Top-up Health Insurance Plan vs Super Top-up Plan -Important Things to Know

In today’s times, a health insurance policy has become imperative for everyone. It provides a financial safety net against the unexpected healthcare expenses and prevents one’s savings from getting depleted in case of a medical emergency. However, many people don’t know what should be the adequate health insurance coverage they must opt for.The current pandemic situation has proved that no amount of health insurance cover is enough to protect you entirely against the unforeseen medical expenses. Many insurance providers have started offering top-up and super-top health insurance plans which allow the policyholders to get a higher coverage at an affordable premium.

1. Increased health cover A top-up health insurance plan offers an increased coverage at an additional cost. You can get additional coverage after you’ve exhausted your existing health cover by paying a nominal amount as premium. So, in case, you are receiving treatment for a critical disease like corona and is required to remain hospitalised for a prolonged period, such a policy can be of great help.
2. How top-up and super top-up plan works? When the cost of the treatment for a single disease crosses a deductible limit, which is pre-decided and mentioned in the policy schedule, the top-up coverage kicks in. Whereas, if you are forced to make multiple claims on your health insurance policy within a year and have exhausted your claim limit, the super-top up coverage will kick in.
3. Incidence of hospitalisation As mentioned above, if a single instance of hospitalisation costs you more than the maximum coverage that can be claimed on your health insurance policy, you can avail an additional coverage using top-up plan.
   Whereas, in case of a super top-up plan, your total medical expenditure for a year will be considered. This means that if you exhaust your coverage limit due to multiple instances of hospitalisation in the same year, you can consider a super top-up plan.
4. What about the expiry or lapsation? If your claim amount for a single incident of hospitalisation doesn’t cross a pre-determined threshold, your top-up plan will lapse and you will not get any benefits. Similarly, if you are not able to use the entire health insurance cover within a year (no matter if you’re hospitalised once or multiple times), your super top-up plan will get lapsed.

To Conclude Top-up and super top-up plans are designed to enhance the coverage of the existing health insurance policy of the policyholder. These plans can be of immense help if the medical expenses incurred by a policyholder exceeds the base cover offered by his/her policy. Otherwise, he/she may have to bear the additional expenses out of his/her pocket.

The information contained herein is generic in nature and is meant for educational purposes only. Nothing here is to be construed as an investment or financial or taxation advice nor to be considered as an invitation or solicitation or advertisement for any financial product. Readers are advised to exercise discretion and should seek independent professional advice prior to making any investment decision in relation to any financial product. Aditya Birla Capital Group is not liable for any decision arising out of the use of this information.