Cost of having a baby in Singapore without Maternity Insurance

Health
October 9, 2017

How Much Will It Cost to Have a Baby in Singapore Without Insurance?

We get it. Contraception can (literally!) be a total pain in the proverbial. We get lazy. We forget. We get ‘Lost in the moment’. But we tend to forget that as soon as we make that choice to let down the draw bridge, it’s game on and humans can happen. Like, actual BABIES! Yikes!

‘But no!’ I hear you say. ‘This is something that happens to other people! We got this.’ Sure it is, pal. Until it happens to you.

Let’s be frank. If you’re playing grown-ups and you’ve ‘withdrawn the goalie from play’, you need to have an honest discussion about bulking up your health coverage with some maternity insurance in Singapore.

It’s not sexy, but neither is dropping a whole bunch of your hard-earned cash on having a little person. You have the rest of your life to do that! Also, a lot of us just don’t have a cool 16K lying about that we can dip into to cover the cost of a garden-variety, drug free labour in Singapore.

So, if you want to wear the big kid pants (or take them off as the case may be), let’s crunch some numbers before you get down to business…

PRE-NATAL COSTS:

You’re pregnant! Huzzah or whoops! Insert the appropriate reaction here. Provided everything goes according to plan, you won’t need too many visits or scans. Here’s a run down of the minimum care that you will need while you are baking that little bun in the oven:

You should have 1 scan in the first trimester and then another one at around the 12 week mark. These scans cost upwards of $150 each. Not including the cost of the consultations.

At the 12 week scan, it’s recommended that you do the nuchal translucency test for Down’s Syndrome. This test will set you back at least $500.

At 20 –22 weeks, you will have a thorough scan to make sure that your little human is growing nicely – a ballpark cost of another $500 – this makes sure that everything is functioning as it should be for both you and baby. This will be followed by another appointment, so there goes at least another $700.

You’ll have an oral glucose test at 28 weeks which includes a blood test and consultation hopefully no bonus gestational diabetes! This cost starts at $250.

You will then have a scan at 30 weeks. Scans are usually accompanied with an appointment for the scan diagnosis. Again, we are looking at an initial cost of around $400. The good news is most gynecologists in Singapore can offer you a pregnancy package to help soften the blow of the cost of these scans and check-ups.

So if you do not have pregnancy insurance in Singapore, your little nipper is going to set you back at least $2000 and that’s assuming that your pregnancy is complication free and that you get the bare minimum of pre-natal care. There goes that baby moon in the Maldives. Malacca it is!

NO FRILLS (and no Maldives) PRE-NATAL COST $2,000 AND UPWARDS

LABOUR

It’s show time. The main event can be anything and you will have absolutely no say in how your little person is going to make their entrance. You just don’t know. A standard, natural delivery without pain relief (ARE YOU MAD!?!?!?) will start in the region of $12,000. An epidural, approximately $15,000 and a Cesarean can have a lead in price of around $23,000. This is assuming that all is dandy and that mum and baby are well. If you DO have Singapore maternity insurance – well played, but be certain that your cover is sufficient. If you don’t you can kiss that house deposit good bye.

NO FRILLS LABOUR (Just some gas and air and a bit of Pink Floyd, please) $12,000 AND UPWARDS

POST NATAL

Hey baby! Welcome! Everything went peachy keen jelly bean you’ve recovered really well (a bit ouchy, y’know, the usual) but you’ll need to get your baby checked and some jabs. You will also need a post-partum check up for Mumma. If you DO have a maternity plan, you will be pleased to know that vaccination benefits are included. It is your responsibility to make sure that you vaccinate your children and you can check the schedule here – Immunisation Schedule MOH . Without maternity insurance in Singapore, you will be obliged to pay north of $500 to have the little tyke vaccinated.

NO FRILLS POST NATAL (Just you and a donut pillow) $1,000 AND UPWARDS

Minimum. This is the BEST CASE SCENARIO. Mum and baby are fine and we all live happily ever after, albeit you have no retirement funds and junior is going to be home schooled. Please be mindful that costs can escalate enormously should complications arise.

Your other option is to consider a comprehensive maternity plan which will take care of

Don’t forget that these policies cover you for all of your non-baby related benefits like dental, physio, medical and emergency hospital cover.

If you wish to talk through any of these points with one of our advisers, please drop us a line. They can tailor your needs to exactly what your expectations are.

We are here to navigate you through this so that you can focus on pouring all of your energies into working out how to dismantle a pram one handed.

You’ll need it.

Talk to an Expert, visit our offices to chat with us in person or Contact us today.

You can download a copy of this article The Cost of Having a baby in Singapore here for reference purposes or future research.

Jinal Ardeshna

As the company’s HR Director and being in the industry for over 4 years, Jinal plays an important role in putting together the company’s current amazing team as she manages different strategies to ensure the organization reaches its business goals, as well as contributing significantly to the corporate decision-making process, which includes assessments for current employees and predictions for future ones based on business demands. She graduated with BSc in Business Management and is also CA, CHRS qualified. One of her favorite tagline about life is “You can only win the lottery, if you buy a ticket…”