Top-Up Health Insurance Plans in India: All You Need to Know About

What are Top Up Health Insurance Plans?

In the simplest words, top-up health insurance plans can be described as additional covers that one gets to improve the protection offered by a health insurance plan.

There are many individuals who believe that even if basic health insurance is not enough to cover the rising healthcare expenses, top up health insurance will be enough.

There are several health insurance top up plans that one can buy in the market at affordable premium rates. Individuals between the ages of 18 years and 80 years can purchase the best super top-up health insurance plans in India.

However, before you decide to purchase the best super top up health insurance, there are several things that one must learn. Today, we’ll help you learn about what is super top up health insurance, how to use a top up health insurance premium calculator, and how to perform a health insurance top up plan comparison.

Top 7 Features of Top Up Health Insurance

When it comes to comparing or understanding what is top up in health insurance, the first thing one needs to do is learn about the features of the top up. We’ll start with that right now.

• Top up health insurance plans should be easily converted into basic health insurance plans
• Children can also be added under the same policy if the parents are covered
• There should be no restriction or capping on the hospitalization costs like room rent and doctor’s fees
• One must get a cumulative bonus on the sum insured value for every claim-free year. This should be up to a specific percentage
• A free look period of at least 15 days should be provided from the date of policy purchase. This would help one understand the terms and conditions of the policy in a better manner
• The policy term can be of 1 year or 2 years
• Lifetime renewability benefit should be offered

4 Benefits of Top Up Health Insurance Plans in India

A top up health insurance plan assists in complementing and adding to the features provided by a standard health insurance policy. This means that some benefits that you can get by investing in a top up health insurance policy are:

1. Peace of Mind: There is a certain peace of mind that one can get knowing that even if the coverage for the standard health insurance plan runs out, one can still have the additional sum to rely on. This is a great source of comfort for someone at the time of registering for a claim.
2. High Coverage at Economical Premium Rates: The best feature for top up plans is that these plans are available at a very economical cost. This is also true for top up health insurance for senior citizens.
3. Tax Benefits: Just like other health insurance plans, individuals can get tax benefits with the premium amount that they pay for top up health insurance plans. This is a common question that people ask when looking for the answer to the question of what is top up health insurance.
4. Health Cover against Pre-Existing Illness: Most health insurance plans do not offer any cover against pre-existing illnesses. There are also many individuals who think that one of the biggest disadvantages of top up health insurance is that pre-existing medical illness is not covered. However, this is not true. Pre-existing illnesses are covered in health insurance top up.

Types of Top Up Health Insurance Plans

There are two main types of top up health insurance plans. These two types of plans are:

• Top Up Plan: This type of top up health insurance plan helps in replenishing the sum insured up to a specific limit. This provides the insured with the required health insurance coverage during difficult times. The benefits under a top up health insurance policy can also be availed of when the medical expenses cross the deductible limit.
• Super Top Up Plan: A super top up policy provides extra insurance coverage after the expenses exceed the threshold limit. A super top up policy considers multiple hospitalizations during a policy term. In both plans, if the illness arises again within 45 days of discharge from the hospital, then it can be considered a single illness. However, if it arises again after 45 days, then it is considered a new illness.

5 Popular Top Up and Super Top Up Health Insurance Plans

There are some popular top up and super top up health insurance plans that are available in the market. Let’s look at some of those health insurance plans.

1. ManipalCigna Super Top Up Policy: This policy is available for people over the age of at least 91 days. The sum insured value also ranges from INR 3 lakh to INR 30 lakh. The policy provides several coverage benefits like in-patient hospitalization expenses, post-hospitalization expenses, pre-hospitalization expenses, and AYUSH treatment expenses.
2. Max Bupa Health Recharge Policy: The Max Bupa health recharge policy is a super top up policy that covers people between the ages of 18 years and 65 years. The coverage is provided against several healthcare expenses. Some coverage options that are provided under this policy are pharmacy and diagnostic expenses, post-hospitalization expenses, pre-hospitalization charges, and ambulance expenses.
3. Star Super Surplus Policy: The Star Super Surplus policy provides cover against several healthcare expenses for people between the ages of 18 years and 65 years. The policy comes in several variants that provide benefits like organ donor expenses, air ambulance expenses, post-hospitalization expenses, and pre-hospitalization expenses.
4. Royal Sundaram Lifeline Policy: The Royal Sundaram Lifeline policy comes with three variants that cover the individual and the family for several healthcare expenses. The benefits provided in this policy are AYUSH treatments, emergency domestic hospitalization expenses, and domiciliary hospitalization expenses.
5. Liberty Health Connect Supra Policy: The Liberty Health Connect Supra Policy comes in two variants, including top up policy and super top up policy. The policy covers people between the ages of 91 days and 65 years. The benefits provided in this policy are post-hospitalization expenses, pre-hospitalization expenses, daycare treatment charges, and in-patient hospitalization charges.

Inclusions Under Top Up Health Insurance Plans

Some inclusions that are provided under a top up health insurance plan are:

• Room rent expenses
• Pre-hospitalization expenses
• Post-hospitalization expenses
• In-patient hospitalization expenses
• Organ donor charges;

Exclusions Under Top Up Health Insurance Plans

There are also some exclusions applicable under top up health insurance plans. These exclusions are:

• Treatments required due to participation in adventure sports
• Expenses arising due to self-harm
• Cosmetic surgery
• Sexually transmitted diseases

This is all that you need to know about top up health insurance covers.