Reasons to Buy Super Top-up with Your Health Insurance
Synopsis:
Your regular health policy may not prove sufficient in the face of a major medical crisis. It is possible that in some cases, your medical expenses may exceed the sum insured, forcing you to pay the balance out of your pocket. With a Super Top-up plan, you can cover this gap and remain stress-free. Here are the reasons why you must consider buying a Super Top-up plan along with health insurance.
In the wake of an ongoing pandemic and ever-rising healthcare costs, it is important to keep yourself and your family covered against any unexpected medical crisis. A robust health insurance policy can help you sail through the financial liabilities arising from the hospitalisation and treatment costs for yourself or your loved ones. In situations where your health policy falls short of providing you with an adequate cover, a Super Top-up plan can help you cover the gap
between your medical bills and the amount that your insurer would pay, thus saving you from any unexpected financial burden.
There are several benefits of opting for a
super top-up plan such as:
Healthcare cost
With increasing healthcare costs, you need to plan for additional funds to have a higher sum insured; something above what your regular health insurance promises. A top-up plan would be beneficial if you exhaust your existing sum insured amount in case of a medical emergency.
Higher sum insured at low premium
Insurers introduced the top-up plans as many policyholders ended up needing a high sum insured amount during hospitalisation or treatment. Even if your employer provides health insurance coverage or you have an existing plan, go for an additional super top-up. These top-up plans usually have a lower premium compared to regular policies.
Greater coverage for
senior
citizens
Having a higher coverage amount is important if your parents, who are senior citizens, stay with you. Being over 60 years of age means that they are more susceptible to age-related conditions such as bone decay, critical illnesses etc. All these can result in high expenses for treatment, which your regular health policy may not be able to cover completely.
Additional tax savings
The health insurance premium that you are paying for yourself and/or for other members of your family will be deducted from your taxable income. You can claim a deduction for the health insurance premium and expenses incurred towards preventive health check-ups for self, spouse, dependent children and parents. This is as per the terms and conditions mentioned in Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Similar to these regular health policies, super top-up plans also come with tax-saving benefits. If your parents are aged above 60 years, the deduction amount is Rs 50,000. You can claim a total deduction of Rs 75,000, consisting of Rs 25,000 on the premium paid for self, spouse and dependent children, and Rs 50,000 on the premium paid for your parents. If both you and your parents are senior citizens, the maximum deduction that you can claim would be Rs 1,00,000, which is Rs 50,000 + Rs 50,000.
Buy a standalone top-up plan
Another benefit is that you do not need to have an existing health policy to buy a super top-up policy. You can buy it as a separate plan by paying the entire amount of deductibles first. After the deductibles or the amount that you have to pay from your pocket gets used up, your insurer would release the sum insured from the top-up plan.
Advantages of a Super Top-up over a top-up plan
A top-up plan may lapse after the insurer settles one claim
during a policy term. A super top-up plan will be valid until you exhaust the entire amount. So, you can raise multiple claims during a policy term. Also, this plan will not ask you to pay for deductibles each time you raise a claim. You have to pay the total deductible amount when you raise the claims. The balance amount of your healthcare expenses after these would be taken care of by the super top-up policy.
The extent of coverage of a Super Top-up health insurance
A Super Top-up health insurance generally covers hospitalisation expenses, daycare treatment and the cost of pre-hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation treatment. These include diagnostic charges, doctor's fees etc. However, go through the policy document regarding the extent of coverage or ask your insurer regarding the things covered. Note the exclusions so that there is no problem during claim settlement.
Buy as a single or floater plan
One advantage of this policy is that you can buy a Super Top-up plan as an individual policy or as a family floater plan. This depends on the number of members in your family, your budget, etc. A family floater allows you to cover your entire family with a single plan.
With increasing healthcare costs, you should stay financially protected to deal with certain medical emergencies. A Super Top-up plan is a good way to make provisions for an additional sum insured if your regular health plan has low coverage.
