6 Effective Ways to Increase Your Health Insurance Coverage

The above plans and premiums are for AED 1,000,000 Sum insured for 1 Adult of 30 Years for Dubai city.

When you are in prime, healthy and happy, both mentally and physically, it is common to invest in a more affordable and basic health insurance plan rather than an extensive one. But the most affordable options for health insurance in Dubai come with certain limitations and less comprehensive coverage. And there may come a time when you would want to or need to increase this coverage in the future. Most people often get fumbled when faced with a situation where they need to increase the assured sum a.k.a coverage of their health insurance plan. This piece sums up all the possible ways through which you can extend your health insurance coverage without going through much hassle.

1. Migrate to Another Plan

The most straightforward way to increase health insurance coverage is to move up to a different plan. Most health insurance companies offer a series of plans with variants as sub-categories. These variants are essentially the same, except for the difference in their assured sum and sub-limits. If you want to find a health insurance coverage that offers extra coverage or at least something more than your current one, then simply migrate to another level of your current plan offered by your provider. Make sure you check the benefits and draw a comparison with all the plausible options. Most health insurance companies offer the option of porting your insurance plan to another provider as well. If you have access to that benefit, make use of it and find better coverage at the best possible price.

2. Choose Lesser Deductibles

One of the best ways to minimize your health insurance coverage premium is by choosing to pay high deductibles on it. While it does lower the premium of the plan, higher deductibles also mean that the insurance company will have to provide lesser coverage when you make a claim. One way to increase the coverage without changing your current health insurance plan is by dropping the voluntary deductibles. The insurance company will offer increased coverage if you submit a claim since deductibles are low now.

3. Floater Plans Can Be a Good Idea

Family floater plans are an affordable option to make sure that your whole family receives good coverage. You generally get an option to either set a cap on the assured sum to be utilized by each included member in the plan or keep it open. If you set the cap, each member can only use the set limit for their insurance claims. This is a good practice if most people included in the plan are old or middle-aged. However, if your plan members are young, you can keep the assured sum limit open without a cap. This way, older members can utilize the benefits to the maximum without fear of limited cover. Since younger people are less susceptible to fall ill, this trick can work in your favor. You can also change the health insurance coverage style of your plan when you feel like it. If the sum insured happens to get exhausted by one and another member needs coverage now, you can simply recharge the assured sum or get a top-up plan.

4. Use Top-Up Health Insurance Plans

If you think that your current coverage level is not good enough to cover the treatment expenses (in case there are any), choose to buy a top-up health insurance coverage. Top-up plans eliminate the troubles of migrating your health insurance policy or provider and directly offer the additional coverage you need.

Let’s assume that you have an assured sum of AED 500,000 (after deductibles are paid) in your basic health insurance plan and a top-up plan of AED 500,000. The assured sum of your primary health insurance coverage will be considered the minimum deductible amount for your top-up plan. So, in a scenario where you make a claim of AED 600,000, your basic or primary health insurance plan would cover AED 500,000 from the total sum and the top-up plan would pay the rest of AED 100,000.

One important thing to keep in mind is that top-up health insurance plans work considering a single claim scenario. This means that the deductible limit will be applied on every claim you submit in a tenure. If you submit 2 claims of AED 300,000 each, your primary health insurance in Dubai will pay the complete sum of the first claim and AED 200,000 for the second one. Since the deductible limit for the top-up plan is AED 500,000, the top-up health insurance coverage will not activate for either of these two claims. So, top-up plans work wonders only for bigger claims.

5. Consider A Super Top-Up Plan

Super top-up plans are one step further from top-up plans. They work in the same way for most parts. However, super top-up plans do not need you to pay deductibles on every claim you submit within a tenure, unlike top-up plans. If you think that there are going to be several small separate treatment sessions, a super top-up plan is the better option to go with. Once you have completed the deductible limit, the super top-up plan covers the rest of the claims completely up to the assured sum. So, in the above example, once you have paid off the initial AED 500,000 using your primary health insurance coverage, the super top-up plan will cover the remaining AED 100,000.

6. Buy Your Coverage Early

Buying your health insurance plan early can benefit you with the coverage scope in the long term, if not immediately. When you buy health insurance coverage at a young age, you can score significantly lesser premium compared to older people. Age plays a huge role in deciding the premium of your health insurance plans. On top of that, since younger people are not susceptible to contract diseases so early in their life, you will not have to pay an additional premium to cover pre-existing diseases. If one buys health insurance coverage later in life when they already have a few conditions, the premium will be higher. Buying health insurance early would mean that you can enjoy increased coverage at a lower price.

Conclusion

Increasing the coverage of your offline or online health insurance plan is not a very confusing or difficult task. The only thing you need to decide is the way that suits you the best out of the aforementioned ones. Migrating the plan is best when you are planning to change the shape and contents of the plan. Getting a top-up or a super top-up plan is a good option if you are looking for an immediate solution. If you have time and would like to increase the coverage gradually, simply buying your health insurance coverage early can make a huge difference in the scope of coverage and the premium amount. Pick the option that suits you the best and you will have no problem with extending the coverage of your health insurance in Dubai.