Do you have a health cover?
Drastic changes in lifestyle and high medical costs are making it imperative to ensure the health and financial safety by taking significant precautions. Efforts are being made to make people aware of the benefits of a healthy diet, exercise and maintaining wellbeing through yoga and physiotherapy sessions. But, even when these services are easily accessible at least in urban places, there is no guarantee that health problems will not arise.
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Even youngsters between 25 and 30 years of age group are at risk of developing ailments like heart problems, asthma, diabetes, etc. All such illnesses require proper treatment and regular check-ups. Mostly, people avoid regular check-ups as they consider it as a complete waste of money. However, any delay could prove to be costly in the long run, if God forbid, the medical condition turns into a serious ailment.
So, what is the solution? Insurers suggest availing a regular health insurance policy as per one’s requirements. Suppose a person avails a health plan for Rs 5 lakhs, it might seem on the surface that all the medical costs, including hospitalization, will be covered and there is no need to worry! But is it so, really? In reality, a single hospitalization or multiple hospitalization in a single year might put a strain on one’s pockets as the treatment costs might go beyond the coverage.
So how can one expand the health coverage in such a situation? Getting an increased sum insured or availing another regular policy will raise expenses as the premium amount will rise. If a person needs to increase the health cover at nominal rates, a super top-up health insurance plan is the best way to do so.
What is a super top-up health cover?
A super top-up cover offers health coverage that comes with a threshold or deductible limit. It means the policy will cover expenses only if they cross the threshold limit as mentioned in the policy document. Unlike a top-up plan, a super top-up plan considers the total medical expenses in the policy year and not the single instance of expenses.
Advantages of super top-up policy:
Available at nominal premium rates
A super top-up plan is available at nominal premium rates in comparison to a regular policy. This is because it comes with a threshold limit and is applicable only if the total expenses in a policy year exceed the limit.
Can cover multiple claims:
The policy works on the aggregate claim amount and thus, covers multiple hospitalization cases in a year.
Can be availed as an independent plan:
It is not necessary that one should have a mediclaim policy to buy a super top-up plan as it can be availed as an independent policy to cover expenses beyond a certain limit.
Can be purchased from two different insurers:
It is not necessary to buy a super top-up plan from the same insurer from whom you have bought your health insurance policy. It means, you can buy your super top-up plan and health insurance policy from two different insurers.
How a super top-up health insurance works?
Basic Information: Mr. Verma has a regular health insurance policy of Rs 5 lakhs as the sum insured. He avails a super top-up plan of Rs 10 lakhs with Rs 5 lakhs as the threshold or deductible limit.
Super top up Table
Super top up Table
As we can see from the above table, super top-up health insurance policies increase the health coverage and are the best mediclaim insurance policies which can be used during emergencies.
Given the rising hospitalization costs, merely having a basic health insurance policy is not enough. You have to go an extra mile to save yourself and your family from soaring medical costs. It is here a super top-up plan can help you!
Super top–up plans and top-up plans are again much in conversation.The top-up plan covers a single claim above the threshold limit of your primary health insurance. But the super top-up plan covers the total of all hospitalization bills above the threshold limit in a year. For senior citizens will be helpful.
How to store my medical records so that I can access them from anywhere at any time?
Upload and store on Google Drive, Dropbox, One Drive. You can email yourself as pdfs. That way, you can access them from anywhere.
In all cases, create good passwords.
You can also invest in something called WD Home, which is your server.
How do you buy a Health Insurance without the name of an Agent?
It would be best if you went to the office of the concerned insurance company that is otherwise challenging to get it done. Sometimes the option is not shown in the online access to the account.
The words Direct Agent is in place of the name of the Agent. In this case, no one gets a commission.
We opted for this because of a horrible scam we faced from an agent and employees at a local branch. But the helpfulness of the people in the main office helped.
Should you have multiple health insurance? How does two Medical insurance help?
Yes, you can. I am a doctor in a medical college and have full medical insurance provided by my govt. The facility covers my family. It’s cashless and covers everything. But I have still opted for mediclaim from National coverage with individual claims of a certain amount for each of my family income.
The advantage here is depending on who falls ill? What are the expenses? It would help if you ideally used the mediclaim with a lower amount, which covers it. That way, you and your family are still protected when you need it.
For all insurance matters, you must make decisions after reading the fine print.No Agent, including office personnel, should be taken at their words.
Ultimately it’s your health. You can’t run here and there when a situation needing health care arises.
How much health insurance should I have?
How much health insurance will depend on your current age and health issues, if any. Always remember to have your health insurance, even if your employer gives you medical benefits. Health insurance is most often A necessity after 50 years. Make all calculations inflation-adjusted. If you switch jobs, you and your family shouldn’t have to be without proper coverage even in the transition period.
Try to be as healthy as possible. Never ignore niggling problems. Choose your policy with care.
Overall remember health insurance premium has to be paid on time—no safety period. A lapse in payment makes you at risk of no cover as new policies have a waiting period for some conditions.
Stay healthy. Keep cash in the bank and mediclaim card image on your smartphone, backed up on Google drive.
Read about Health insurance for COVID
Money ,Loan ,Insurance starigh talk
Disclaimer:
Healthcare and mediclaim is an individual decision and needs careful discussion and research before taking any decision.The author is sharing her personal experience .This post is meant as educational information and all insurance decision to be taken at own risk after consulting insurance advisor.
I am not an expert on financial asset management. This is an opinion piece. I am not a qualified Financial Advisor and this is not to be taken as professional financial advice. Mutual funds are subject to market risk, read all scheme-related documents carefully. All investments should be done after consultation with a financial suitable expert, according to own financial risk appetite.
The content displayed here has been developed by an independent content provider and has been displayed on an as-is basis. Healthwealthbridge disclaims all liabilities and warranties, whether express or implied, relating to the accuracy, genuineness and appropriateness of such content and shall not be held liable for any reliance placed on such content for any reason whatsoever.
Updated June 2020
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How is the Health of the Nation: The report is an eye-opener!
Hi good article on health topic issues. thank u so much for sharing. good work keep it up.
Informative Amrita…I was trying to get a hand on this subject this would be helpful
Yet another reason “adulting” terrifies me…i can never fully understand the details of insurance but thank you for laying this out.
Thanks for the informative post. First time hearing about super topup health cover.
http://www.learn2livefully.com
Glad you found you useful .
This post is awesome very informative I need to let my husband read this post. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you.
Health cover is always something I struggle to get me head around, we have medicare here in Australia with covers some stuff plus health cover. Thanks for sharing your post, I’ll need to re-look at health cover.
Lennae xxx
http://www.lennaesworld.com
Very well written, Amrita. As always, Thankyou for sharik my this info.
I’m so happy to be linked with you. I’ve never really heard of these policies and it’s an eye opener!
Thats interesting Zainab.What kind of medical insurance do you have?
I have never heard of this option. This is really informative. Thanks
This is a really useful information Anamika. Many of us are not aware of all this about Health insurance and I have seen people making mistakes while buying insurance for their family. Thanks for a detailed post on this.
Thanks Deepa
Great post! I had no idea about the super top-up policy. This post gives me an idea of how to go about it.
Thanks Tasheena
Anamika you make it sound all so easy. I will save this for my husband because we need to make another LIC soon. I had no idea a super top up plan existed! Thanks for sharing!
Given the rising cost in my first insurance company in the US, there is no way I could afford another. I could afford an ailment before I could afford more coverage, at nearly 2000 a month a from my family, that being 24,000 a year. But yes, before the decline I was covered two times over so that more expenses were cared for should something happen, it is a super smart way to be if you can find an affordable plan that doesn’t suck the other half of your income. 😉
Very true
I’ve never heard of a super top up health insurance policy. I’m not sure it is offered here in the States. If we do, it must go by another name like supplemental insurance, or gap insurance. This is an interesting concept though.
Forwarding this to my family – I feel like this is extremely valuable information. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Divya
How interesting. We have military insurance and I’m glad we do, because it seems like other insurances can be crazy at times.
This was interesting. Thanks for bringing awareness. I think I prefer to have full coverage for the unexpected/ unseen / unplanned things that can pop up.
I am so glad my company deals with my health insurance and the NHS also covers practically everything because finding and choosing an affordable health insurance can be a daunting task.
Your articles gives a good idea about advantage of super top up health insurance policies as it gives benefits of the total medical expenses in the year thanks for sharing
Thank you for this informative article Anamika