I am a 35 year old, married man with one child. Though I am covered under a health insurance policy of 5 Lakhs through my current employer, I also have a personal family floater Mediclaim Insurance worth 5 lakhs that I bought late last year. Lately, I have been going through different posts and blogs and that made me realize that having a health insurance policy of just 5 lakhs may not be enough. Especially, with the rising costs and the costs associated with hospitalization and treatments, I realized that I should at least have a health insurance coverage of 25 – 50 lakhs to protect me and my family. When I checked the premiums to be paid for covering a cost of 25 – 50 lakhs health insurance cover, it was way too high. What are my options in this situation?
This is a common query which most people face. Are Super Top-up health insurance plans your options? Which are currently the best Super Top-up Health Insurance plans in India? Before getting any further into comparison, let me first explain – What is meant by a Super Top-up Health Insurance plan and what are deductibles in a super top-up plan?
What is a Super Top-up plan?
A Super Top-up plan is a health insurance plan which gives you an additional coverage above a certain limit or deductible. The follow-up question would be what is a deductible?
What is a deductible in Super Top-up plan?
Deductible is the base amount or the baseline limit above which your super top-up policy will come into force. Let me explain
You have a family floater super top up policy of 25 lakhs with 5 lakhs as deductibles. You get admitted into a hospital on account of some illness. Your super top up policy will not come into force until your medical expenditure during your stay in the hospital is more than 5 lakhs. This means that the initial 5 lakhs towards medical expenses, will be either paid through your personal policy or corporate policy. Anything expense that is over and above 5 lakhs would be paid by Super Top-up policy.
Let’s look at the table below to help us understand the plan in a better way.
What is a Top-up plan in health insurance?
Definition of Top-up plan is also same as Super Top-up plan. A Top-up plan is a health insurance plan which gives you an additional coverage above a certain limit or deductible.
What is the difference between Top-up and Super Top-up?
If the definition of both the plans are same, what is the difference between top-up and super top-up health insurance?
The difference is in the terms of deductible-
- In a Top-up plan, the claim is admissible only when it exceeds the deductibles
- In a Super Top-up plan, the claim is admissible only when it exceeds the aggregate deductibles.
The difference is the word aggregate. If you are buying an individual policy, it will not make much difference between a top-up and super top-up plan. However, if you are buying a family floater plan, it does make a difference. Since I have already explained the Super Top-up policy in the above table, let’s check on how a family floater Top-up plan works and how does the word aggregate make a difference.
Why should one opt for a Super Top-up policy?
Firstly, the premium paid in super top-up policies are cheaper than your normal health insurance policies, because of deductible.
Suppose you are a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children) and you want to opt for a health insurance policy of 30 lakhs. You can consider the following options:
- Base health insurance cover of 30 lakhs
- Health insurance cover of 5 lakhs and a Super Top-up plan of 25 lakhs with 5 lakhs deductible
Let’s compare the premium for both the options for Max Bupa policies:
Which one do you think is better?
Best Super Top-up Health insurance plans in India – Comparison
Now that you have understood the basics of a Super Top-up health insurance plans in India, let’s look at the best Super Top-up health insurance plans that are currently available in India. You can also check the comparison of premiums available under different options
Max Bupa Super Top-up Plan – Health Booster
The name of Max Bupa’s policy is “Max Bupa Health Recharge”.
Sum assured options that are available includes 5/7.5/10/15/25 Lakhs.
Aggregate deductible available is 1-10 lakhs in the multiples of 1 lakh.
The premium paid on this policy is very cheap. You can get a sum assured of 25 lakhs with 5 lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 2,300 per annum.
You can visit their page here for more details – Max Bupa Health Recharge
If you are not able to view the option for 25 lakhs online, please contact their customer care for further guidance.
Apollo Munich Optima Super Top-up Plan
The name of Apollo Munich’s Super Top-up plan is “Optima Super Family Floater”.
Sum assured options that are available includes 5/7/10 lakhs.
Aggregate deductible options include 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/10 lakhs.
The premium paid is on a higher side. You can get a sum assured of 10 lakhs with 5 lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 7,900 per annum. (For a family of 3 members)
You can visit their page here for more details – Optima Super Family Floater
HDFC Ergo Super Top-up Plan
The name of the HDFC Ergo’s Super Top-up Plan is “my:health Medisure Super Top-up”.
Sum assured options that are available for an aggregate deductible of 4 lakhs is 6/11/16 lakhs.
Sum assured options that are available for aggregate deductible of 5 lakhs is 5/10/15/20 lakhs.
You can opt for a sum assured of 20 lakhs with 5 lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 5,200 per annum. (For a family of 3 members)
You can visit their page here for more details – my:health Medisure Super Top-up
New India Assurance Super Top-up Policy
he name of the New India Super Top-up Plan is “New India Top Up Mediclaim”.
You can visit their page here for more details – New India Top Up Mediclaim
Oriental Insurance Super Top Up Plan
The name of Oriental Insurance’s Super Top Up plan is “Oriental Super Health Top UP”
Sum assured options that is available is in the range of 3-30 lakhs.
Aggregate deductible options available is in the range of 3-20 lakhs.
You can check the premium amount by clicking on the link here – Oriental Insurance Super Top Up
ICICI Lombard Super Top-up Plan
The name of ICICI Lombard’s Super Top-up plan is “Health Booster”.
Sum assured options available includes 5/6/7/10/15/20/25/50 lakhs.
Aggregate deductible options available includes 3/4/5 lakhs.
The premium is on the higher side. You can get a sum assured of 25 lakhs with 5 lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 15,000 per annum.
There are 3 options that are currently available – A, B and C
Option C has the least premium as it does not include critical illness coverage of 10 lakhs.
You can visit their page here for more details – Health Booster
Liberty Insurance Super Top-up Plan
The name of Liberty Insurance’s Super Top-up Plan is “Health Connect Supra”.
Sum assured options available includes 3-100 lakhs.
Aggregate deductible options available includes 2-40 lakhs in the multiples of 1 lakh.
The premium to be paid is very nominal. You can get a sum assured of 100 lakhs with a 10 lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 1,500 per annum.
You can visit their page here for more details – Health Connect Supra
Star Health Super Top Up Plan
The name of Star Super’s Top-up plan is “Star Super Surplus (Floater) Insurance Policy”.
There are 2 options available under this plan-
- Silver – This is a plain Top-up option.
- Gold – This is a Super Top-up plan Option.
Sum Assured available under Gold Plan includes 5/10/15/20/25 Lakhs.
Aggregate deductible options available includes 3/5/10 Lakhs.
You can get a sum assured of 25 Lakhs with 5 Lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 5,800 per annum.
You can visit their page here for more details – Star Super Suplus
Religare Health Super Top Up Plan
The name of the Religare Health Super Top Up Plan is “Religare Enhance”.
Sum Assured available under Gold Plan are 1-10 Lakhs.
Aggregate deductible options available includes 1-30 Lakhs.
You can get sum assured of 25 Lakhs with 5 Lakhs deductible by paying a premium of Rs. 6,600 per annum.
You can visit their page here for more details – Religare Enhance
Best Super Top-up health insurance plans in India
Which is the best Super Top-up health insurance plans in India?
If you talk about premium only, Liberty Health Connect Supra and Max Bupa Health Recharge seems to be the best. However, what may seem to be best for someone, may not be the best choice for you. Here are some key factors other than the low premiums, that one should consider before buying a super top-up health insurance plan in India.
- Try to buy the super Top-up policy from the same insurer from where you have opted for a base policy (If the differential premium amount of Rs. 3000-4000 does not make much difference to you). It helps you get a hassle-free claim. Otherwise, you may have to run from post to pillar to get the claim.
- Most PSUs health insurance policies have room rent sub-limits. For smaller cities and towns, this may seem fine. However, for metro cities, the cost of treatment also corresponds to your room rent limits.
- Do not fail to check if the duration to cover pre-existing diseases is high.
- There should not be any conditions such as co-pay and co-deductible.
Conclusion
Once you have made your mind on which is the best Super Top-up health insurance plan in India, you must buy the policy that provides for a high sum assured.
There are few other queries which I normally face. Let’s try to answer those queries in a Q&A format
Will I get any tax benefits?
Yes, you do get tax benefits. Premiums including GST are eligible for Income Tax deduction under Section 80D.
Do I have to buy base policy to purchase a super top-up policy?
No, you do not have to buy a base health insurance policy. The super top-up plan will be effective only after the aggregate deductible. You can pay the deductible amount from your pocket as well.
Can I buy it for my parents?
Yes, you can definitely buy these plans for your parents.
I hope with this article you are one step closer in terms of your understanding on the best super top-up health insurance plans that are currently available in India.
Please let me know your views in the comment section.
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