Max Bupa’s Heartbeat High Deductible plan is only the second of its kind in the market after United India’s super top-up medicare. The product is attractively priced and will appeal to a specific market segment

Max Bupa Heartbeat High Deductible Policy is a super top-up policy, which will compete with United India’s super top-up medicare. While the concept of a top-up or super top-up policy is yet to catch on in the market, Max Bupa’s research showed that there is customer demand for such a product. It is a good concept for those who are already covered by a corporate or retail health insurance policy and wish to go for higher coverage. This product is also useful for someone without mediclaim who is willing to pay for medical expenses up to the high deductible barrier (Rs2 lakh or Rs3 lakh) before the super top-up policy kicks in to pay for additional medical expenses.

Heartbeat will have a standard pre-existing disease waiting period of 48 months like any other mediclaim policy. The high deductible option can be availed for the entire family, including parents to top-up their already existing health insurance policy. Max Bupa’s super top-up policy offers a deductible amount of Rs2 lakh or Rs3 lakh. The customer can choose the coverage amount above this limit as per their need. The premium will be based on the deductible limit and the coverage amount over the limit. For e.g. a 35 year old male going for a deductible amount of Rs2 lakh and coverage of Rs2 lakh over the limit will pay an annual premium of Rs1,503. The customer can also opt for a two-year policy tenure. The same person, going for the same deductible sum and coverage of Rs3 lakh over the limit in United India’s super top-up medicare will end up paying a premium of Rs2,317. In effect, Max Bupa offers a competitive alternative.

What is the value that a top-up and super top-up policy brings to you? One way to get additional cover could be to buy another health insurance policy. But this may be too expensive. There are other alternatives as well. For instance, one was buying a top-up plan which would provide an additional cover to add to your existing cover in a very economical way of getting higher insurance cover. The thing to note here is an amount called the “threshold level”, also known as the “compulsory deductible” amount. This is the level above which the top-up can be utilised to pay for the expenses.

For example, for a top-up amount of Rs10 lakh and the compulsory deductible amount is Rs3 lakh; the top-up amount will pay only for expenses above Rs3 lakh up to Rs10 lakh. Super top-up is also like a top-up policy. The difference between the two is that in the case of a top-up policy the expenses for a single treatment should be over the threshold, whereas in a super top-up the total expenses in a year must be above the threshold level for the policy to be effective. Thus, between a top-up and super top-up, the super top-up is more beneficial for customers.

There are four companies that provide top-up policies: United India Insurance (Top-up medicare), Bajaj Allianz (Extra Care), Apollo Munich (Optima Plus) and Star Health and Allied Insurance (Super Surplus). Of the three, only United India had a super top-up plan (Super top up medicare). Now, Max Bupa Heartbeat High Deductible product offers super top-up plan.