Deciding on a health insurance cover entails a lot of considerations to be accounted for, before taking the final plunge. One of the most significant ones is ensuring you have adequate cover, given the increasing medical costs. High coverage usually comes with the implications of a higher premium to be paid towards the coverage. In such cases, it is wiser to apportion the necessary cover between top-up, super top-up plans, or health riders.
Top-up plans are primarily designed to offer additional health insurance coverage to the existing health plan and can also be used to avail an upgrade on the sum assured of the base plan. Riders, on the other hand, are add-on covers for insurers that expand the scope of a base health cover, resulting in a more inclusive form of protection.
In order to understand which option would be the best fit for your needs, it's vital to understand their differences, benefits, and use-cases.
Top-up plans
Top-up health insurance plans offer additional coverage beyond the specified deductible limit on your existing health plan. You get the benefit of being covered for a higher sum at a much lower cost with the help of top-up plans. It provides the necessary extra cover that any policyholder would need with the option of savings on the premium. If you are someone with an existing health insurance plan which is not enough to offer the required coverage in case of a big medical crisis, this type of plan is the best investment option for you.
The deductible is a top-up plan is mostly equal to the existing health insurance policy. Therefore, these plans cover only a single claim above the deductible. So if you are someone who might need subsequent hospitalizations and they don't exceed the deductible, you will not be able to avail the benefit of the top-up plans.
Super top-up plans
Super top-up plans are similar to regular top-up plans, except that they cover the total of all hospitalization bills that fall above the policy threshold limit.
A super top plan will consider the total of all bills that are submitted, regardless of which illness they are for, and can be renewed annually. However, the super top-up plan only becomes effective once the deductible limit is crossed. It is the most ideal option for people who are already at risk of getting hospitalized more than once a year.
Health riders
Riders provide benefits to the beneficiaries of the health insurance policy so that the possibility of the family members facing a financial burden is eliminated. When you purchase the extra benefit of the rider, it becomes a part of the main plan and has the ability to customize the existing policy as per your needs.
While choosing between top-ups and rider plans, you should opt for the former in case you have serious health issues which might need a higher coverage amount for the treatment, and the latter if the estimated cost of treatment is known beforehand.
