Child birth explained to medical aid schemes
Dear Discovery Health,
It has come under my attention that after all these years as a medical aid you still do not quite understand child birth.
So let me try and explain it in simple terms.
When babies are conceived (the details of this is not applicable), there is a simple formula for calculating the due date or expected date of delivery. This due date is 40 weeks or 280 days from the first day of the last normal menstrual period.
This is quite simple, but the snag is that according to statistics only about 80 percent of babies are born within ten days of the due date. This means babies can come BEFORE or AFTER the due date. I have experienced it three times, so yes it is true!
Now how to use this knowledge – When somebody do a birth pre-auth, please add a window of a few days before and after the due date so the next time a baby comes a few days early or late, you will still pay out the claim promptly without frustrating parents who have enough to deal with after the birth.
I trust this will clear up a few misconceptions.
Once you understand part 1, please continue to part 2
