WORKING women sure have an edge over housewives when it comes to having children. Surprised? Well, its true. Corporate India is going out of its way to encourage women to have children and balance out their work and professional lives. Right from flexible timings to office crèches everyone is doing their bit to make life easier for these superwomen.

One major benefit offered, in addition to fully paid maternity leave for three months (this goes up to nine months in countries like UK) they have also stepped in to offer them maternity insurance which pays the hospital bills.

This option of maternity insurance is available only from your employer through group covers. That's because none of the general insurance companies in India offer an individual cover since insurance policies protect only against unexpected risk and pregnancy is not considered that.

Country Head of head-hunting firm,Watson Wyatt, Anita Belani told us, "In the last six months, around 73% of the companies spread across pharmaceutical, information technology and manufacturing sectors have bought group covers with a maternity insurance benefit for their employees." And sources at Cholamandalam General Insurance say that out of around 450 group policies they sold last year, 65%-70% were with maternity benefits. And the maximum demand for such covers comes from the Information Technology (IT) sector. However, the minimum size for a group cover should be 100 employees.

Maternity insurance under a group cover takes care of:

• All pregnancy related hospitalization expenses - each company may have its own ceilings.
• Surgery
• Pre and post hospitalization for 60 days and
• Complications arising therefrom.
• Some companies also provides for pre-natal and post-natal expenses as a sub-head under maternity benefits.
  

Maternity insurance does not cover:

• Monthly check ups
• Cost of medicines, tonics recommended to you every month
• Termination of pregnancy for the first 12 weeks.
• Pregnancy within 9 months of taking the cover
• Groups with less than 100 people

And what is premium involved? This involves a host of factors:

• Profile of the group
• Group size
• Age profile
• Previous claim experience
• Work profile
• Number of days of medical leave taken in the past by the employees of a group
• Location of your organisation - Medical costs in Mumbai are higher compared to other cities.
• Continuity of cover,
• Industry in which you are operating- because the claims experience varies among industries. In case of the manufacturing sector, the claims are lower compared to IT companies. In terms of costs also, location matters.

So, maternity insurance may well take care of one of the most expensive events in your life, as long as you're a working woman. With the backing of the organisation, understanding bosses, maternity leave, flexible timings, work from home opportunities and now maternity insurance, working women are more than equipped to rear children. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

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