With healthcare expenses going creeping upward every single year, it is understandable that you want only the very best when you buy a health insurance plan in India. This essentially means that you seek value in the policy that you buy for yourself and your loved ones.When you bought health insurance for yourself and your family, you probably had a certain idea in your mind about the sum insured and the plan features. As the years pass, you realise that the sum insured on the plan is not commensurate with current healthcare costs, inflation, your family’s increased health demands, and so on. This means that you must increase the policy coverage amount so that it may be adequate if you ever need to file a claim.Do you know how you can enhance your health insurance plan coverage? There are a few ways to do so, and we list the top 3:#1 Increase the coverage on your existing plan.The simplest way to augment your health insurance coverage is to increase the sum insured at the time of policy renewal. Policy renewal is done annually, so this obviously means that you can increase the sum insured only at this time and not in between the policy year. Your premium might go up incrementally; however, the best health insurance plans in India offer no-cost additions at the time of enhancing the policy coverage. These may include no room rent capping, or EMI options to pay the increased premium. Do check with your insurance provider about the benefits you can get while enhancing policy coverage. If the premium increase is too high or exceeding your budget for the year, then you might wait to increase the coverage, or port to another provider offering the same benefits at a lower premium.#2 Buy a super top up plan.This is a great option for those who do not want to spend on high premiums but who would still like to have increased coverage. The super top up plan is like a top up plan, but with a twist: where the latter can be used just once over your health plan’s deductible in one policy year, the super top up plan can be used multiple times in the same year. This is helpful if multiple hospitalisations are anticipated in one year. This plan’s benefits come into play when you hit the deductible on your primary health insurance plan. Also, it is an affordable plan so you don’t have to spend too much on it.#3 Look for restoration benefits and NCB.Let’s first understand what both these terms mean. A ‘restoration benefit’ is a feature that restores your sum insured after you have exhausted it in one policy year. What this means is that despite exhausting the sum insured on your health plan, the sum insured is still reinstated when you have this benefit. It ensures continued coverage and protection, especially for those who might need repeat treatment for chronic ailments. Meanwhile, the NCB or ‘No Claim Bonus’ is a benefit that the insurance provider extends to policy holders who do not file a claim during the policy year. The bonus is provided in the form of increased sum insured after a certain number of no-claim years, or a discount on the annual premium.If you are unhappy with your plan features and coverage, or indeed the services extended by your insurance provider, you can choose to port your plan to a better insurance provider. Doing so continues the benefits of your existing plan, too.

The Indian insurance segment has developed significantly over the last two decades. From having just one or two generic life and health…