Health insurance is an essential requirement as it serves as a financial cushion for all those unexpected medical emergencies. Soaring cost of healthcare makes it difficult to fund hospitalisations from your hard-earned savings and that’s when a health insurance policy comes to the rescue.
When it comes to selecting a suitable health insurance cover, it might be confusing with the myriad insurance plans that are available. In addition, selecting a policy requires planning for the future as the sum insured must not only cover the present-day treatment expenses, but also after the rise in such costs. Hence, a policy that is future-proof in terms of the sum insured is essential.
But what if you have already bought a health insurance policy? Should you buy a fresh insurance policy? No. A nifty solution at such time is to buy a top-up health insurance cover.
What is a Top-up Health Insurance?
A top up health insurance can either be purchased as an add-on or bought as a standalone health insurance cover. Such top-up cover has a deductible component and comes into force only when such deductible is paid by the insured. The deductible in such top-up cover is a pre-decided amount which you are required to pay. Only after such amount is paid, the top-up plan kicks in. Since top-up plan have a high deductible amount, it is best combined with a base health insurance policy. Let us understand this with an example.
Anjali has a base medical insurance plan with a sum assured of ₹8 lakhs covering her entire family. Since the treatment costs are skyrocketing, Anjali decides to purchase a top-up plan to enhance the coverage. When buying a top-up plan, she must ensure the deductible of such top-up plan is set at ₹8 lakhs as the top-up plan will offer coverage right where the base policy coverage ends. If not managed well, gaps in between the two plans can require Anjali to pay such amount from her pocket.
Hence, when buying a top-up policy, make sure to choose a policy whose deductible is the equal to the sum insured of your base health insurance plan. * Standard T&C Apply
Some Noteworthy Benefits of a Top-up Health Insurance Policy
- As discussed in the above example, a top-up policy can be useful especially when combined with a base health insurance policy. This way, you can get a higher sum assured for not so much bump in the premium that you need to shell out.
- Top-up plans can not only be used in combination with a base policy, but also can be purchased as standalone cover. Some individuals can manage medical expenses up to a certain limit and hence coverage is required only above that specified amount. A top-up plan with a deductible is handy in such scenarios.
- Since top-up plans have a substantial deductible component, the premiums are affordable when compared to a standard health insurance policy with such high amount of sum insured.
* Standard T&C Apply
To combat the rising treatment costs and stay on top of your insurance coverage, a top-up cover is a handy solution. When buying a top-up policy, make sure to use a health insurance premium calculator to know how it impacts on your overall insurance budget. Thus, at any time you wish to enhance the coverage of your policy, purchase a top-up cover and enjoy the added benefits. Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms and conditions, please read sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.