5 Best Health Insurance Plans in India

With the growing number of health issues at an alarming rate in today's busy scheduled life, the need for health insurance for every individual has become an essential thing. Gone are those days when our forefathers rarely visited a doctor or hospital to seek advice from the medical fraternity. The current era's stress full life has pushed the common man to suffer from one or other medical ailments. Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Obesity, Thyroid, PCOS has become a household name today.

5 Best Health Insurance Plans in India

The expensive medical treatments have made the individuals seek for health insurance plans which comes in handy for all kinds of treatment be it for a simple or an elaborate one.

What is Health Insurance?

The term Health Insurance is also popularly known as medical insurance. The health insurance offers coverage for unexpected medical and surgical expenses of a policyholder. A health insurance plan is one of the safest and secure ways to arrange financial cover-age to the insured family.

It is a medical insurance policy which offers financial coverage to the policyholder and covers the medical expenses during hospitalization. A health insurance plan mainly covers the insured by providing cashless hospitalization facility at a network of hospitals spread across India or will provide a reimbursement for the expenses incurred during hospitalization.

These health insurance plans reimburse the policyholders for their medical expenses which includes treatments, surgeries, hospitalization, injuries, or it may be a direct payout of some predetermined money to the insured person. Most of the insurance plans even offer cashless hospitalization facility at a selected network of a hospital during the tenure of the policy.

Added to this, the insurance cost will be subsidized to the insured person in the form of tax exemption under Section 80D of Income Tax Act of 1961.

As medical expenses are skyrocketing, it is better to have a Health Insurance Plan which protects you as well as your family as you can go for cashless hospitalization or for reimbursement to treat the unforeseen ailments.

Importance of Health Insurance Plan

• Avail Cashless Hospitalization Facility
• Get Income Tax Benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act
• Get coverage for Pre and Post Hospitalization Expenses

What Does a Health Insurance Plan Cover?

• Ambulance Charges
• Daycare procedures
• Inpatient Hospitalization
• Health Check-Up
• Pre and Post Hospitalization Expenses
• Ayush Treatment
• Domiciliary hospitalization charges
• Vaccination in case of animal bite
• Preventive Healthcare as well as wellness

Most of the Health Insurance Policies in India do not cover:

• Adventurous or Hazardous sports
• Pre-existing medical conditions at the time of purchase of a Health Insurance Plan up to the waiting period
• Addictive Conditions and disorders

After understanding the concept of Health Insurance and its importance, let's take a sneak peek into the 5 best health insurance plans in India.

1. Religare Care Health Insurance Plan

The health insurance plan offered by the Religare Health Insurance Company provides coverage for individuals as well as for the entire family. It provides an array of health insurance coverage to the insured individuals which include air ambulance cover, domi-ciliary hospitalization, alternative treatment, an international second opinion from another Doctor and so on.

 

Features of Religare Care Health Insurance Plan

• Sum insured ranges between Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 6 crores.
• Policy renewability is life long
• Entry Age is a minimum of 91 days (infants) and there is no maximum age bar limit for the applicant
• The plan covers the cost of the tests and investigations for up to 30 days before admis-sion to the hospital.
• Inpatient hospitalization expenses including ICU and room rent charges
• Daycare expenses
• Domiciliary hospitalization for a treatment which extends for more than 3 days (if in case admission of the patient to the hospital is not possible and treatment will be given at home).
• Ambulance Cover
• Organ Donor Cover (reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by organ donor at the time of organ transplant surgery)
• Alternative Treatment (Sidha, Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy)

2. Max Bupa Health Companion Individual Plan

This plan offered by Max Bupa is one of the affordable and comprehensive health insur-ance designed for individuals and nuclear families. It comes in three variants and pro-vides a range of medical coverage to the insured and his or her family members which also covers the cost of vaccination (in case of animal bite). The policy comes with an op-tion of two-year tenure.

 

Features of Max Bupa Health Companion Individual Plan

• Sum insured is Rs 3,00,000 - Rs 1,00,00,000
• Minimum age of the applicant is 90 days (infants) and there is no maximum age bar limit for the insurer
• There is no cap on room rent (except for suite and above room category).
• Get refill benefit. If in case the insurer has exhausted their insured amount, then they can go for refill benefit acts which offer an equal amount to the base sum insured amount as an additional amount for a subsequent claim against any kind of unrelated or different illness.
• Get coverage for alternative treatments as well.

3. Star Family Health Optima Plan

Offered by Star Health Insurance Company, the plan offers coverage for all the insured members of a family on a family floater basis. It is touted as one of the most affordable health insurance plans in the market which offers an array of insurance benefits at an affordable premium amount. The unique feature of the plan is it comes with an assisted reproductive treatment and even offers coverage to the newborn baby.

 

Features of Star Family Health Optima Plan

• Get Comprehensive coverage for the entire family at an affordable premium amount.
• Insured sum ranges between Rs 1,00,000 - Rs 25,00,000
• Minimum age of the applicant is 16 days (infant) and the maximum is 65 years
• Get an additional sum insured instantly. If in case the insured meets with a road accident, then the sum insured will be automatically increased by 25% and up to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh insured at no additional cost. (exception, in this case, exist if in case, the insured does not wear a helmet at the time of riding a two-wheeler as either a rider or pillion rider).
• Grace Period - This plan comes with a grace period of 120 days in case if the policy-holder fails to renew the plan.

4. Apollo Munich Optima Restore Plan

The plan provides extensive medical coverage starting from pre-hospitalization until post-hospitalization expenses. It comes in with a restore benefit which automatically re-stores the sum insured if in case it gets exhausted. Apollo Munich is well known for its faster claim settlement procedure, get the medical expenses reimbursed in the minimum possible time. 

Features of Apollo Munich Optima Restore Plan 

• Sum insured ranges between Rs 3 lakhs to Rs 50 lakhs.
• Get wider coverage - The family floater version of the plan extends insurance coverage to the proposer's dependent children, spouse, dependent parents, parents-in-law.
• Minimum age of the insurer is 91 days (infant) and the maximum age is 65 years.
• Get a long-term policy coverage option for up to 2 years, at an additional 7.5 per cent discount if the insured opts for a 2-year policy tenure.

5. HDFC ERGO Health Suraksha Gold Plan

The health insurance plan rolled out by HDFC offers medical expenses which include mental healthcare, hospitalization expenses, air ambulance, covers AYUSH treatments, domiciliary treatment expenses and so on. This plan can be bought by individuals, senior citizens, families and so on. 

 

Features of HDFC ERGO Health Suraksha Gold Plan

• Sum insured ranges between Rs 3 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs
• There is no minimum and maximum age limit to apply for this health insurance plan.
• This plan is valid across a wide network of 6000 plus network listed hospitals in India which offers cashless claims to insurers.
• The plan is available at various sum insured options as it is available for Rs 3 lakh, Rs 4 lakh, Rs 5 lakh, Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively.
• Cumulative Bonus facility - Get enhanced cumulative bonus after every claim-free year ranging between 5% - 50% based on the sum insured amount upon renewal.

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About the Author

Archana is a Content Writer at GoodReturns. She has been writing articles related to investment planning and personal finance for more than two years.