Basic Top-Up And Super Top-Up Health Insurance: How To Choose Between Them

Posted by amrina alshaikh on July 9th, 2021

The Coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of letting up in India. Even as we continue to grapple with the effects of the deadly second wave of the virus, there are reports that the Delta variant of the virus is already present in the country and might start a third wave. The pandemic is deadly and menacing enough for most people to still continue WFH (Work From Home) and practice social distancing norms.

It helps to keep the virus at bay with vaccinations and social distancing. Even if its symptoms are mild, it is highly infectious. The second wave of the virus was characterised by entire families being infected with it. If one or more family members showed severity of symptoms or if the infection spread rapidly in their bodies, they would require immediate hospitalisation.

The pandemic underscored the need for every person to buy health policies from reputed health insurance companies in India. The virus is here to stay and paying for its treatment and hospitalisation in private healthcare facilities is tough, especially when multiple family members are bound to get affected. But more than buying a health policy with a high coverage amount, you must look to invest in top up or super top-up health insurance policies. The following sections give details of what both these types of health insurance policies are.

What is top-up health insurance?

A top-up health plan is a policy that offers additional coverage over your usual health insurance policy. It comes into play when you exhaust the coverage on your health plan. Thus, it can be used when the coverage on your health plan is already over – at this juncture, you can continue treatment and related hospitalisation expenses using the coverage provided by top-up insurance.

Here’s what you need to know about it:

• Choose the deductible and coverage you need. The premium is decided based these two factors
• However, the deductible is applied on a single claim in a year, and not on multiple claims or more than one hospitalisation in a year
• The premium for the additional coverage is much lower than if you were to buy an additional health policy, or enhance existing coverage
• You are allowed to top-up up your primary health policy from any company – it is not mandatory to take it from your current health insurance company
• You can enhance the coverage on the top-up plan any time during policy renewal
• You are allowed to add new members to the top-up insurance during policy renewal

What is super top-up health insurance?

This is a health insurance plan that refines one fundamental clause in top-up insurance. Note that top-up insurance deductible can be claimed only once in a year. In case of super top-up health insurance, the policy holder may make multiple claims in one year. Here’s what you need to know about this category of health insurance:

• It comes into play when you have exhausted the coverage on your primary health plan due to multiple claims
• Its sum assured should be equal to the base coverage provided by your primary health insurance plan
• For example, suppose you have a primary family health policy with sum assured of Rs 5 lakh, which gets exhausted due to more than one family member being hospitalised in a year. The hospital bills run up to Rs 6 lakh. So, Rs 5 lakh is taken from your primary health insurance plan, while the additional Rs 1 lakh is paid by the super top-up health insurance policy. If you make another claim during the same year, the entire claim will be paid by your super top-up plan
• This plan helps you avoid paying for multiple claims out of your pocket

Which one is better?

A top-up plan is a better option for those who are confident of not making more than one claim in one year. Young families can opt for top-up health insurance.

However, a super top-up is ideal at the time of pandemics which might affect multiple family members, resulting in multiple hospitalisations. It is also suitable for families comprising senior citizens or those suffering from illnesses requiring frequent tests and hospitalisation.