Family cover is priced per beneficiary, so the plan that suits a couple rarely suits the same household three years and two children later. This hub covers dependant rules, maternity and child benefits, and the guides that go deeper on each.
Schemes charge a principal member contribution, an adult dependant contribution and a lower child dependant contribution. Many options cap the number of child rates charged, so a fourth or fifth child may add nothing. Child rates usually apply up to a defined age, after which a student or adult rate takes over.
A newborn must be registered as a dependant within 30 days of birth for cover to apply from the date of birth without underwriting. Miss that window and the scheme may apply waiting periods to the child.
Look past the hospital benefit at the parts a family uses monthly: GP consultations, acute medication, paediatrician visits, dentistry, optometry and casualty. These sit in a medical savings account, an above-threshold benefit, or a network-based day-to-day benefit — three structures that behave very differently once funds run low.
Maternity benefits are worth checking before you need them. Options differ on the number of funded antenatal consultations, scans, and whether a private ward or a midwife-led birth is covered.
Network plans cut contributions by restricting you to listed GPs, hospitals and pharmacies. That trade-off is easy for an adult and harder with a sick toddler at 22:00. Check that a network hospital with a paediatric facility is within a sensible drive of home before you take the saving.
Register the baby within 30 days of birth. Within that window cover applies from the date of birth and the scheme cannot impose underwriting on the child.
One plan is usually cheaper and simpler because child rates are discounted and some options cap the number of children charged. Splitting only helps in narrow cases, such as one member needing far richer cover than the rest.
Many options fund routine childhood immunisations from a preventive-care or screening benefit rather than from savings. Confirm the schedule covered on the specific option before you assume it.