Waiting period

A waiting period is the time you must hold a health policy before it will pay for certain things. New policies have a short initial waiting period, and pre-existing conditions and some specific illnesses have longer ones.

The different waiting periods

A single policy usually has several, stacked together. There is a short initial period, often 30 days, when only accidents are covered. Specific illnesses and procedures, such as cataracts or hernias, commonly have a waiting period of a couple of years. And a pre-existing disease, a condition you already had when you bought the policy, carries the longest wait before it is covered. Maternity cover has its own waiting period too.

Why buying early matters so much

Waiting periods are the main reason to buy health cover while you are young and healthy, rather than waiting until you think you need it. The clock starts when the policy begins, so if you buy early, the long waits are already behind you by the age when claims become more likely. Buy late, with a condition already present, and you may face years before that very condition is covered.

Keep the clock running

Waiting periods are tied to continuous cover, so they can lapse if you let a policy expire. Renewing on time keeps the credit you have built, and when you switch insurers, portability lets you carry your completed waiting periods across so you do not start over. See health insurance portability and family floater vs individual.