Author
Bowtie Team
Updated on
2025-06-13
Disclaimer: This article is translated with the assistance of AI.
Bowtie has curated popular LIHKG forum threads on baby insurance, helping parents and expectant moms discover top insights on the best medical plans and whether critical illness cover is essential for little ones.
Question 1: Should I Buy Medical Insurance for My Baby?
A netizen shared that their baby is about to be born and is wondering if it’s worth getting Medical Insurance . She also expressed skepticism about insurance agents’ claims that they can secure private hospital beds for clients.
People of all ages face health risks, and in reality, everyone—from babies to teenagers, adults, and seniors—needs medical protection. In fact, infants and young children might need it even more than adults. Babies have lower immunity, making them more susceptible to illnesses like the flu , gastroenteritis , hand, foot, and mouth disease , chickenpox , or rashes. Even a common cold could lead to issues like fever and dehydration. Since babies can’t yet express themselves, parents might not fully understand their feelings or physical condition, so hospital observation could be the best option.
As we all know, public hospital emergency rooms have long waiting times. Unless it’s an extreme emergency, parents might have to wait hours or half a day from getting a queue number to seeing a doctor for their baby. If parents secure medical insurance for their newborn early, they can opt for private hospitals if the child gets sick or injured, likely getting treatment and admission faster.
The netizen’s doubt about agents using bed availability as a selling point is completely valid. Whether in public or private hospitals, the decision for admission and observation is made by doctors. Most private hospitals operate on an open basis—if there’s an available room and the patient needs it, there’s no reason to turn them away. On the flip side, if private hospital beds are full (like during flu season), even if an agent knows the staff, it doesn’t guarantee immediate admission. So, when choosing medical insurance, focus on the coverage provided by the policy and the premiums required, rather than the agent.
Baby medical insurance premiums aren’t as high as you might think. For example, with Bowtie VHIS, the monthly premiums for a newborn are as follows, and babies can be insured as early as 15 days old!
| Bowtie VHIS Series | Bowtie VHIS Standard | Bowtie VHIS Flexi Regular | Bowtie VHIS Flexi Plus |
| Annual Limit | $420,000 | $600,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Ward Level | General Ward | General Ward | Semi-Private Room |
| Monthly Premium – 0-Year-Old Boy | $130 | $334 | $633 |
| Monthly Premium – 0-Year-Old Girl | $138 | $324 | $586 |
What Insurance Do Babies Need?
On forums like LIHKG, many parents are wondering what types of insurance products their babies need. In fact, the Bowtie team has mentioned in another Blog that we recommend the priority order for configuring different protections for babies as: Hospitalization Medical Insurance > Critical Illness Insurance > Accident Insurance.
Let us explain again briefly why these types of insurance are so important for babies!
Hospitalization Medical Insurance
Babies have weaker immune systems than adults, so if they fall ill, parents can use medical coverage to opt for private healthcare services, ensuring their young children get treatment as quickly as possible. Among various medical insurance products, VHIS is regulated by the government, with minimum coverage requirements for items and limits, and premiums can even be tax-deductible, making it worth considering.
Critical Illness Insurance
If a baby is unfortunately diagnosed with a serious illness, critical illness payouts can allow parents to take time off work to focus on caring for their child, with the compensation also helping to cover some medical expenses.
Accident Insurance
If a baby gets injured from a home accident or mishap while out and about, accident insurance can cover emergency outpatient services, hospitalization, and surgery costs.
So, is a savings-type life or critical illness insurance worth buying? It really depends on the policyholder’s budget and savings goals. At the same level of premiums, savings-type products generally provide much lower coverage amounts compared to non-savings types. If your budget is limited and you want higher coverage, savings-type products might not be the best fit.
As for savings goals, policies with a savings component, like whole life insurance or whole life critical illness plans, typically consist of guaranteed cash values and non-guaranteed bonuses. The former is clearly stated, but the latter depends on the insurer’s investment performance and operational factors. However, policyholders should note that according to research from the insurance comparison platform 10Life Research , which analyzed the bonus fulfillment rates of 19 insurers, only 38% of the figures met the targets. Bonus fulfillment rate
Question 3: Can I Insure My Unborn Baby?
Yes! Unborn babies can be insured. Currently, some lifelong critical illness insurance policies (with a savings component) offer coverage for babies still in the womb, as long as the mother is between 18-45 years old and the pregnancy is at least 22 weeks along (up until the baby is born). This covers serious illnesses listed in the policy that might be caused by unknown congenital diseases.
Although such products are available, getting them at a ‘budget’ price isn’t very feasible right now. The annual premium is about 1,600-1,900 USD, with payment periods ranging from 10-30 years.
For a more affordable option, consider pure critical illness products without a savings component (term critical illness). For example, with Term CI Early Stage and Multiple Cover , the annual premium for a 0-year-old boy/girl is only $1,380/$1,356, and you can insure the baby as soon as they are 15 days old!
Question 4: Should I Get Critical Illness Insurance For My Baby Too?
This parent was just looking to buy medical insurance for their baby, but the agent also pushed critical illness insurance, mentioning extra discounts if both are purchased together. As discussed in “Question 2”, medical insurance is really the top priority for babies, so going for that is a smart move. You mentioned something about “that medical plan with a deductible and adding basic medical,” which sounds like pairing a basic plan (like the VHIS Standard) with a premium VHIS option that offers full reimbursement and deductibles (where you can use the basic plan’s payout to cover part or all of the deductible on the premium one). It’s worth comparing these VHIS levels to find the best fit.
As for adding critical illness insurance, the Bowtie team suggests weighing your budget and needs—don’t just go for it because of a discount, especially with savings-type policies. If you regret it later and want to cancel early, you could end up losing money.
If you’re aiming to save real money, compare premiums across different VHIS plans and pick the right one—remember, many discounts are only for the first year. Plus, if you do need critical illness coverage and you mentioned investing in stocks yourself, a term critical illness option without savings might give you better value for money.
Question 5: Is Buying Savings Insurance for Your Baby a Mistake?
This parent asked for recommendations on savings-type critical illness insurance, but got plenty of advice against it from others. It’s no surprise—premiums for savings-type policies are much higher than for term critical illness ones without savings.
Based on data from insurance comparison platform 10Life, for a 0-year-old boy with a $150,000 coverage for a savings critical illness policy (with multiple claims), annual premiums range from 1,400 USD to nearly 3,000 USD, with payment periods up to 20-25 years. In contrast, for Term CI Early Stage and Multiple Cover with equivalent coverage (around HK$1.17 million), the first-year premium is just $1,356, averaging $1,064 per year over 10 years—that’s only about 10% of the savings policy cost! If you invest those savings over 20 years in a bank deposit or elsewhere, the returns could be impressive.
But here’s why you might be considering a savings policy: “I already got one for my older son for 200K USD, and I want to be fair by getting the same for my younger one.” The Bowtie team suggests a fairer approach: Buy term critical illness insurance for both kids now. For the policy you got for your older son, wait until after the breakeven year, then cash it out and split the proceeds equally between your children.
Question 6: Best Insurance Plans for Dad and Baby
This dad wants to purchase medical insurance together with his soon-to-be-born baby, and he mentioned in his post that he doesn’t have any company-provided coverage. Depending on the level of medical protection he needs, assuming he has no preference for the ward type, he and his baby can consider the following options:
- Subscribe to a VHIS Flexible Plan with sub-limits on benefits, such as Bowtie VHIS Flexi Regular
- Subscribe to the VHIS Standard Plan, and add a high-end VHIS option that provides full reimbursement with deductible choices, such as Bowtie Pink (Ward)
| Recommended Insurance Plan (General Ward) | Annual Coverage Amount | First-Year Premium | ||
| 36-year-old non-smoking male | 0-year-old male infant | 0-year-old female infant | ||
| Option 1:
Bowtie VHIS Flexi Regular |
$600,000 | $3,192 | $4,008 | $3,888 |
| Option 2:
Bowtie VHIS Standard Plan + |
$420,000 (Standard Plan)
$8,000,000 (Bowtie Pink) |
$6,252* | $4,296^ | $4,392 # |
- * The sum of the first-year premium of $1,800 for a 36-year-old non-smoking male on the Bowtie VHIS Standard plan and $4,452 for Bowtie Pink (Ward) VHIS (with a deductible of HK$20,000).
- ^ The sum of the first-year premium of $1,560 for a 0-year-old male infant on the Bowtie VHIS Standard plan and $2,736 for Bowtie Pink (Ward) VHIS (with a deductible of HK$20,000).
- # The sum of the first-year premium of $1,656 for a 0-year-old female infant on the Bowtie VHIS Standard plan and $2,736 for Bowtie Pink (Ward) VHIS (with a deductible of HK$20,000).
Sources
- 1 Baby Just Born, Is Medical Insurance Worth Buying? – LIHKG
- 2 Baby Insurance – LIHKG
- 3 [Insurance Guy’s Input] What Insurance Should Newborns Get? – LIHKG
- 4 [Baby Just Born] Which Insurance is Best? – LIHKG
- 5 Baby Insurance Recommendations – LIHKG
- 6 Want to Buy Medical Insurance for Kids, How to Decide? – LIHKG
- 7 Savings-Type Critical Illness – LIHKG
- 8 Choices for VHIS – LIKHG
- 9 10Life
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