Factors to Know Why Should Buy Top-Up Health Insurance?
Updated On Jan 17, 2024
Life is unpredictable. No prophet can predict what’s going to happen next door. Similarly, no astrologer can assure you when you will fall sick or be diagnosed with ailments. Life can either pour happiness or bump your health, finances, and emotions. One thing that can be of the utmost help to deal with such unexpected emergencies is top-up health insurance.
Check to know what top-up insurance is and how it can help you.
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Top-Up Health Insurance
Top-up health insurance is a regular policy, designed to cover hospitalization costs after a threshold limit (deductible is crossed).
Let it be more precise.
If you have a car, you better know the risk of driving without a spare tyre. A spare tyre assists you in an emergency. Assume that you’re driving your car and one of its tyres gets punctured. In this situation, the spare tyre will let you have a ready-to-use stand-by. Top-up health plans come with a similar role. They’re add-on plans, working as a Stepney to your health policy. Your basic health plan can reimburse hospital bills up to the sum insured. On the other hand, a top-up plan covers costs beyond the sum assured limit.
Advantages of Health Top-Up Insurance Plans
Amid an alarming rise in the rate of inflation, hardly any health cover is enough to deal with the health needs. And it’s also not right to purchase a new health policy every time.
What is the way out then?
It’s top-up health insurance. As an add-on option, this plan gives you a cost-effective way to increase your health insurance coverage and extend the threshold limit. This applies to both corporate group health policies and individual medical plans.
Some of the key benefits of the add-on policy include:
- High cover at an affordable premium
- Top-up plans are cheaper than the premium paid for regular health insurance policies
- It’s better than extending existing health coverage at a nominal cost
- Top-up plans are easy to purchase. You can buy them from any insurance company. There are no restrictions
- You can buy an add-on plan both with an individual cover and a family floater cover
- The amount paid for the plan is tax-deductible under section 80D of the Income Tax
Here is an example to understand top-up health plans.
Sunil is a sales manager in an MNC. Two years ago, he had an accident and was severely injured. Though he had corporate medical insurance of 5 lakh, this policy didn’t cover all the treatment bills, which cost Rs. 7 lakh.
Sunil’s savings were the only option to get the treatment.
Had he owned top-up health insurance, he wouldn’t have to break into savings.
The top-up plan would have enabled him with an extended cover of Rs. 2 lakh. Thus, he would have met the increased treatment costs.
When to Avail a Top-up Health Cover Plan?
When you buy an add-on plan makes sense.
Suppose your health plan covers Rs. 5 lakh. You know that this little amount won’t suffice in a big emergency when medical costs are skyrocketing. That’s why you want to enhance it by another Rs. 5 lakh.
What will you do? Will buy a separate health policy that may cost you an expensive premium a year? Or, will you go for upgrading the plan by Rs. 5 lakh?
Without any doubt, both are expensive options.
In contrast, a top-up policy for Rs. 5 lakh will be more cost-effective and helpful. It may cost you almost half of the premium amount if you buy separate health insurance or upgrade the existing one.
Therefore, top health insurance is the right option in case you want to increase coverage without paying too much.
Choosing a Health Insurance Company to Purchase a Top-up Plan
You can buy a top-up policy from an existing insurance company or a different insurer. Many top insurance companies in India provide this plan. The best part is that you can get a quote after entering basic details online.
Medicare Eligibility Criteria
Any individual with 18 years of age can purchase a top-up policy. The maximum entry age is 80 years. For dependent children, the minimum age is 3 months and the maximum age is 25 years.
Thus, with the above information, it’s clear that top-up health insurance is a must. Find a reputable insurance company and purchase the plan today.
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