Guide to Choose between Super Top-up and Top-up Health Plan
Synopsis:
In certain situations, your regular health policy may not be adequate to cover the medical expenses. But, a top-up plan can help in covering the gap between the sum insured offered by your insurer and the overall medical expenses. You can choose between a top-up or super top-up health plan based on your requirement and remain stress-free even in the face of an exponentially high medical bill.
You may have an individual or a
family floater health insurance policy, but are you sure it will be enough if a medical emergency hits you or your family member? Along with the increase in the cost of most things, you will find that hospital bills can rise to extremely high levels under certain situations. It can happen that even after using your existing policy, there is a big amount of the bill that you have to pay. During such times, a top-up or a
super top-up plan can support you. These plans increase the sum insured (SI) over your existing policy so that your savings are not affected. Read on to know which plan you should go for and when.
A top-up and a
super top-up health insurance plan are essential when the sum insured amount is comparatively low. For example, any member of the family requires a major surgery or is diagnosed with a critical illness and you cannot cover the entire expenses with your existing plan. Also, with the COVID-19 pandemic still around, you should stay financially protected with higher health insurance coverage. Buy a top-up plan if:
You are a corporate employee
You may have a health cover from your current employer that includes your family members but it is inadequate. Also, you would be covered only as long as you are an employee and if you change jobs, you will lose the cover for everybody. An additional top-up policy would increase the total SI and ensure that there is no shortfall of financial cover. This can reduce the stress related to money matters and you can concentrate on the treatment process instead. You can increase your sum insured by including add-ons to the base health insurance plan.
You have parents or senior citizens in the family
If you want to buy health insurance for your elderly parents, you will find policies that have high premiums. This is because aged people have a higher possibility to fall ill or developing chronic diseases. There is a higher chance for insurance companies to settle claims for them. With a top-up or super top-up plan, you can increase the coverage and it would be affordable compared to a regular health insurance plan.
Your policy has a low sum insured
The consultation and diagnostic charges are very high for critical illnesses and surgical procedures. You may see that the sum insured amount of your health insurance is inadequate or it does not cover many expenses. Opt for the top-up plans for a smaller premium amount compared to the cost of buying a new health insurance policy.
Types of
health insurance top-up plans:
Top-up health insurance
A top-up health insurance plan covers the gap when your existing insurance policy is not able to cover the entire treatment costs. It increases your SI up to a certain amount. Your existing health policy may have a deductible clause, under which you have to pay a part of the total expenses. If the expenses exceed the deductibles, you can pay with the top-up plan. This plan considers the deductibles for every claim that you make. So, the insurer would pay you up to a certain amount that would be mentioned in the policy.
Super top-up health insurance
Similar to a top-up plan, even a super top-up plan provides additional SI or coverage after your total expenses cross the deductible amount. However, the two plans differ in some ways. The top-up plan considers the limit or deductible for every claim but the super top-up plan considers all the claims put together during an entire policy period.
The coverage and terms of the plan vary between insurers. There may be a relapse of the disease within a specific period after you get discharged from the hospital. If you get hospitalised again, some insurers would consider it as a claim for a single illness. If the relapse occurs after a specific period, the insurers may consider it as a separate claim. You can go through the policy document to clear your doubts about this.
An example of how a top-up plan works:
Suppose you already have an existing health insurance plan with a sum insured of Rs 5 lakh. You decide to buy a top-up plan of Rs 10 lakh and increase the total SI. The total sum insured amount is now Rs 15 lakh with a set limit of Rs 5 lakh. In case your hospitalisation cost is Rs 10 lakh, your insurer will pay Rs 5 lakh from the regular plan. You can pay the extra Rs 5 lakh from your top-up plan.
Which plan should you choose?
The top-up and
super top-up health insurance policies provide additional SI but there is a difference in the way they offer the benefits. So, you have to choose carefully which of the two plans would be more advantageous for you.
- Suppose no elderly family members are staying with you and there are only your spouse and kids with you. If none of you suffers from any chronic disease or has any family history of diabetes or other problems, you can buy a top-up plan.
- You may have your aged parents staying with you and one or both of them may have developed some chronic disease such as kidney or heart problem. This may require frequent hospitalisation and you have to raise multiple claims. In this situation, the super top-up plan would be more useful.
Health insurance top-up plans are beneficial if you have an existing health policy with a low sum insured. They can provide extra coverage in case the medical expenses are very high. However, choose a plan according to your requirement and budget so that you do not face any monetary loss.
