Rahul already had a Health insurance policy and he has been regularly paying all premium of his health insurance policy of Rs. 10 lakh for himself and his family.

During this COVID-19 time, he was worried about the low coverage amount.

He was afraid about the situation, what if they all fell ill and have to get admitted to the hospital due to one reason or another.

What if he had to pay from his pocket. Rahul’s concern about the insufficient health cover is completely justified.

How to increase Sum Assured in Health Insurance India

He was thinking of either upgrading his cover to 25-30 lakh or take a new policy from other insurance companies.

This COVID 19 time has been proved an eye-opener to all of us. Increasing Healthcare costs have made us worried.

This time is very special because on the one hand, we are losing our jobs, work and on the other hand, the cost of Healthcare is increasing like anything.

Hence Rahul thought to increase his medical insurance coverage. He has two options either he can buy a new policy or increase or upgrade his existing medical cover but both options worked heavily on his pocket.

What’s the alternative.

In this post we will talk about the alternative to increase your medical cover without getting it too expensive.

Top-up plan

The top-up plan acts as a supplementary policy that offers the double benefit of high sum assured at low prices.

A Top-up or a Super Top-up plan covers hospitalization costs only after a threshold limit, known as deductible, is crossed

Rahul can buy a top-up plan from any medical insurance company. This top-up plan cost is much lower than buying a fresh policy or to increase the existing policy cover.

Top-up plans are great things for senior citizens also. Because they can be covered for high medical expenses at lower cost

How a top-up plan works

Every top-up plan has a deductible amount. Here, the deductible amount is the base amount that will not be paid under top-up plan.

You can pay this deductible amount from your base policy.

For example, Rahul has 10 lakh medical insurance cover and he buys a top-up plan of 10 lakh from his company.

Say Rahul got admitted and incurred bill of Rs 13 lac.

Now the 10 lakh will be paid by the base policy and rest Rs 3 lac will be piad by his top-up Plan.

In the above case, he can keep the deductible amount as 10 lakh while buying top up plan.

The top-up plan only comes handy when your base cover sum assured is exhausted or the deductible amount is exhausted.

Drawback of top-up plan

The top-up plan will come in handy only in case of single hospitalization.

The Top-Up policy allows you to make a claim that exceeds the deductible amount & the sum insured of the base policy during a single hospitalization.

Say your hospitalized and your bill is of 12 lakh than 10 lakh will be paid from your base policy and the rest amount of 2 lac will be paid from your top-up plan.

Now suppose, you have to get admitted to the hospital again in the same policy year and you incurred the cost of 5 lac again.

This claim of 5 lac will not be covered neither by your base policy nor by the top-up plan.

Super top-up plan

Super top-up plan works just like a top-up plan only but in case of the second claim, your claim will be paid from the super top-up plan.

It  pays claims for cumulative medical expenses within a policy year once it exceeds the deductible amount and the sum insured of the base policy.

 If you are insured by your employer and you wish to increase your coverage amount than you can buy a top-up or super top-up plan.

For example, Rahul has 10 lakh medical insurance cover and he buys a Super top-up plan of 10 lakh.

Say Rahul is admitted and incurred a bill of Rs 13 lac.

Your base policy will pay 10 lakh and Rs 3 lac will be paid by his super top-up Plan. Now if you have to admit again then your claim will be paid by super top-up plan.

When your base cover sum assured is exhausted or the deductible amount is exhausted, the super top-up plan comes handy.

On what factors the topic plan premium depends

• The top-up plan premium depends upon the deductible amount. Higher the deductible amount lesser will be the premium.

• The premium amount also depends on the age of entering the plan. Lesser the age lower will be the premium rate.

Documents required for health top-up plan

If you are buying the health top-up plan from the same insurance company from which you have bought the normal health insurance policy, then there is no need to provide documents again.

But if you are buying the top-up plan from a different insurance company, then you need to have the age proof, identity proof, address proof to buy the top-up plan.

Can we purchase Top Up Plan/Super top-up Plan from the same company?

You can buy Top Up Plan/Super top-up from any company of your choice. It is not necessary to buy it from your base policy company.

Conclusion:

IF you are thinking in line to increase your medical insurance cover then top-up plan and super top plan offer you high coverage at a very low price. In other words, you can say it is pocket friendly.