Health care is expensive and the cost of health services is increasing by the day. That is why treatment for an illness or a stint in the hospital can actually overshoot the sum insured promised by your health care policy. This is when a top-up insurance policy can come in handy.
What is a top-up policy in health insurance?
A top-up insurance policy is simply an add on to your regular health care scheme. You will need it when you utilize the cover that your policy gives you, but still need more coverage to continue or complete your treatment. A top-up scheme allows you to increase the maximum amount under your insurance policy (threshold limit). In the event of an illness, if your hospital bills exceed the threshold limit, then the top-up plan will be activated.
A particular characteristic of the top-up policy is that it provides a single incident cover. That means it can be used just for one illness.
A few things you need to know about a top-up insurance policy-
- You can make a claim on both your health insurance policy and the top-up plan at the same time (but only for a single incident).
- You can purchase the two plans from two different insurance providers. At the time of hospitalization, each insurer will pay up separately.
Are top-up plans profitable?
If you want to increase the amount that your health policy pays, then a top-up plan is a sensible option instead of purchasing another medical policy. If you go with a higher threshold level and higher deductibles, then this add-on is quite cheap.
Explanation of how top-up insurance policy works
Suppose you have a health insurance policy worth INR 5 Lakh and you bought a top-up insurance policy of INR 10 Lakh with a threshold limit of INR 5 Lakh:
- If you run up a bill of any amount less than or equal to INR 5 Lakh, your health insurance policy will pay it.
- For a bill above INR 5 Lakh, and up to INR 10 Lakh, your top-up scheme will be used.
- If you get two hospital bills, say for INR 4 Lakhs each, then your top-up plan cannot help you as each bill is below the threshold limit.
Conclusion
To make your health care plan truly reliable and ensure that you are not deprived of quality treatment because of a cash-crunch, consider getting a top-up insurance policy.
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