Covid-19: Should you buy additional insurance cover or top-up the existing policy?

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Insurance is perhaps one of the most important financial products to secure your dependents against any unforeseen crisis. Both health insurance and life insurance are equally important to secure the finances of your family and the Covid-19 pandemic reiterates the significance of having adequate cover. In such unprecedented crisis, should you buy an additional insurance cover or top-up the existing policy? Sanjiv Bajaj, MD and Chairman at Bajaj Capital shares his thoughts on the topic. Edited excerpts:

In times like these, what is the most important thing a policy holder should look out for in his insurance cover? One must call up the insurance company and review his policy features and check if the coverage is adequate and explore the suitable options. For instance, a family floater with a coverage of Rs 3 lakh or Rs 5 lakh may not be enough for the entire family when it comes to Covid. For a family, insurance cover of up to Rs 25-40 lakh is recommended. You can look at a combination of base plan and a floater plan.

Instead of buying a new policy, try and port the existing one.

Insurance companies understand the pain and misery the whole country is going through. Be it an insurance aggregator or insurance company, all stakeholders are trying to come up with a solution. If you are battling Covid-19 and not hospitalized due to unavailability of beds, you may still get the claim after you prove that the expenses incurred for the treatment are genuine.

How individuals can check if their existing policies are adequate for the Covid related medical expenses? Review the sum assured in your existing policy and access if it needs an upgrade. Instead of buying a new policy, upgrading the sum assured in the existing policy will make more financial sense or look at a basic product. For instance, you can easily get a health insurance cover of up to Rs 50 lakh at a premium of around Rs 18,000. Instead of looking at Covid-19 specific policies, upgrade your existing policies.

In the view of Covid-19 pandemic, do you think the number of takers for health insurance have increased? Yes, it has. Insurance companies and brokers are flooded with queries of lately. Life insurance has higher demand than health insurance.

Dos and don’ts for those who have already got their claims for Covid and are looking to upgrade their policies It is difficult to get and insurance cover after you have tested positive. Even if you have recovered, insurance companies can ask you to wait for up to 3 months.