Health insurance with the best maternity plan in HK?

hi capergirl,

i also got a quote from prime pacific. since i'm a us citizen i'm looking at plans that include us cover. it's around 3000usd for 1.5 months of US cover per year and 6,800usd for 3 months US cover at a time.

i think i'm going to go with dkv as well. will let you know how it goes!
 
Capergirl said:
hkexpat2010,

I signed with DKV in March. They have FULL maternity coverage (with the exception of an elective cesarean) and only an 8 month waiting period! They have full dental coverage as well.

We checked out a few companies and this one was by far the best for us. It is about $2,500 USD for the year but when you consider the high cost to go private, this is very reasonable. I have already made 2 claims (pap test and chicken pox vaccination) and I received full reimbursement within 3 weeks.

My husband and I are going to start trying this summer. If we do get pregnant then we will have to pay for the first few appointments but after the waiting period (Nov.) everything will be covered.
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Hi hkexpat2010,

Sorry - but am new to all this.
For someone who will be trying to get pregnant and considering Marternity Cover for the first time, what do you mean by "the waiting period"?

Am looking to go semi-public/private. Can't afford fully private and happy enough to have delivery in public but want insurance in case of any complications before, during and after birth of childbirth
 
Most insurance companies have a 'waiting period' for maternity cover so that you can't find out you're pregnant, sign up for cover and then charge all the costs to the company. DKV has the shortest waiting period of 8 months, most are around a year. That means that you sign up for them and you have to wait for 8 months to elapse before you can make any maternity related claims.

For example if you found yourself pregnant in the 5th month of the 8 month waiting period you would not be able to claim for your appointments, scans, drugs, tests etc in the first 3 months of your pregnancy but after the 8 months have elapsed you can claim for everything from that date forward.

That's how it works with DKV anyway, I asked lots of questions before I signed up with them.

Another good question to ask when you're researching insurance is to ask if they treat "successful" and "non-successful" (sorry, that's the term they seem to use) pregnancies differently, some have a much lower limit for the "non-successful" pregnancies but on occasion a miscarriage would require expensive medical intervention and horrible to find out you aren't fully covered if the worst happens. I think DKV treats both the same (which is how it should be).

Also, ask what coverage the baby gets immediately after birth and how soon they need to be insured under their own policy - important if they are born with a condition requiring treatment. What their policy is for twins and multiple births? Is their limit per pregnancy or per year (important if you have two very close together ;-), and if they have a separate limit for complications e.g. emergency c-section.

Good luck with your research!
 
Last edited:
StareBear,
please check PM.


StareBear said:
I am with DKV and my only out of pocket expense for my entire pregnancy including private room at Matilda was $250 for my meal which I ordered while I was in labour. Still don't really understand why I had to pay for that but am not complaining! Since then all my baby's expenses including vaccines have been reimbursed. For things like physio they need referrals and if you have treatment for a long time they may ask for the referral to be refreshed. The only expense I have not received full reimbursement on is dental. My insurance plan is arranged by my employer though so am not sure if this coverage is generally available or what the cost is though (can only imagine it is expensive).
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fyi- i signed up with DKV (7000 USD for US cover and $0 deductible for 33 year old), but haven't submitted any claims yet. will post if i run into any problems!

thanks again for the great responses here!
 
WRT to DKV, have to say I've found their customer service pretty shocking. We've had a couple of issues of them wanting supplementary paperwork in relation to claims but not being very clear what they want and why and also with them losing a claim. They have been generally pretty slow in processing any but the most absolute straightforward vaccination claims, they say they process within 14 days (I think) but in reality they wait 14 days then come back with a query! I guess I expected a lot service wise as I went with the top cover and in that they haven't delivered :-(

On the upside they have eventually paid out all the claims and it is good cover, their losing claims and sending out extra forms seems to be more about administrative incompetence rather than any desire to get out of paying, it's just not what you need when you're having an unexpected health issue and thought you had paid for peace of mind!

I still think it's good cover but if something unexpected comes up do be prepared for there to be a bit of back and forth with the paperwork .Not pg at the moment so haven't tested out their maternity benefits :-)
 
also, can anyone recommend their husband's insurance company/plan? we need to get cover for my husband now, but DKV seems expensive.

jvn- thanks for the update on DKV! good luck with getting pg. we're still in the questioning/hemming and hawing stages still, but think we'll get there soon...
 
FYI- I'm also having problems with DKV. It's a little complicated, but they charged my credit card over 1,000 USD and additionally overcharged me for my monthly payment. They said they'd refund the $1000+ within days as it was their mistake, but it's been a couple of weeks and it's still not back on my card. Now I'm waiting to find out why they overcharged me for my monthly payment, too. Frustrating!

Dreading submitting claims with them....
 
It seems like DKV now have a cap for maternity benefits, it's only up to $9100 USD. Previous posters mentioned that they have unlimited benefits, so just wondering is the cap just recently implemented or is there a more premium plan that has unlimited coverage?
 
zzsp23- Is that for the Top plan? They also have Classic and Plus. The one with the unlimited maternity benefits is/was? Top. Let us know if you hear more about any changes!
 
To DKV or not to DKV?

After research, DKV Top seems to offer most cover for maternity, less waiting period and lowest premium when compared to other policies around. So it seems the obvious choice hands down doesn't it?

However, after hearing from some people that they could be in a pretty unstable financial position (querying how they could continue paying out so much full maternity costs with such low premiums with some predictions of them even going bust or higher probability of premiums increasing to unexpected rates in your 2nd year of cover) I decided a more 'stable' and reliable insurance company would be better in the long run.

But then after hearing how so many have successfully received full payment on their claims with DKV so far I am in two minds again! :rofl:

Is this satisfaction with DKV going to be short-lived?

Are DKV offering the best deal to get good reviews from people to lure more people to take out their policies as quick as possible to make up for their losses and if unsuccessful, will they do a runner?

Whether the rumours remain just rumours or whether what DKV offers is "too good to be true" will be interesting to see.

I hope the positive stories about DKV remain to be true in the long run as I am still undecided and could still consider them. Luckily I have lots of time to wait and research as not in desperate rush to take out a policy soon.

However, when the day comes when I have to make a decision, is there an insurance policy for your insurance policy?
 
Okay, yes there is still the TOP plan available without a pregnancy limit. Apparently it's expected that the premium will rise soon OR this unlimited benefit will be capped.
I'm now looking at CIGNA, BUPA and waiting on a quote back from AVIVA. The maternity benefits are capped, but using the Matilda prices as a maximum benchmark with an emergency caesarean + private room, these limits should be okay. Unless somehow I have twins. In which case the DKV plan would definitely have come in handy :)

Does anyone plan to keep their insurance after the pregnancy?
 
I have done an extensive research recently for medical insurance for myself and wife which would include maternity cover. DKV Globality seems to be the best choice, as their plans are "unlimited" - there is no annual limit like most companies have.

I even filled an application form with Globality already, however they excluded my wife's high myopia and all related conditions (which are not in place now!) that I found ridiculous. There are also 2 important things to consider in regards to DKV:
1. This insurance cannot be continued once you are back to your home country. That means, if you are not expat one day, it stops working.
2. They don't cover for elective c-section delivery.

Now I am considering Bupa International. Insurance cover can be kept if you decide to go back to your home country - which I find important, because if you would have some conditions in place, they will be excluded by any new insurer... Secondly, they cover for elective c-section up to the childbirth and maternity allowance (?8.100 + ?2.500). If medically necessary however, c-section limit is twice the childbirth allowance (?16.250).

I didn't find any other insurer which would cover for elective c-section.
 
The continuation of policy after pregnancy was also a factor for me. I didn't want to be "stuck" with a particular insurer if a condition popped up that would be excluded by other insurers.
 
spud said:
However, after hearing from some people that they could be in a pretty unstable financial position (querying how they could continue paying out so much full maternity costs with such low premiums with some predictions of them even going bust or higher probability of premiums increasing to unexpected rates in your 2nd year of cover) I decided a more 'stable' and reliable insurance company would be better in the long run.

But then after hearing how so many have successfully received full payment on their claims with DKV so far I am in two minds again! :rofl:

Is this satisfaction with DKV going to be short-lived?

Are DKV offering the best deal to get good reviews from people to lure more people to take out their policies as quick as possible to make up for their losses and if unsuccessful, will they do a runner?

Whether the rumours remain just rumours or whether what DKV offers is "too good to be true" will be interesting to see.

I hope the positive stories about DKV remain to be true in the long run as I am still undecided and could still consider them. Luckily I have lots of time to wait and research as not in desperate rush to take out a policy soon.

However, when the day comes when I have to make a decision, is there an insurance policy for your insurance policy?
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I don't think the DKV is too good to be true at all, it's not a cheap policy by any means and unlimited maternity cover if you go for the best cover is only a liability for them if a) you're pregnant - not everyone who plans to gets pregnant straight away so it could be years in some cases of someone paying those premiums without claiming and b) you have a highly complicated pregnancy.

As another poster mentioned having the top policy for DKV is fantastic if you have a complex pregnancy and/or twins but for most people the average level of cover offered by most other insurers will be all they'll ever need anyway.

Unlimited cover is not the same as claiming an unlimited amount! It's a nice feeling to have the extra cover but the reality is that for most pregnancies the costs are pretty standard and predictable - you only claim for the treatments you have so DKV won't be carrying much more risk than the other insurers that have a cap of around what a normal pregnancy costs - and their slight extra risk of possible higher costs is reflected in the premium.

Personally my experience of DKV is that they have poor administrative systems and as a result they are slow to pay claims but I've never encountered a problem with them refusing to pay or had any other indication that their business model isn't sound. They did raise our premiums in the second year and of course it would have been nice if they hadn't ;-) but the rise wasn't punitive or out of line with what I'd expect for other insurers.
 
Update on DKV claims submission: I've submitted several claims for general Dr. visits and pregnancy related visits and (knock on wood!) have happily been reimbursed 100%. After the insurance broker gave me a direct email to send my scanned claims to, I got a much faster response (ie email acknowledging they receive claim and approval email) from DKV. I also noticed I have an account with them so I can check the claims online, but I never realized it and still haven't tried it yet.

However, they did still screw up processing my monthly payment recently (ie skipped on month and then double billed the next month). It would have been nice to get a notice or something saying they made a mistake rather than finding out on my credit card bill...

From my perspective, overall, I'm very happy I have DKV with the unlimited coverage as I don't have to worry about how much the Dr, test, hospital, private room, etc will cost. There are too many other issues in HK already like which dr. should I go with, which dr. is accepting patients, can i get into a private hospital, etc, but at least the money part isn't a concern with DKV!

PS. They also raised my premium for the 2nd year, but by a reasonable amount.
 
I'm on top cover $0 excess in my early thirties paying just under 2500 HKD per month.

All of my claims with DKV so far have been reimbursed 100%. As others have noted, their response times varies and can be slow, but they do come through in the end. One thing I've noticed though is that the reimbursed amount is always a little lower which I've always assumed factored in a Euro to HKD currency exchange fee.

I've had a Dr grumble about filling in a claim form, saying that xyz isn't normally covered by insurance, but in the end I submitted it and DKV did reimburse me the cost 100%, so I guess it nevers hurts to try.
 
Just update. I was informed that Maltida can bill DKV and IHI directly.
Also IHI has been aquired by ihi bupa, so basically its refers as the same company.
 
Yep, they don't pay the deposit in advance but they provide a letter of guarantee which Matilda will accept for the actual birth. We had to pay the deposit ourselves and will get it back hopefully in January ;-)

I had another procedure at Matilda and that had no deposit and was 100% covered by DKV's letter of guarantee so I didn't have to pay anything. It was very short notice and to be fair to DKV they moved very quickly to get the letter over to the hospital, so they can be efficient when it's urgent!
 
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