Increase Health Insurance Cover Without High Premiums

A health insurance plan is an important investment that should top the list in your investment portfolio. But do you feel that this is an expensive investment? Believe me, health insurance is not an expensive affair provided you know the techniques to reduce health insurance premium.

We know what you’re wondering about; a low premium will mean a lower coverage. Isn’t it! But don’t worry, a lower premium doesn’t necessarily mean a lower coverage. There are enough measures to ensure an optimum level of coverage which does not burn a hole in your pockets in terms of the related premium outgo.

You cannot debate the fact that having an optimum level of coverage is mandatory in today’s times because of the high cost of medicine and medical procedures. The best health insurance policy will cover all expenditures that are too high to burn a hole in your pockets. A limited coverage is as good as no coverage because in cases of emergencies, the plan with a low coverage would prove insufficient and would wipe out your savings. Since the affordability of the higher premium is a major deterrent towards a higher coverage, insurance companies have launched the top-up and super top-up plans to supplement their best health insurance plans, which seek to increase the coverage amount while limiting the premium incidence.

The Concept

Top-up plans or super top-up plans come like a normal health insurance plan with an added feature of a deductible that helps reduce health insurance premium. The deductible limit acts as a threshold and claims up to the deductible limit are not payable under the plans. If the claims amount higher than the deductible limit, these plans are triggered and the insurer settles the claims. For instance, a top-up plan of Rs.5 lakhs has a deductible limit of Rs.2 lakhs. If a claim of Rs.2.5 lakhs is made, the top-up or the super top-up plan is triggered and the insurance company would pay the excess Rs.50, 000 in the claim.

Learn More: How to Save on health Insurance Premium

The Relevance

If you already are covered under an employer sponsored medical insurance plan or have a health plan with a lower coverage and want to opt for the best health insurance coverage in low premium, you can opt for a top-up or a super top-up plan. The cover would be supplemented and very little premium would be charged. You should ideally try to match the deductible limit of the top-up or super top-up plan with your existing health plan coverage. This would ensure that the threshold limit would be met by your base health plan and any excess would be met by the top-up/super top-up plan.

The Difference

While both the top-up and super top-up plans aim to supplement your health insurance coverage, they have a fundamental difference between them. A top-up plan considers every claim as an isolated incident and every isolated claim amount is tallied against the deductible limit. If any claim surpasses the limit, the plan is triggered. A super top-up plan on the other hand, takes the cumulative values of all claims made within a policy period to compare it against the deductible. If the aggregate claims cross the threshold limit, the plan is triggered.

For instance, there are three claims in a policy year of amounts Rs.50, 000, Rs.90, 000 and Rs.3 lakhs. Suppose the top-up and the super top-up plans are both of Rs.2 lakhs with Rs.1 lakh deductible limit. The top-up plan would only prove effective in the third instance of claim of Rs.3 lakhs, because that is where the threshold limit is exceeded and would pay Rs.2 lakhs. The super top-up plan, on the contrary, would be triggered in the second claim itself since the aggregate of both the claims comes to Rs.1.4 lakhs which is above the deductible limit.

The Choice

A super top-up plan makes more sense, if you want to get the best health insurance coverage in low premium, because it takes the cumulative value of claims in a year. This ensures that even smaller claims that are more frequent would be payable by the plan which isn’t the case with top-up plans.

So, if you thought that having a higher coverage meant paying a higher premium, think again. The top-up and super top-up plans are here to stay and if you are looking for a smarter way to save on the premium outgoes in your health plan and reduce health insurance premium, you know where to look.

And if at all you are looking at a one point solution to get details about all the best health insurance plans and understand the best and cheapest plans that suits your requirement, log on to Policybazaar.com.