Apollo Munich has launched Optima Restore, a mediclaim with innovative features of restoring sum insured during policy year and giving 50% no-claim-bonus increase in sum insured for couple of years. Will this optimal product restore faith in hapless mediclaim insured?

Apollo Munich Optima Restore takes care of couple of key customer needs. Customers fear exhausting the sum insured (SI) during the policy year and hoping there would not be any more hospitalisation during the remaining policy year, as there isn’t any more insurance until the new policy year. Optima Restore will give additional SI (equal to base SI) without additional premium or paper-work. The only caveat is that the additional SI can be used only for new illnesses. This is applicable for individual and family floater products which can be a boon to customers. E.g. Individual or family floater of Rs3 lakh SI can potentially give Rs6 lakh coverage in a year for the individual or family without additional premium (if Rs3 lakh is exhausted in the policy year), as long as the additional coverage is used for new illnesses.

The other concern customers have is that no-claim-bonus (NCB) usually gives only 5% additional SI subject to maximum of 25% in most mediclaim products. Apollo Munich is offering 50% increase in SI for NCB at no extra premium, subject to maximum of two years. This means if there are no claims in couple of years, your SI can double without any premium for additional SI. The only catch is that if there is claim, your SI drops down to the previous policy year, but you are guaranteed base SI. E.g. Individual or family floater of Rs3 lakh SI will increase to Rs4.5 lakh SI next year if there is no claim. If there is another year of no claims, the SI will increase to Rs6 lakh, but you will pay premium on only Rs3 lakh SI. If there is claim in year, the SI falls to Rs4.5 SI. If there is another year with claim, the SI goes down to Rs3 lakh, but it will not go below Rs3 lakh. If there are claim-free years again, there is potential to increase SI by 50% for couple of years.

The best feature is that the restore feature of SI and NCB multiplier work together. E.g. Individual or family floater of Rs3 lakh SI will increase to Rs6 lakh SI in a couple of years with no claim. If for some reason, Rs6 lakh SI is exhausted in the policy year, the product will give additional Rs3 lakh (base SI) coverage for new illnesses. It means you can be covered for Rs9 lakh during that policy year by paying premium of Rs3 lakh SI.