Times of India
13 April 2010

This top–up plan comes at a relatively low cost
Top–Up Plans Provide For Expenses Incurred Above The Sum Insured For The Basic Health Cover
Health costs are soaring by the day. Any procedure for critical illness like cancer or organ transplant would alone cost Rs 3 lakh in a city. The total cost, which includes medical and hospital expenses, travel costs, boarding, etc, would easily add another Rs 2–3 lakh to your medical bill. Are your prepared? Most private insurers offer medical insurance of up to Rs 10 lakh and public insurers offer a maximum cover of Rs 5 lakh. For a higher amount, a policyholder would have to go for multiple policies, which would translate into a higher premium outgo. Want to lower the premium outgo, opt for a top–up plan. United India Insurance, apart from Star Health, offers this option. Such plans come into play after you have exhausted your health insurance cover.

Who can look at top–up plan?
Top–up plans are designed to provide for medical expenses incurred over and above the sum insured for the basic health cover. As per the top–up plan offered by the United India Insurance, there is no pre–requisite for the policyholder to have a ground policy, but the cover kicks in only once the claim amount is in excess of the threshold limit, which is Rs 2 lakh in this case. The threshold limit increases to Rs 5 lakh depending upon the policy and the sum assured you choose. For example, if an employer offers a medical insurance of Rs 3 lakh, a customer can top–up the plan by going for an additional Rs 7 lakh using this plan. This Rs 10 lakh cover would be at least 20% cheaper than going for a single Rs 10 lakh cover or splitting the same into two policies offered by the same or different insurer.

United India Insurance offers topup and super–top options in health plans. In the former, the company covers hospitalisations due to only one illness. Second, covers multiple hospitalisations for different ailments within the policy tenure.They come at a lower cost compared to health insurance plans, as these are availed of only when a sudden need for huge expenses arise.

For a 30–year–old, the premium of Rs 3 lakh mediclaim would work to around Rs 5,000 and for a Rs 5 lakh mediclaim, the premium would work to over Rs 5,500. The United India Top–Up plan offers the Rs 3 lakh policy for a premium amount of Rs 1,500–2,000. The Rs 5 lakh policy would come at a premium of Rs 2,000–3,000.

Disadvantages
The plan can be used to cover only your spouse and children (3 months to 18 years). The policyholder’s parents cannot be covered. Also, pre–existing disease coverage will not be available for an insured person during the first four years of continuous coverage since inception of his/her top–up medicare policy.

WHY GO FOR IT: Since most health policies offer a cover of only up to Rs 5 lakh, a top–up plan could come in handy in case of critical illnesses that entail a higher cost, say Rs 6 lakh. WHY NOT: Pre–existing diseases are not covered for first 4 years. Even parents who are more susceptible to health issues at old age are not covered under this plan.