Comparing health insurance super top-up plans

[joeetaku]

I have been on the lookout for a super top-up health insurance plan. I wanted to get it early this year, when covid was at its peak. However, upon some research I realized that super top-up plan needs to align with the base health insurance plan - most probably on the same date or at least on the same month.

Surprisingly, both policybazar & coverfox do not have much details about these plans. I did a comparison among some of the super top-up plans that i came across while doing a google search. Here is the detailed comparison.

Company Reliance GIC Aditya birla Star Health Tata AIG Niva Bupa ICICI lombard Plan Name
Health super topup
super health plus topup
super surplus
super topup
health recharge
health booster

Deductible
4L
5L
3L
5L
4L
5L
Sum Insured (SI)
46L
50L
50L
50L
45L
50L
claim settlement ratio
100%
97%
93%
96%
96%

Network Hospitals
8000+
5000+
10000+
7200+
8000+

TPA/Direct
Direct

Direct

Room rent limit
Single A/C private room
Single A/C private room
Single A/C private room
Single A/C private room
Single A/C private room
Single A/C private room
NCB
10% increase per year upto 50%
No
2.5L extra per year
50% increase per year upto 100%
5% increase per year

Co-Pay
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pre hospitalization days
90
30
60
60
60
60
Post hospitalization days
180
60
90
90
90
90
Home hospitalization
upto SI
50K
No
upto SI
upto SI

Ambulance
3500 per hospitalization. Air ambulance upto 5L
5000 per hospitalization. no limit in network hospitals
3000/year. 10% of SI for air ambulance
3000 per hospitalization
1500 per hospitalization
5000 per hospitalizatiino
Free health checkup
once in 3 years upto 5K


once in 2 years


Ayush
upto SI
upto SI
No
upto SI
upto SI
upto SI
Organ donor
upto SI
upto SI
upto SI
upto SI. Donor screening & transport also covered
upto SI
upto SI
Other features
In case of critical illness, free premium for next year. Deductible = 0 after 4 years of no claim
Deductible becomes 0 after 5 years of no claim
SI can be reset once in the year.
All modern medicines fully covered.

SI can be reset once in a year.
Premium for family (2A+2C)
11256/-
7869/-
12768/-
12665/-
5761/-
11396/-

One observation is that the premium range is unusual - starting from 5761/- to 12768/-. I even got a quote for 22k+ from bajaj allianz which I ignored. There are 3 policies that stand out from this list.

• Reliance : Looks like an all-rounder with moderate premium, good claim settlement ratio and good benefits among all others.
• Tata AIG : The only policy that offers donor screening & organ transport expenses along with covering all modern medicines like robotic surgery. I think modern medicine coverage is very important as the world will become much more technically advanced in the next 10 years.
• Aditya birla : 2nd lowest premium with the most of the benefits covered - except for home hospitalization.

Please share your thoughts, suggestions and experiences.

 

[resjudicata]

@joeetaku I have Max Bupa Health Recharge Super Top Up. SI =90 L, Deductible=10L, TimePeriod: 2021-2024, Premium=3197+575(GST). I and daughter are covered.

Did you looked Max Bupa?

 

[joeetaku]

@resjudicata Max bupa has been renamed as niva bupa. I think they have the lowest premium. What made you decide to go for it? Maybe I should re-look at it...

 

[resjudicata]

@joeetaku Price. Also play with the deductible and see if it helps. My reason to take up super top-up was to cover cases in which a medical emergency just erodes my complete corpus.

 

[reanimatedradio]

@resjudicata Do you also have a base insurance that covers for the initial 10L? Or are you planning to shell out 10L on your own?

 

[resjudicata]

@reanimatedradio I have a family floater of 8Lakhs from the Employer's Group Insurance. Even if you have less, my idea of super top-up was to cover scenarios where it can go in 10s of lakhs.

 

[reanimatedradio]

@resjudicata Makes sense. Thank you.

 

[idrivetoyota73]

@joeetaku

What i have heard is that MAX bupa super top up puts several limits on several diseases. Eg any robotic surgery will only be covered till 2.5lacs even if the topup guarentees 90lacs. Is it true? Because then 90 lac coverage is not really useful My source is:

 

[idrivetoyota73]

Just checked the policy document myself. Indeed true. There is a sublimit for many diseases. Robotic surgeries are only covered till 2 lacs. Along with several other sublimits. Not sure if this is the case with all other policies too. Any idea?

 

[joeetaku]

@idrivetoyota73 Some policies put limitations on modern treatments. Best for modern treatment is tata-aig which does not have any sub limits or any limit on number of treatments allowed. Reliance also looks good as they have a limit on type of modern treatments supported, but does not have any sub-limit on them.

 

[idrivetoyota73]

@joeetaku Is there a super list of "Modern Treatments" defined out of which Reliance is covering around 12 modern treatments and Tata doesnt have any limit on such a type?Because if there is no such defined list then i feel Reliance is as good as tata because their exclusion list is the same. And reliance explicitly does not deny any specific modern treatments. Dont you think the same @joeetaku?

 

[reanimatedradio]

@idrivetoyota73 Can you share the link ?

 

[idrivetoyota73]

@reanimatedradio You can look at policy documents on ditto website

 

[sushanth]

@resjudicata Max Bupa has rebranded to Niva Bupa, which OP has mentioned in the table.

 

[appalonia]

@joeetaku I use ICICI lombard for my health insurance. I am under a family floater plan all 4 adults and 20L coverage. recently bought a super top up of 50L+50L SI and paid 9k for 3years for my age and moms age they quoted 28k for 3years, my dad 54k for 3years.

me and my family have settled claims from ICICI lombard for 5 times now since past 8-9years and so far my experience is great. we have always got the entire medicine and hospital bills settled and mostly they were cashless.

 

[doyin]

@appalonia Hi, is there any name for this plan, I am also looking out for plans right now

 

[appalonia]

@doyin mostly its called iHealthBooster will confirm the name though.

 

[nancy102467]

@appalonia Did your parents need to go through medical checkup to get the topup plan?

 

[mp22]

@joeetaku Hey man, thanks for the analysis. I was under a similar confusion during the first lockdown. Through this post of yours I now realize how I have been fooled into getting Star.

 

[joeetaku]

@mp22 I think Star is also good. They have the maximum coverage in no of network hospitals. I am contemplating between reliance, aditya birla & tata aig.

What made you go for Star?