Pregnant? How can this impact your critical illness cover?

Pregnancy, in most cases, is a joyous experience that is met with joy and anticipation.

However, there are instances when the pregnancy can pose serious health risks for the mother. Some of these health risks include high blood pressure (mainly due to preeclampsia), gestational diabetes, autoimmune disorders, problems and complications with the heart or kidney, sexually transmitted diseases and in very rare cases, cancer. Indeed, (and let us repeat that this is very rare), cancer can occur in pregnant women, particularly cancers such as melanoma, lymphoma, breast cancer and cervical cancer.

You will notice that some of these diseases are actually covered by a critical illness insurance policy. The question is, if the disease is a direct result of the pregnancy, will this be covered under the policy?

How Pregnancy Can Impact Your Critical Illness Cover

Actually, if you already have the critical illness insurance before you became pregnant, your pregnancy will not affect any possible critical illness claims. You can still claim for any of the covered critical illnesses, as long as your claim falls within the definitions of the policy with regards to the critical illnesses.

This means that you the waiting period has already elapsed. Any symptoms or signs of the critical illnesses that occur within the waiting period will mean that that critical illness may not be covered by the policy.

Check Your Policy

Our advice is to check your critical illness policy’s wordings – there are policies that expressly exclude any critical illnesses resulting from pregnancy or a difficult childbirth. On the other hand, there are also policies that will still cover any of the critical illnesses, as long as they meet the definition of the policy for the critical illness.

Prenatal Care

Please note that some of the risks in pregnancy can actually be remedied by early diagnosis and treatment. With guidance from your doctor and good pre-natal care, you can actually avert some of the dangers (such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia) so that you can safely deliver the child without any adverse health effects.

The Need for Disclosure

Now, if you are pregnant and want to get critical illness cover, you may have to wait after your pregnancy to avail of the insurance. Also, if you have been pregnant and have been suffering from the symptoms of a critical illness (high blood pressure, gestational diabetes), you need to disclose this during your application.

This is to ensure that you are not later denied your claim just because you failed to disclose what the insurance company may consider as pertinent information.

Again, if you are interested in getting critical illness insurance, we recommend that you get it while you are in excellent shape.

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