Yes, you can still get private health insurance while you’re pregnant. However, health insurance won’t pay a benefit towards pregnancy-related procedures until you serve the 12-month waiting period. Therefore, if you’re pregnant and want to give birth in a private hospital without insurance, you’ll have to pay for it out of pocket.
While you won’t be able to claim a benefit from your health fund for birth in a private hospital if you take out hospital cover while pregnant, there is another type of cover that can benefit you during and after your pregnancy. An extras policy can provide expecting or post-partum mothers with several useful out-of-hospital treatments and therapies, such as physio and chiropractic.
It might still be worth taking out a hospital insurance policy too, even if you can’t claim on pregnancy and birth-related services. You may want to take advantage of some pregnancy-related hospital services with shorter waiting periods, provided the condition is not classified as pre-existing (many pre-existing conditions will require you to serve a 12-month waiting period). This could include gynaecology, diabetes management for gestational diabetes and treatment for miscarriage or termination of pregnancy.