Adding your newborn to your Bupa Global plan

Newborn cover is not automatic. You need to tell Bupa and submit a newborn application within 30 days of the birth, or you risk losing the Newborn Care benefit for your baby.

Tell Bupa within 30 days

Submit the newborn application within 30 days of the birth. If you miss it, cover no longer backdates to your baby's date of birth, and you risk losing part or all of the Newborn Care benefit.

Don't wait for the birth certificate

If your baby's official birth certificate isn't ready yet, submit the application anyway. A hospital discharge report or similar proof of birth is enough to get things moving, you can send the birth certificate on separately once it's issued. The 30 day deadline is firm, there's no allowance for a certificate that's still being processed, and this is the most common way the deadline gets missed.

If you miss the 30 day window

If Bupa receives your application more than 30 days after the birth, cover under the Newborn Care benefit starts from the date Bupa receives the application instead of the date of birth. It still ends at day 90 regardless, so the later you apply, the less of that window is left, and if you're already past day 90, there's nothing left to claim under it. The same later start applies if the baby was conceived through assisted reproduction or ovulation induction treatment, was adopted, born to a surrogate, or born in the U.S.

Completing the application

Complete the newborn application form in full, including the medical questionnaire. Answer accurately, incomplete or inaccurate information can affect whether cover is issued or how a later claim is assessed. If your baby develops any new symptoms after you've submitted the form but before the policy is issued, you need to tell Bupa, this can affect the cover too.

What enrolling actually sets up

Once Bupa accepts the application, a policy is issued for your baby and premium becomes payable, cover doesn't come free just because a parent already holds a plan. Your baby's cover mirrors yours, same modules and level of cover, unless you ask for something different, plus the Newborn Care benefit on top for the first 90 days. The policy is aligned to your own renewal date rather than running on a separate cycle. If you carry a deductible, your baby is placed on the same tier but must meet it individually, it isn't pooled with your own claims.

What happens at day 90

The Newborn Care benefit runs for 90 days from birth, covering your baby broadly, including congenital conditions, an abnormality, deformity, disease, illness or injury present at birth, whether diagnosed or not.

Once those 90 days pass, this allowance ends and your baby's cover continues under the same policy terms as your own: same modules, deductible and general exclusions. A congenital condition not specifically accepted through Bupa's review of the application falls under those general exclusions from this point.

What we need from you

• A completed newborn application form, including the medical questionnaire, submitted within 30 days of the birth
• A hospital discharge report or similar, if the official birth certificate isn't ready yet
• The birth certificate itself, once you have it

The Newborn Care benefit limit itself is shown in your table of benefits, check there for the exact figure that applies to your plan.