How health insurance can support a new family

New mums and dads have one priority: looking after the bub.

However, it’s not cheap. The price tag for raising an infant (0-2 years) is roughly $984 per month, according to Suncorp’s Cost of Kids report.

The price only goes up from there.

It’s clear: you’ve got your work cut out to care and pay for your baby. As costs rise, why should young families bother with private health cover at all?

What are the health needs of your baby?

During the first few months of their lives, babies use the antibodies from mum to fight off infectious diseases. These eventually wear off, which is when you need to start your child on immunisations. Parents can take their kids to a GP or vaccination provider, where they’ll be able to access free vaccinations. This is good news, because babies need several shots in the first year and many more in the coming years.

That’s not all for your baby’s first two years on earth, and this is where private health cover comes in:

• Asthma & allergies. 1 in 9 Australians has asthma, a respiratory condition where certain ‘triggers’ make the airways swell. Similarly, many of us suffer allergies – some of us suffer more serious than others. While both are manageable conditions for infants, you have to be vigilant while your child is young. To help pay for your child’s medication, skin checks, and admissions to hospital as a private patient; health insurance is a sound option.
• Grommets. If your child constantly gets ear infections, it can be tremendously uncomfortable (or even painful) for them. A grommet is a small tube inserted into the eardrum to help mitigate a build up of fluids. While it can be quite expensive to get this done for your child, it can be made much more affordable by utilising private health cover.
• Special needs/complications. If your child has special needs or a disability, the cost of raising them will inevitably be higher. If you need access to certain specialists (e.g. ear and throat specialists) or your child needs regular hospitalisations, you’ll be glad you invested in health insurance.

What are the health needs of mum and dad?

It’s not just your baby that needs looking after: what about you? There’s plenty more that your health insurance can offer for ‘Mum & Dad’.

• Taking care of Mum. The physical and mental toll on the mother when she delivers her baby is enormous. Watching out for post-partum depression, getting her into physiotherapy, and even booking in a remedial massage can be crucial to getting her back to her best.
• Coaching & counselling. The reality of parenting is far from glamorous: crying, sleepless nights, and a lot of uncertainty. If you’re having trouble, the best thing you can do is put your hand up for help; because your health insurer may offer support services over the phone for feeding, sleeping and counselling.
• Second child. If you’ve just become a parent, chances are you’ve considered growing the family further. While you may not be ready yet, it’s worth considering how private hospital insurance can help you through another pregnancy.

Cover that everyone needs

No matter how healthy and fit you and your kids are, accidents happen. For that reason, its best to prepare for any outcome by ensuring you always have access to emergency ambulance cover. By taking out private health insurance that includes this benefit, you won’t have to pay expensive ambulance callout fees*.

It is equally as important to make sure your child feels as comfortable as possible with any trips to the hospital. Private hospital cover increases the chance of you having a private room when you need it, along with your choice of doctor (provided they have an agreement with the hospital).

Finally, let’s talk about waiting lists. Let’s face it: kids aren’t famous for their patience. As such, you’ll be much happier in the long run if you can avoid any public waiting lists for hospital treatment. The average waiting time for treatment in a public hospital is 37 days. Your private hospital cover lets you seek out private treatment as soon as a specialist becomes available (provided you’ve sat through the waiting periods for treatment), which is infamously faster than the public system.

* If you live in Queensland or Tasmania, relax! Your state government covers these costs.

How can you find the right policy for your new family?

If your family’s needs keep changing, give us a call. Why? Because we’re not experts in one or two health insurance policies; we’re experts in more than 500. We want to use this expertise to figure out which product is going to suit your growing needs.

That way, you don’t have to worry about it anymore!