Having health insurance coverage has become a priority. With increasing lifestyle-related diseases and soaring medical costs, it is common to exhaust your sum assured. But once your sum assured is finished, you are left without the safety of health insurance coverage. But fret-not! You can now top-up your existing health insurance policy. Let us understand how the top-up feature works in health insurance.
What is the restoration benefit?
Restoration benefit is when your insurance company restores your policy’s sum assured once you have exhausted it; thus, even if you use the entire amount sum assured, whether, in a single hospitalization or multiple scenarios, the restoration benefit will have you covered to protect against any uncertain future treatment.
An example of the restoration benefit
Mr. Kumar has a health insurance plan with restoration benefits with a sum assured of ₹6 lakhs. Since he had to undergo heart surgery, this entire amount was exhausted. The insurance company restores this sum assured so any future treatment that Mr. Kumar shall require can be covered under his insurance plan.
Why is it essential to have restoration benefits in your health insurance plan?
It is a prudent decision always to have a backup plan. Similarly, having restoration benefits to your health insurance cover will help you stay mentally relaxed, knowing you will never be exposed to financial difficulties in times of medical need.
What are the types of restoration benefits you can opt for?
There are two types of restoration benefits, one of which can be selected – complete exhaustion and partial exhaustion of sum assured.
Under the complete exhaustion option, the top-up health insurance cover only applies when you use the entire sum assured. On the other hand, the sum assured is refilled for the partial exhaustion option even when a part of your sum assured is used.
For whom is the restoration option useful?
Among the various types of health insurance plans, a restoration feature can be useful in a family floater policy. Under family floater plans, the sum assured is available for all the members covered by the policy. In these instances, an ailing elderly family member can often exhaust the policy’s sum and leave none for other beneficiaries. So this is when the restoration option is useful. An unfortunate hospitalization of another family member in the same policy period can be insured using this restoration feature offered by your insurance company.
Does the premium increase when you avail of the restoration option?
This feature helps restore the sum assured, benefiting you by making it available again; it impacts your premium. Although, when you weigh the cost of this feature against its benefits, it is in your favor. Thus, with a marginal increase in premium, you can avail the entire sum assured for other cases of emergency hospitalization under your individual or family health insurance coverage.
Now that you know of the restoration or top-up option in your health insurance plan do not forget to load it in your family floater policy to enjoy maximum coverage for all the members. This way, you can be rest assured knowing your insurance company covers the treatment cost even if you end up exhausting your entire sum assured.
