It’s important to know how you can apply for health insurance in india — especially when it comes to finding affordable and accessible coverage. Use this guide to learn about health insurance in india, including important information about applying for coverage, the types of plans available, and more.
There are a variety of benefits to being insured. More often than not, there’s a wide range of insurance policies to cater different segments of population. Here’s how you can apply for health insurance in India…
If you are looking to apply for health insurance in India, there are a few things you should know. You can apply for health insurance online through the official website of your chosen online insurance provider.
To start your application, you will need to enter some basic information about yourself and your family members. This includes: name, date of birth, gender, current address and contact information.
You will also need to provide some basic medical history about each individual in your household. You will be asked about any pre-existing conditions or allergies that any member of your household may have. You will also be asked about any current medications they may be taking.
Once all this information has been entered into the application form by either yourself or another member of your household (if you choose), it is time to choose a plan that best suits your needs!
Why to Buy Best Health Insurance Policy?
Needless to say, it is imperative to buy the best health insurance policy, as it helps you to keep up with the ever-soaring healthcare costs and assures you and your family of a healthy future without having to worry about the medical bills and hospitalization expense. And, when it comes to buying health insurance plans, you might get confused about which plan to buy out of many.
We at Policybazaar can help you select a top health insurance plan to meet your requirements. You can compare & select the best health plan for yourself and your family that will cover medical expenses including pre & post hospitalization expenses, day-care expenses, coronavirus treatment, critical illness hospitalization, etc. depending on your preferences.
Best Health Insurance Plans in India
Below is a list of best health insurance plans in India from some of the top-rated health insurance companies.
| Health Insurance Plans | Entry Age (Min-Max) | Sum Insured (Min-Max) | Network Hospitals | Covid-19 Treatment | – |
| Aditya Birla Active Assure Diamond Plan | 5 years & above | Rs. 2 Lakh – Rs. 2 Crore | 7100+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Bajaj Allianz Health Guard | 18-65 years | Rs. 1.5 Lakh – Rs. 50 Lakh | 6500+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Bharti AXA Smart Super Health Plan | 91 days -65 years | Rs. 5 Lakh – Rs. 1 Crore | 4500+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Care Health Care Plan (Formerly Religare Care Health Insurance Plan) | 91 days & above | Rs. 4 Lakh – Rs. 6 Crore | 7800+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Cholamandalam Chola Healthline Plan | 18-65 years | Rs. 2 Lakh – Rs. 25 Lakh | 7250+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Digit Health Plan | N/A | Rs. 2 Lakh – Rs. 25 Lakh | 5900+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Edelweiss Health Plan | 90 days – 65 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 1 Crore | 2578+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Future Generali CritiCare Plan | 18-65 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 50 Lakh | 5100+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| IFFCO Tokio Health Protector Plus | 18-65 years | Rs. 2 Lakh – Rs. 25 Lakh | 5000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Kotak Mahindra Health Premier | 18-65 years | — | 4800+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Liberty Health Connect Supra Top-up | 18-65 years | Rs. 3 Lakh – Rs. 1 Crore | 3600+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| ManipalCigna ProHealth Insurance | 18 years & above | Rs. 2.5 Lakh – Rs. 1 Crore | 6500+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Niva Bupa (Formerly known as Max Bupa) Health Companion Individual Plan | 91 days & above | Rs. 3 Lakh – Rs. 1 Crore | 4500+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| National Parivar Mediclaim Plus | 18-65 years | Rs. 6 Lakh – Rs. 50 Lakh | 6000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| New India Assurance Senior Citizen Mediclaim Policy | 60-80 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 1.5 Lakh | 3000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Oriental Individual Mediclaim Policy | 18-65 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 10 Lakh | 4300+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Raheja QBE Comprehensive Plan | 90days-65 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 50 Lakh | 5000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Reliance Critical illness Insurance | 18-55, 60, & 65 years (as per the SI) | Rs. 5 Lakh – Rs. 10 Lakh | 7300+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Royal Sundaram Lifeline Supreme Health Plan | 18 years & above | Rs. 5 Lakh – Rs. 50 Lakh | 5000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| SBI Arogya Premier Policy | 3 months – 65 years | Rs. 10 Lakh – Rs. 30 Lakh | 6000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Star Family Health Optima Plan | 18-65 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 25 Lakh | 9900+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Tata AIG MediCare Plan | – | Rs. 3 Lakh – Rs. 20 Lakh | 4000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| United India UNI CritiCare Health Care Plan | 18-65 years | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 10 Lakh | 7000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
| Universal Sompo Complete Healthcare Plan | 18 years & above | Rs. 1 Lakh – Rs. 10 Lakh | 5000+ | Covered | VIEW PLAN |
SEE LESS PLANS
Disclaimer : *Policybazaar does not endorse, rate or recommend any particular insurer or insurance product offered by an insurer.
How to Select Best Health Insurance Policy
You cannot have one health insurance policy that meets all of your requirements. There are a number of health insurance policies that are available and each policy offers some unique coverage benefits. You need to ascertain the benefits and know what all is covered and what is excluded, and then select the best health insurance policy. You can do some online research or you can speak to our customer care team, and opt for the one that suits your requirements.
Tips to Choose a Health Insurance Plan in India
Undeniably, health insurance is one of the most essential insurance policies to have considering the spike in the occurrence of health problems at an early age, in the current climate. Further, the astronomical medical treatment costs place clear stress on the necessity of having a health insurance policy.
But unfortunately, health insurance in India is the most neglected type of insurance as it doesn’t provide any benefits unless you get sick. While nobody wants to get sick, you must understand that health problems are an undeniable part of our lives. Therefore, it is very important to stay prepared for the financial consequences of a health problem. You cannot plan and get sick, but you can certainly stay financially prepared for the worst.
There are a variety of health plans available in India, from individual plans to family floater and senior citizen health insurance. So, you need to assess your requirements first and then purchase a health plan.
Here are 7 tips to help you choose the best health plan: –
1. Look for the right coverage
Choose a health plan that secures you against a wide range of medical problems, and provides benefits including pre and post hospitalization, daycare expenses, transportation, illnesses that you may be at risk of due to your family’s medical history, etc. If you are buying health insurance for your family, check whether the policy meets the needs of each member of your family. Consider your requirements, compare plans on benefits and costs, and apply a little due diligence to choose a plan that caters to your needs.
2. Keep it affordable
While it is important to buy a health plan that meets your needs, it is equally important that it suits your pocket as well. Budget is a hugely important aspect when buying health insurance. But, you should consider the plan benefits before you consider the price of the plan. It is a wise decision to buy a reasonably priced health cover at the start to ensure you are covered properly and the premiums are also affordable. With time, you can review your plan and increase cover appropriately with the rise of income, family size, and requirements.
3. Prefer family over individual health plans
Individual plans are good for individuals who do not have a family to support. However, if you are buying health insurance keeping your family in mind, purchase a family health plan to enjoy maximum benefits at a more affordable price.
4. Choose a plan with lifetime renewability
When you buy a health plan, make sure to check for how many years the plan will cover you or whether it offers limited renewability or not. Why? Because you will require a health plan the most during the later years of age. So, choose health plans which offer lifetime renewability.
5. Compare quotes online
You can compare health insurance policies online to ensure that you buy a health plan that caters to your needs. You can even ‘request a quote’ online which means you can enter your details on the website and get an estimated premium for your policy. Collect the best quotes and then compare them to arrive at a decision.
6. Network hospital coverage
Once you have a selected list of health plans, check whether or not your preferred hospitals and doctors are included in their hospital network. Always prefer an insurance provider that has a wide network of hospitals across the world. With IFFCO-Tokio, you can choose from 5,000+ network hospitals where you can avail quick, convenient and cashless claims settlement!
7. High claim settlement ratio
The claim settlement ratio is the number of claims settled by the insurance provider over the total received claims. Always choose an insurer that has a high claim settlement ratio. We at IFFCO-Tokio have settled a total of 8.61 lakh claims in FY2019 and have a claim settlement ratio of 92.65%. With us, you are in safe hands!
Use these tips to maximize your benefits when you shop for health insurance. It is an investment that you are making to safeguard yourself from the financial burden of high healthcare costs – make sure you make the most of it.
You can also use our health insurance calculator: –
Yes, that’s right! You can use our health insurance calculator to get a better idea of the coverage we offer and the premium of your plan. All you have to do is visit our health insurance page, enter your name & mobile number. After this, just follow the 4 simple steps given below:
1. Choose the kind of plan & enter your details:
After you enter your name & number, you will have to choose between individual & family health insurance plans. Once you make your selection, you need to enter some basic personal details such as your date of birth, your gender, the sum insured you want, your email address, etc.
2. Get a quote
Based on the information you provide, our insurance calculator will present you with an instant quote for your health policy. You can review the coverage & include any add-ons you want. The calculator will re-calculate the premium of your plan based on the edits you have made.
3. KYC
Once you have settled on the coverage & premium of the policy, you can proceed to buy the plan. In order to do this, you will have to fill out the KYC form and tell us about your medical history first. This will hardly take a few minutes and you should remember to scan through all your details to look for any errors before moving forward.
4. Make the payment
Finally, all that’s left to do is pay the premium amount. To make this step easier and more convenient, we offer multiple payment options for you to choose from. After the transaction is processed, you will find the policy document in your mailbox and the coverage of your plan will begin.
Using our health insurance calculator allows you to customize the plan as per your needs and get health insurance in India that’s a perfect fit for your medical needs and your budget.
Don’t forget about add-ons!
This is another important tip you should keep in mind when choosing a health insurance plan in India. Add-ons are optional extras that widen the protection of your policy to better suit your coverage needs. Some of the common add-ons that you can choose from including the following:
Critical illness cover – This is one of the most important add-ons in health insurance. It gives you added peace of mind from the financial impact of life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, stroke, heart disease, etc. So, if you are looking for the best health insurance plan in India, make sure it offers this add-on.
Other important covers to look for:
Not all health insurance plans in India offer the same amount of coverage. Some insurance companies omit certain things to keep the cost of the plan on the lower side. However, this could end up hurting you in the long run. Therefore, when choosing a medical insurance policy, it is important you look out for these important features as well:
1. Ambulance charges – Getting emergency transportation to the hospital is extremely important. However, it can also be quite expensive too! Keeping this in mind, the best health insurance in India will always cover ambulance charges. This ensures that, in a critical situation, you can get prompt help without worrying about the charges.
2. Day Care Procedures – Medical emergencies do not always require overnight hospitalization. There are several healthcare procedures that are costly but require less than 24 hours of hospitalization. The best health insurance in India will cover a higher number of such procedures. In this regard, our plans cover 160+ day procedures.
3. Vaccination & health check-up charges: It is important to look for health insurance in India that covers these costs. Not only do our plans cover vaccination costs, but they also cover health-up charges as well!
4. Daily allowance: Hospitalisation can lead to the loss of income. In this case, miscellaneous expenses can start to pile up! Keeping this in mind, the best health insurance plans in India will offer daily allowance for the number of days you are hospitalized. This will help you cope with expenses better! Our family health insurance plans offer daily allowance of up to a maximum of ₹1,000 per day!
How to buy health insurance in India?
Now that you know how to choose from the various health insurance plans in India, let us tell you how to go ahead and buy a plan. With IFFCO-Tokio, this is the easiest part – you can visit one of our 20,000 branches or authorize agents.
You can rest assured that they will hand-hold you through the entire purchase process and ensure you leave with the policy document in hand and a smile on your face. You can also buy health insurance online. The process is relatively easier and can be completed just by following these 4 steps:
Log onto our website:
Right, the first step would be to visit our health insurance page. Once you’re there, just enter your name and mobile number. After this, you will be redirected to our health insurance calculator. Here you will have to choose between individual and family health insurance plans. Then you will have to enter some simple details such as your date of birth, gender, email address, the sum insured you want, etc.
Get a quote:
Once you submit all these details, our health insurance calculator will provide you with an instant quote. You can customise the quotation by increasing/decreasing the sum insurance and including the add-ons you want. Once you have zeroed-in on the right coverage, you can proceed to the next step.
KYC:
Here you will have to fill out all the required KYC information. You will have to start by filling in your emergency contact details, information about your nominee and other important data. After this, you might have to upload a couple of documents.
Paying for the plan:
Once you have completed the KYC, all that’s left to do is make the payment. We offer several payment options & gateways to choose from. Once the transaction is successful, the policy document will land in your inbox and the coverage of your policy will begin!
Benefits of Best Health Insurance Plan in India
If you think that health insurance covers medical expenses only in the case of hospitalisation, then you’re wrong. Apart from providing financial assistance during hospitalisation, the best health insurance policy in India comes with other more benefits as well. Let’s have a look:
- Cashless Treatment: With a good health insurance plan, you can avail cashless treatment at a network hospital. It is a boon as you don’t need to pay out of your pocket best. The insured just needs to complete the paperwork with the hospital authority and avail the facility while the health insurance company will take care of the bill.
- Daily Allowance: Some health insurance companies offer a daily amount for each day of hospitalisation. This doesn’t affect the actual sum assured. This amount can be availed up to a certain daily limit and can be spent on medicines or other health-related requirements.
- Tax Benefits: Section 80D of Income Tax Act says that the insured can claim for tax deduction against the premium paid for health insurance. An individual can claim a deduction of up to Rs. 25,000 on health insurance premium. If one is paying the insurance premium for his/her elderly parents, then a deduction up to Rs. 30,000 is permissible.
- Covers Life-Threatening Illnesses: Lifestyle diseases are deadly and expensive at the same time. A person with an average income may not be able to afford the treatment required for these diseases. If one owns a health insurance plan with critical illness cover, then a lump sum amount will be paid towards the medical expenses incurred in the treatment after the diagnosis. As this comes as a rider cover, one can cover critical illnesses under his/her health plan on the payment of an extra premium.
- Avail Allied Benefits: Some health insurers in India have come up with preventive check-ups and enhanced diagnostics, which usually are not included in a basic health insurance plan. Obviously, this is a smart move and includes the following benefits:
- Free medical check-ups
- Free health consultation with doctors
- Consultation with nutritionists
- Tie-up with health service providers
- Lucrative offers on healthcare services.