When should you consider topping up your health insurance plan?

When treatment, surgery and hospitalization costs are increasing rapidly, there’s a high probability that even the best healthcare plan can exhaust coverage and you may have to pay out of your own pocket. But you don’t have to worry about that any longer if you apply for a top-up plan over your existing health policy.

 

However, you must know when to buy a health insurance top-up because if you are not careful, you may end up wasting your money. Today, you can apply for a top-up plan such as the Extra Care Plus, with sum insured amounts ranging from Rs.3 Lakh to Rs.50 Lakh.

What Is A Health Insurance Top-Up Plan?

A top-up health policy provides additional coverage if your hospitalization expenses exceed the sum insured amount on your existing health plan. Though it’s not necessary to have an existing health insurance plan to buy a top up. If you have already spent over the threshold limit (explained below) it will work just as fine without an existing plan. A health top up is more cost-effective than buying an additional cover or upgrading your existing sum insured amount.

 

Buying a separate health policy may easily cost you Rs.5,000–6,000 every year for Rs.5 lakh coverage and increasing your sum insured limit to the same extent is even more expensive. However, you can easily get a health top-up for as little as Rs.2500 per annum with a Health Insurance top-up plan.

Benefits of Health Insurance Top Up

• Top-ups are cheaper than buying a separate policy or increasing your sum insured amount. As your age increases you have to pay a higher premium to buy a new policy.
• No medical examinations are required to buy a health insurance top-up if you are below 55 years of age.
• Top-ups shield your finances against unexpected medical expenses if the existing policy coverage is exhausted during hospitalization.
• Riders and critical illness cover offer protection against only a few serious illnesses, while a top up is good for all types of illnesses.
• You have to buy a rider from the existing insurer but there are no such constraints while buying a top up.
•  Health Insurance top-up available on Bajaj Markets is eligible for tax deduction under Section 80D.

When To Buy A Health Insurance Top Up?

To apply for a top-up on Bajaj Markets, you should get an estimate of the costs of surgery, transplantation, hospitalization etc. In case you feel that the base health policy’s coverage may not be adequate, buy a top-up to avoid paying out of pocket. You never know how your hospital bill can inflate in a matter of few days after hospitalisation, therefore it’s better to buy a top-up to be on the safer side. Remember that you can’t buy a top up after you are hospitalized, you have to do that beforehand.

 

However, there is one very important factor known as deductibles that you need to take into account while buying a top up.

What Is A Deductible Under Health Insurance?

You’ve always heard the term Deductible under health insurance , but have never been able to understand it well, right? Here’s making things a little easier for you. A deductible is an amount of money which you, as an insured, have to pay from your own pocket/from your base policy, up to the limit specified in the policy. Once you have paid the deductible up to the mentioned limit, your insurance provider starts to pay for your claims. Let’s say for instance that the deductible limit mentioned in your health top-up plan is Rs. 3 Lakh. You got hospitalized for an illness and the bill came to a whopping Rs.20 Lakh. In this case, you’ll have to pay Rs. 3 Lakh on your own or from your base health insurance policy & the remaining amount of Rs. 17 Lakh will be covered by your top-up plan.

 

Always check the deductible before buying your policy. Also, your top up premium is directly proportional to the deductible amount. Higher the deductible amount, lower will be your top-up premium.

 

In conclusion, don’t rely completely on your employer’s group Mediclaim policy to provide you cover during sudden hospitalization. The group policy may not be sufficient to cover all your medical expenses. To avoid such risks, you can buy a top-up health insurance policy so that you never have to pay huge hospital bills out of your pocket. Though it’s not mandatory to buy a top from the existing insurance company, it may be cumbersome to file a claim and get it settled from two different insurers. Therefore, we suggest you buy from the same company if there is no marked difference in premium costs.

Health Insurance Plans Available at Bajaj Markets