What are Health Insurance Top-Up Plans and why are They Useful

1. What are Health Insurance Top-Up Plans and why are They Useful Via wishpolicy.com A health insurance top-up is additional coverage on an existing individual health insurance plan or on a mediclaim from the employer. Health Insurance Top-up plans help in supplementing an existing health plan after its sum insured limit is exceeded. A regular health insurance policy reimburses hospital bills only up to the sum insured of the policy while a health insurance top-up plan covers costs after a specified threshold limit is reached. Hence, a health insurance top-up plan makes proper sense when you want to increase your health insurance coverage without paying too much. A deductible is to be chosen when you buy a health insurance top-up plan. In the event of a claim, an amount up to the deductible is to be borne by the insured individual or through the existing health insurance policy. The amount above the deductible amount will be paid by the health insurance top-up plan. In case of a floater top-up policy, the deductible would be applied to individual claims. Suppose you have a health insurance cover of Rs 3 lakh. However, you know this won’t be sufficient in a big emergency and want to enhance the coverage by another Rs 5 lakh. You can buy a separate health insurance policy which will cost you high. Alternatively, you can buy a health insurance top-up plan for Rs 5 lakh with a deductible of INR 3 lakhs. Claims up to the deductible of INR 3 lakhs would be met by your existing health plan while excess claims would be handled by the top-up plan. Thus, your coverage would be supplemented while the premiums would be low. A Super Top Up plan also offers additional coverage just like top-up plans at an affordable premium. But while in top-up plans the individual claim is considered in super top-up plans total claims made in a year are considered. If the total claims in a year exceed the deductible, the claim is paid. Uses of Health Insurance Top-up plans Health Insurance Top-up plans have become popular because of their numerous uses and benefits. The benefits of a top-up plan are mentioned below:

2. 1. Higher additional coverage with very low premiums A health insurance plan with a sum insured of Rs.5 lakhs can cost around Rs.8000 to Rs.12, 000. However, a top-up plan of Rs.5 lakhs would cost much less. Thus top-up plans allow you to enhance your coverage at low premiums. 2. Enables supplement of existing insurance coverage Health Insurance Top-up plans pay if the claim of the insured exceeds the deductible limit. For those who have an existing health insurance plan with a low sum assured, a top-up plan makes sense. You can buy a top-up plan where the deductible limit is equal to the sum insured of the existing health plan so that when the claims go beyond the sum insured of the health insurance plan then the expenditure would be covered by the health insurance top-up plan. 3. The top-up plan can also be availed as a floater plan Health Insurance Top-up plans can be availed as a floater plan in which the benefit can be extended to your spouse, dependent parents and dependent children on a floater basis in case you select a floater top-up plan. Also, some of the Health Insurance top-up plans offer the insured cover for his/her extended family such as siblings and in-laws. 4. The top-up plan is suitable for people who can bear a part of hospitalisation costs Many individuals can bear hospitalisation expenses themselves up to a certain limit, say up to Rs.2 lakhs. But in case of a serious medical issue when the hospital bills escalate, a top-up plan would be beneficial. In the plan, the deductible limit can coincide with the limit of expenses you can bear. Any claim in excess can be paid easily by a top- up insurance plan. Hence, Health Insurance top-up plans help you afford health insurance coverage at lower premiums. Conclusion Nowadays medical expenses are increasing very fast and are very high. A small sum insured might not prove to be sufficient for covering all your medical expenses. Hence, if you want to extend your coverage without pinching your pocket then you can go for health insurance top-up plans which extend your coverage to meet the expensive medical costs. This file was saved from Inoreader