Starting a family can be an exciting adventure. However, it comes with financial obligations that start long before you welcome your newborn. Families should account for a plethora of expenses including prenatal care, routine doctor visits and of course, the delivery.
When considering these costs, it’s also important to know whether you want to go with the public or private care route as this will play an important role in determining your budget. To help families manage their finances during the expectant mother’s pregnancy, we broke down the average cost of pregnancy in Singapore.
Average Cost of Fertility Treatments
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Fertility screenings are important for families who are trying to conceive. Fertility screenings cost an average of S$385 at a fertility clinic and come in a package that include an ultrasound, testing and consultation. Some families may have trouble conceiving and will need to look at alternatives such as In-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
IVF is a procedure where fertilisation occurs outside of the body (for instance, in a test tube) before being transferred back to the body. We found that the average cost of IVF treatment costs between S$8,160 and S$15,000. While this is a large sum, you may be able to offset some of the cost by using your Medisave account, which provides S$4,000 to S$6,000 of coverage per IVF cycle.
Average Cost of Prenatal Care
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It is important for pregnant women to maintain a healthy diet and exercise plan, as well as keep up with routine obstetrician visits. The average total cost of 9 months of prenatal care is S$6,393 before you include Medisave limits.
This sum takes into account required doctor’s visits, weekly fitness classes, OSCAR testing, other genetic testing and vitamins. The average cost of all the checkups you’ll need will be just under S$1,100, but if you choose private or unsubsidised prenatal clinics, then you can expect your costs to increase by 58%.
Chorionic villus sampling, which tests for foetal congenital abnormalities between your 11th and 14th week of pregnancy costs between S$643 and S$1,894. OSCAR testing, which tests for down syndrome, is a bit cheaper, with an average cost of S$330.
Miscellaneous prenatal costs like prenatal workout classes (classes designed specifically for pregnant women) cost an average of S$91 per class.
However, we’ve seen classes offered as low as S$35-45 per class if you are taking group sessions, or as high as S$130-S$150 for private sessions.
Average Cost of Delivery
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For a natural birth, the average cost of delivery at a public hospital in a subsidised ward is S$1,577. Unsubsidised ward deliveries are twice as expensive and private hospital deliveries cost even more, with an average bill of S$8,220. If you are unable to have a natural birth, then you may need to have a C-section.
Due to their complexity compared to natural births, C-section deliveries are between 50%-90% more expensive than natural births. While they typically cost below S$4,000 in unsubsidised wards, they cost an average of S$12,211 at private hospitals.
In addition to the type of delivery, the amount of time you spend in the hospital, your ward and any complications will determine your final hospital bill.
Ways To Save On Pregnancy Costs
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There are a few ways you can save on pregnancy. First, Singaporean citizens can use their Medisave funds for a myriad of pregnancy-related costs. While it may not be enough to fully cover your delivery if you choose an unsubsidised ward or a private hospital for your delivery, your Medisave package has delivery limits between S$1,650 to S$4,850. Medisave also offers S$900 of coverage for prenatal care like ultrasounds and vitamins.
Expats aren’t eligible for Medisave and will have to shoulder the costs on their own. In this case, you can either consider an international health insurance policy that provides maternity coverage or see if your job’s health insurance provides maternity benefits.
Regardless of whether your a citizen or an expat, you can also consider maternity insurance or an Integrated Shield Plan for coverage for pregnancy or childbirth complications. if you want coverage for medical emergencies.
However there are two main caveats with these insurance plans. First, there is typically a waiting period before you can claim for maternity benefits. Second, maternity insurance often comes tied with life insurance plans, so you unless you want a life insurance policy, you should look for standalone plans.
Beyond Medisave and insurance, certain hospitals may offer a prenatal care packages, where the costs of testing, ultrasound and vitamins are offered at a slightly cheaper cost than paying for them individually. For prenatal exercises, you can look for group classes instead of private lessons since they cost 60% less.
As for vitamins and miscellaneous expenses, you can look for sales online and try to get multipacks rather than single items. For instance, on iprice.sg, a 3-pack of vitamins costs 15% less than a 2-pack (with the same mcg). You can also use a cashback card to get rebates on all of your maternity-related shopping.
Methodology
To find the average cost of pregnancy in Singapore, we looked at the major expenses an expectant mother would incur throughout her term. We started off finding the costs of fertility testing and IVF as they may be necessary for some couples.
Following the timeline, we looked at the most common prenatal expenses, such as prenatal aerobics, vitamins, gyneacologist visits and testing. Aerobics and fitness class costs were taken from individual gyms and fitness studios such as Pilates Fitness, BreathePilates, Body Temple and MominBalance.
For gyneacologist visits we took the rates that were published on hospital and clinic websites. Since information on most hospital websites are missing bill estimations, we also had to rely on other sources such as insurance sites or first-hand experiences.
For childbirth and genetic testing we used the bill size estimator from the Ministry of Health. These rates do not take into account the Medisave maternity package rates or private health insurance.
Please note the figures shown here should be used for educational purposes and are subject to change. Your total cost may be more or less than the figures shown depending on your individual experience.
This article was first published in ValueChampion and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
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