Having a health insurance policy is an important financial safety shield to keep your savings safe in case of any unforeseen medical issues. Thus, having a wide-ranging insurance cover is always a good idea, especially with the growing cost of treatment.

But one issue that many people are concerned with is the premium, as when you increase your cover you might end up paying a higher premium. However, there are a number of ways that you can get a higher cover while ensuring your premium is still affordable.

1. Increase Your Existing Sum Insured

Almost all insurers will give you the option to increase the sum insured of your existing policy at the time of renewal. While it will slightly increase your premium, this way you can ensure that you have adequate coverage for your and your family’s medical needs without paying too much out-of-pocket. An advantage of doing this is that you will not have to face any waiting period for the increased sum insured amount (as you might have to do with a new policy).

Generally, for an individual, it is recommended to have a cover of at least ₹5 lakh, while for a family with one child you should aim for a minimum cover of ₹20 lakh.

2. Opt for Top-Up or Super Top-Up Plans

Top-up or super top-up plans are another way to ensure higher coverage without paying a large premium. These plans will provide coverage even if you finish your original sum insured amount. This is done by splitting your cover into two parts, one is the pre-decided limit of the original health plan, and a secondary cover. With this additional cover, you will be able to raise a higher claim.

3. Long-Term Healthcare Insurance Policy

Generally, it is better to opt for a long-term insurance policy, for example, one with a 2-3 year tenure, rather than one with the regular annual term. This is because such long-term policies tend to have lower premium payments.

You can find these long-term policies with many insurers, thus it is important to compare the policies they offer and choose one best suited to your requirements.

4. Buy the Right Add-On Covers

Additional covers (also called add-ons or riders) offer further coverage to your existing health insurance policy. Popular add-ons include Maternity cover, Room Rent waiver, Critical Illness Cover, and Personal Accident cover.

While you might know that these covers are only available at an additional premium, however, the IRDAI has mandated that the total premium for all the add-ons bought under a single health policy cannot exceed 30% of the original premium amount. Thus, if the premium is ₹5,000/year, the additional premium you will need to pay for add-ons cannot exceed ₹1,500.

So, if you already require certain add-ons like Maternity cover or Critical Illness cover, you can opt to purchase a few more at very little extra cost.

5. Get Health Insurance at an Early Age

Another way to ensure that your premium payments remain low is to buy a health insurance plan when you’re still young.  Since factors like your age and medical history are used to calculate the premium, and the chances of age-related diseases like diabetes and heart conditions increase as you get older, insurers will increase premium amounts for older customers.

But, getting a policy early will ensure that your premiums remain lower, and you will also get cumulative bonuses for claim-free years.

6. Get a Cumulative Bonus

If you don’t make any claims during a policy year, your insurer will offer you a cumulative bonus (also called a no claim bonus). This might give you either a discount on your premium or an added amount to your sum insured at the same premium. Thus, you will either be able to pay a lower premium or get more coverage at the same cost.

Conclusion

In many cases, even if you already have a health policy, you might feel that it doesn’t cover all possible medical contingencies. So, if you are considering increasing your health cover to get more protection against unexpected medical emergencies, you can follow these methods to get this coverage without ending up paying a higher premium.