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Your maternal instincts may leave you craving for a baby. If you are a working woman, you are permitted to take maternity leave. But what about maternity insurance? In India maternity insurance is not offered as a separate policy. It acquires its place under the Group Insurance policy. So if you are a working woman you can avail its benefits by asking your boss to provide you with this insurance policy. This has been a neglected area for quite some time now. But things are taking a different turn today.

In the last six months, around 73% of the companies including pharmaceutical, information technology and manufacturing sectors have brought group insurance policies, which covers maternity insurance. In fact a majority of the benefit comes from IT sector. Cholamandalam General Insurance claims to have sold around 65-70% of the group polices covering maternity insurance.

For instance in Gujarat, the State Health Department went ahead with the idea of providing insurance cover to all expectant women in the State. This move was taken in order to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate in the state. Under this insurance policy, a cover of Rs 10,000 is provided to all expecting women and a cover of Rs 6,000 for the newborn, in case of complications arising in the maternity phase. The general insurance companies have shown a favourable response too.

Under a Group policy, the maternal insurance covers expenses incurred in hospital or nursing home. The charges for pre and post hospitalization for a period of 60 days is also covered which includes charges for other complications that may arise. United India Insurance offers a mediclaim policy which covers maternity expenses upto Rs 50, 000 or the minimum sum insured. For this the policyholder will have to pay an extra premium in order to be covered under maternity benefits. Since these policies are not full-fledged maternity policies, they do not involve some of the basic expenses like the costs involved in visiting doctors or the medicines prescribed by him. All these expenses will have to be taken care of individually.

It is hoped that the current situation of benign neglect would soon change for the better. If it does, maternity insurance will get its due attention. There are possibilities that it may be offered as a separate policy. Till then Group policy will take care of maternity insurance. So next time you hear your company is going in for a Group policy, remind them of maternity insurance as well.