids around 2011.

I want to know what my options are with BUPA / PPP etc if I wanted to go for additional cover for my wife.

I know that BUPA requires a 2 year membership before doing anything maternity related.

Basically, at the moment I am hearing that the NHS is at breaking point and some people are being turned away from hospitals because of full capacity.

On the other hand, if you go private, I hear that if there are complications you are sent to the nearest NHS hospital anyway.

I also hear that BUPA used to have hospital wings inside the NHS but not anymore.

And I also hear that even if your wife gives birth in the hospital you can request a private room and pay for it accordingly.

What cover can I buy as insurance or options at the time to make giving birth less worrying - I don't want to be the one that gets turned away on the day and my wife probably ideally would like a private room.

Are there other options to consider? What have other people done?

Thanx

AMO

starbump

Unless you live in the South East, your options are very limited due to a shortage of private maternity hospitals. We went "private" for our two kids - our OBG worked within a NHS hospital. It cost around £10k (per pregnancy) for everything - OBG, scans, tests, hospital stay, meds, checkups, etc. Didn't need a c-section thankfully but that would have been included at no extra cost.

The other options include: private midwife (about £5k for homebirth or to accompany you to a NHS hospital as a birth companion), doula (a few hundred pounds as a birth companion anywhere), NHS care (free) with a private room at the hospital (up to a couple of hundred depending on plush-ness of room and length of stay). If you want an epidural/spinal then you must have a hospital birth. If your wife is confident her pain endurance level is super high then a home birth is fine (you can get every drug except epidural/spinal).

Insurance is pointless. BUPA don't seem to cover obstetrics. No one seems to cover obstetrics (births). You can get maternity cover to pay for a few scans/tests but that is essentially a drop in the ocean. My advice is pay for everything yourself if you can afford the £10k. Otherwise, just go for a doula and book a private recovery room (at a NHS hospital) for about £500 all in. If your wife believes in it, I found homeopathy to be really helpful and pain-relieving. My hubby thinks it is quackery but it wasn't him that was using it!