Is the Percentage of Cumulative Bonus Important If You are Buying Health Insurance Early on?

Ask anyone around about bills for treatment in the hospital, and the person will tell you how costly they are. To save yourself from hospitalization expenses in case some health emergency happens to you or your family, you can opt for a Health Insurance Policy. But there is a common question that people often ask — ‘What happens if I don’t claim at all?’ People have this misconception that their premium payments will simply go down as bad investments which is not true. With the help of Cumulative Bonus in a Health Insurance Policy, individuals get rewarded for not making any claim in a year as they focused on their health and stayed healthy.

Yes, you heard it right! If you don’t claim your Health Insurance Policy in a year, you will get monetary rewards in the form of a Cumulative Bonus for the next year of your policy. Cumulative Bonus benefits are generally of two types — Either an increase in the sum insured or a decrease in the premium paid for your policy. Since hospital bills are rising every year and considering the inflation, you would surely want a higher sum insured on your plan so that you can enjoy a higher cover amount in case something unfortunate happens.

Thinking about how Cumulative Bonus in a Health Insurance Policy works? Here, in this article, we will cover everything related to this. We will also tell you about some of the top health insurance policies that offer the maximum cumulative bonus to insured people. Keep reading to know more!

What Exactly is the Cumulative Bonus in a Health Insurance Policy?

One of the most important factors to check while choosing the right Health Insurance Policy is the Cumulative Bonus provided by a particular policy. The greater the percentage of Cumulative Bonus will be, the greater will be an increase in the sum insured for your policy for every claim-free year. This is the reason people should check this factor. Taking care of your health is an arduous task and people should be rewarded for it. Well, a Cumulative Bonus in a Health Insurance Policy is that reward.

Simply put, for every claim-free year, your sum insured (coverage amount) will be increased to a certain percentage in the next year while your premium amount will remain the same. This additional amount is the Cumulative Bonus in a Health Insurance Policy. Usually, this percentage lies between 5% to 10% every year and can go up to a maximum of 50%. You need to remember that this percentage changes from one insurance company to another.

Let’s understand this with an example. Suppose you choose a Health Insurance Policy with a sum insured of INR 4 lakh. Your policy provides a 5 percent cumulative bonus for every claim-free year. So, if you haven’t made any health insurance claims, your sum insured would increase to INR 4,20,000 for the same premium amount you were paying earlier. Similarly, if you haven’t made any claims for two-year, your sum insured would increase to INR 4,40,000 and so on to the maximum limit. If something unfortunate happens in the third year of your policy for which you need hospitalization, you would have a total cover of INR 4,40,000.

Top Health Insurance Policies Offering Cumulative Bonus to Insured Person

Now you have understood what exactly is a Cumulative Bonus in a Health insurance policy and how it works, you should also know top health insurance policies offering the cumulative bonus. Several top companies like HDFC Ergo, ICICI Lombard, Star Health Insurance, Care Health Insurance provide health insurance plans that offer cumulative bonuses for every claim-free year. We are showing some of them. Have a look!

HDFC Ergo My Health Suraksha

HDFC Ergo Health Insurance Company has always managed to bring some of the best plans, and My Health Suraksha is no less! HDFC Ergo provides a Cumulative Bonus in a Health Insurance Policy on each renewal of the policy. Insured persons will get 10% or 25% of the Basic Sum Insured under expiring policy as the cumulative bonus. Let’s say your sum insured is INR 2 lakh, and you haven’t received any claim, your sum insured will increase to INR 2, 20,000 in the next year.

However, customers need to keep a few things in mind to get this cumulative bonus. We are showing them below. Do check!

1. There shouldn’t have been any claim under the policy in the previous year.
2. Insured people can accumulate a cumulative bonus up to 100% or 200% of Basic Sum Insured in the policy term.
3. Only insured people under the policy can get this cumulative bonus. Apart from this, there should not be any pause when it comes to renewal.
4. The cumulative Bonus will be reduced if you have taken any claims in the previous year.
5. In the case of multi-year policies, a cumulative bonus in the second and third year of the policy will be received on the renewal of your policy.

Star Medi Classic Individual Health Insurance Policy

Star Health Insurance Company also provides an amazing policy known as Medi Classic Individual Policy with which customers can enjoy a higher sum insured of up to INR 15 lakh. With this policy from Star Health Insurance, the insured person will get a cumulative bonus of 5% per year when you don’t make any claims. Remember, this percentage can go up to a maximum of 25%. There are a few things you need to remember that we have mentioned below. Please look!

1. The cumulative bonus amount will be calculated on the expiring basic sum insured or on the renewed basic sum insured (whichever is less)
2. If the insured person decides to reduce the basic sum insured at the subsequent renewal, the limit of indemnity by way of such bonus amount cannot be more than the reduced basic sum insured amount
3. If an insured person claims his or her insurance policy and utilizes the total sum insured amount and overall cumulative bonus, there will be no cumulative bonus on the renewal of the policy.

ICICI Lombard Arogya Sanjeevani Policy

ICICI Lombard is also one of the leading health insurance companies with numerous plans for customers. Arogya Sanjeevani Policy from ICICI Lombard Health Insurance also provides a cumulative bonus to insured persons for every claim-free year. This policy offers a Cumulative Bonus of 5% for each claim-free policy year. Do remember that you should not have made any break when it comes to the renewal of your policy. The Cumulative Bonus can go up to a maximum of 50% of the overall sum insured gradually. This means if your overall sum insured is INR 5 lakh, it can go up to a maximum of INR 7.5 lakh with the cumulative bonus.

On claiming in a year, the cumulative bonus will get reduced at the same rate at which you had received earlier. However, the sum insured will be maintained and will not be reduced in the policy year.

Care Health Insurance Policy

With a Care Health Insurance Policy, policyholders can enjoy the benefits of Cumulative Bonus at the end of each policy year if they don’t claim for their health insurance policy. On not making any claims in your policy year, Care Insurance will increase the sum insured by 10% flat for each completed and continuous policy year. But there are a few conditions that you need to adhere to. See those conditions below.

1. The maximum sum insured cannot be more than 50% of the sum insured available in the renewed policy
2. You should not miss any renewal of your Care Health Insurance Policy.
3. There will not be any cumulative bonus if you have discontinued the policy or you have renewed on or before the policy period end date or the expiry of the grace period, whichever is later

Max Bupa Health Companion Insurance Policy

With Health Companion Insurance Policy, individuals can enjoy a No-claim bonus or Cumulative Bonus when the insured person doesn’t claim in the policy year. In such a case, the company will increase the expiring basic sum insured by 20% in a policy year.

So, let’s say you have an Individual/Floater family policy with a basic sum insured of INR 2 lakh, and you haven’t made any claims in a year, your sum insured will increase to INR 2,40,000 in the next policy year. You can enhance upto 100% of the maximum sum insured if you don’t claim in your policy year. So, if you are looking for a higher Cumulative Bonus in a Health insurance policy, this plan from Max Bupa can be a good choice!