Extend Your Mediclaim Policy Sum Insured With Top-up Health Insurance

A corporate health insurance policy is merely not enough considering the medical inflation. And you find an individual health insurance plan expensive. Or you have a health insurance plan and may be looking forward to expanding it. Yet, the cost is deterring from doing it. Well, these are exactly the thoughts of Akshay. He has a lot of doubts in regards to a mediclaim policy. He is confused although his wife and child are covered with family health insurance. However, the coverage is low and he feels that it is not sufficient considering the medical treatment costs these days. Further, his brother recently was admitted to a hospital for almost 10 days after he met in a car accident. He is safe but by the time he was discharged from the hospital, the medical bills had crossed almost Rs 10 lakh for 12 days of hospitalization. Even though his brother was insured by a corporate health plan, it was not enough. He had to use his savings to pay the bills for the uncalled medical emergency. It was then Akshay realized that only having a health insurance policy is not enough. Now, his pocket didn’t allow him to buy another mediclaim insurance plan. Now, the question arises is there any solution? Yes, there is a solution to this and that is having a top up health insurance policy.

How Does Top up Policy Extend Sum Insure of Mediclaim Cover?

The top up is an extension of the mediclaim policy. This comes into the picture when the single insurance claim has crossed the limit of the threshold. Such a plan comes along with a deductible. It implies that the policy will only settle the claims when the limit of the threshold has been crossed. Let us assume that you have health insurance of Rs 5 lakh, a top up plan of Rs 15 lakh along with a deductible of Rs 5 lakh. So if the medical treatment bill is Rs 10 lakh, you can use the health insurance plan to clear the bill of Rs 5 lakh. The reaming Rs 5 lakh of the bill will be covered by the top up health insurance plan. The following two are the important aspects that should be taken into consideration when buying top up plan:

• The threshold limit is applicable for every plan term
• To buy a top up plan you would not always require buying a mediclaim policy

Remember, in the times we are living in today, medical inflation can take a toll on any one of us. So not having health insurance coverage can be proved to be an extremely costly affair. * *Standard T&C Apply

Scenarios Where Having a Top up Health Insurance is Useful

The below table clearly shows the scenarios where having top up health insurance is going to be useful:

Scenarios	Top up Health Cover
No of Health Insurance Policy You Have	Policy 1: Regular health plan with Rs 5 lakh coverage
	Policy 2: Top up the cover of Rs 15 lakh, the threshold limit of Rs 5 lakh
A claim of Rs 8 lakh in a year	Policy 1: Rs 5 lakh
	Policy 2: Rs 3 lakh
Two claims of Rs 2 & 4 lakh in a year	Policy 1: Rs 2 lakh for 1st claim
	Policy 1: Rs 3 lakh for 2nd claim
	Nothing payable from Policy 2 as the billing amount didn’t cross the threshold limit
Two claims of Rs 8 lakh & 4 lakh in a year	Policy 1: To pay Rs 5 lakh
	Policy 2: To pay Rs 3 lakh as the bill crossed the threshold limit
	For the second claim, nothing is to be paid. This is so as Policy 1 the cover is exhausted and for policy 2, the insurance claim amount has not crossed the threshold limit

*Standard T&C Apply

Benefits of Top up Health Insurance

Let us quickly have a glance and understand the benefits of top up health insurance policy:

• Medical expenses have increased over time. Having a top up plan helps with dealing with any incurred medical costs.
• This can be availed with both individual and family floater health insurance policies.
• Even if you do not have a health insurance policy, you can still have a top up plan.
• Check with the insurer to convert the top up plan into an individual health insurance policy.
• You can avail of the tax benefit under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

*Standard T&C Apply Note: The tax benefit is subject to change as per the existing laws.

The Bottom Line

The increasing inflation can send the medical expenses upwards. With every passing year, these medical costs are rising. A top up health insurance plan is necessary in the uncertain times that we are living. So avoiding these can take a toll financially. So, if you have a mediclaim policy or are insured under corporate health insurance and feel that is insufficient, the top up policy is an ideal option. Keep in account the aspect of the threshold limit. Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms and conditions, please read the sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.