You can never be sure about life and health. The pandemic has again highlighted that we tend to forget our life and health as we go about our daily routines. You can have a healthy routine, stay fit and eat well. However, lifestyle diseases and accidents can appear out of the blue and turn your life upside down.
The rising cost of medicines and hospitalisation, also known as medical inflation, is a modern-day reality, especially in a developing country like ours.
This is where health insurance comes to play. It aims to shield your finances from the high costs of hospitalisations.
It covers your hospitalisation expenses up to a limit known as sum insured. Consider in a given year, your hospitalisation expenses go beyond the sum insured. In that case, you will have to pay the difference from your pocket. This situation can be very challenging.
Think of a time when you or your family member is hospitalised, and the bill amounts to ₹15 lakhs. Your health insurance sum insured is only ₹10 lakhs.
What would you do?
You would have to pay the difference of ₹5 lakhs out of your own pocket. That’s when a super top-up health insurance policy can save the day. This plan adds a higher sum insured at a comparatively lower premium.
Super top-up health insurance tops up your sum insured if you have utilised all of your original sum insured. It does this at a relatively lower premium than the cumulative sum insured would have attracted.
Here are three super top-up health insurance plans that stand out:
- ICICI Lombard Health Booster
- Star Surplus Gold
- Niva Bupa Health Recharge
All three plans can be purchased as individual plans or family floater plans. They cover pre-hospitalisation, hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation expenses. Additionally, Daycare or Out Patient Department procedures are included in all three.
Let us look at their benefits:
| Benefits | ICICI Lombard Health Booster | Star Surplus Gold | Niva Bupa Health Recharge |
| Renewability | Lifetime | Lifetime | Lifetime |
| In-patient hospitalisation | Covered up to the sum insured | Covered up to the sum insured | Covered up to the sum insured |
| Pre-insurance medical test | No pre-policy medical tests for sum insured up to ₹10 lakhs (up to 45 years of age) | Not required | Required |
| Organ Donor | Hospitalisation expenses for undergoing an organ transplant surgery, up to the sum insured | Organ Donor Expenses—for organ transplantation where the insured person is the recipient—are payable provided the claim for transplantation is payable and subject to the availability of the sum insured. Donor screening expenses and post-donation complications of the donor are not payable | Medical expenses for an organ donor’s inpatient treatment for the harvesting of the organ donated is also covered |
| Modern Treatments | Not covered | Coverage for Modern Treatment up to limits mentioned in the policy | Not covered |
| Alternative Treatments | Hospitalisation expenses for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) treatment on a reimbursement basis | Not covered | Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy treatments covered |
| Sum insured restoration | Not available | Recharge Benefit: If the sum insured under the policy is exhausted/ exceeded during the policy period, additional indemnity up to the limits stated in the policy would be provided once for the remaining policy period | Not available |
| Pre-existing waiting period | 24 months | 36 months for silver and 12 months for gold | 36 months |
| Road Ambulance Cover | Emergency road ambulance expenses, up to 1% of your sum insured, maximum up to ₹5,000 per event | Emergency ambulance charges for transporting the insured patient to the hospital up to ₹3,000/- per policy period | Up to ₹1,500 per hospitalisation |
Here are the highlights of each plan:
ICICI Lombard Health Booster
- Wide range of sum insured (₹5 lakhs to ₹50 lakhs) to suit your individual or family needs
- Flexible deductible options (₹3 lakhs, ₹4 lakhs or ₹5 lakhs) to choose from
- 10% and 12.5% discount on 2 year and 3-year policies, respectively
- Cashless treatment at 6300+ network hospitals across India
- Response for cashless claims in 4 hours and reimbursement claims within 14 days from receipt of last document/information
- Quick and hassle-free claim filing and tracking on website and ICICI Lombard Take Care app
Star Surplus Gold
- Top-up at an affordable premium: A Top-up policy providing higher sum insured at a very affordable premium
- No pre-acceptance medical screening: No pre-acceptance medical screening is required
- Flexible policy basis: This policy can be taken on both Individual and Floater basis
- Maternity cover: Maternity expenses covered upto specified limits
- Air ambulance cover: Air ambulance facility covered up to 10% of the sum insured
- Organ Donor Expenses: Organ Donor Expenses covered
- Policy Term: Policy can be taken for one year or two years
- Instalment Options: Instalment facility available
- Wellness Program: Wellness services available
Niva Bupa Health Recharge
- No room rent cap: Covered up to sum insured
- Daycare Treatment: Covered up to sum insured
- Cover Available: Up to ₹95 lakh
- In-patient Treatment: Covered up to sum insured
- Family Combination Applicable: Up to 2 Adults and 4 Children
- e-Consultation: Avail unlimited teleconsultations
- Pharmacy and diagnostic services: Get discounts through empanelled service provider
- Loyalty Benefits: Get loyalty addition of 5% on sum insured per year; maximum up to 50%
- Emergency Ambulance: Up to ₹1,500 per hospitalisation
- Alternative treatment: Get cover for Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy treatments
- Renewal for life: Lifetime renewal for existing customers
A super top-up health insurance plans support you financially in a medical emergency.
With health expenses on the rise, having a super top-up health insurance policy for higher hospitalisation coverage is sound.
A super top-up health insurance plan doesn’t cost as much as a basic plan with a higher sum insured. A super top-up health insurance family floater plan can cover your whole family under a single policy.
It keeps your finances shielded from hospitalisation expenses to a greater extent. You can focus on recovery instead of worrying about raising money for treatment costs.
Read about Comparative Analysis: Niva Bupa ReAssure, ICICI Health Shield and HDFC Ergo my: Health Suraksha Gold here.