Review of top 5 health insurance plans in india

Today, the need for health insurance is indispensable. Opting for a health insurance cover helps you in safeguarding your family’s health as well as from contingencies arising from rising medical costs. We have around 25 health insurance companies operating in India with a variety of plans offered based on customers need. Each plan differs in terms of features, cost and additional benefits offered. Hence, it’s quite difficult to choose the BEST among them. In this article, we have shortlisted some of the best health insurance plans after comparing them on the basis of below parameters.

• Unique features of the product
• Claim settlement ratio
• Credibility of the insurance provider

Top 5 Best Health Insurance Plans

Plan

Policy Type

Entry Age

Renewal Age

Policy Term

Sum Assured

Claim Settlement Ratio

1. 15
2. 16

Religare Health Insurance Care

Individual/ Family Floater plan

91 days

Life Long Renewal

1 year/ 2 year/3 year

1 lakh- 60 lakh

61.13%

57.25%

Max Bupa Heartbeat Health-Gold Plan

Individual/ Family Floater plan

3 months

Life Long Renewal

1 year/ 2 year

2 lakh- 1 Cr

55.16%

59.53%

Apollo Munich Easy Health

Family Floater Plan

3 months

Life Long Renewal

1 year/ 2 year

1.5 lakh- 7.5 lakh

63.03%

64.61%

ICICI Lombard Health Advantage Plus

Individual/ Family Floater plan

5 years

70 years

1 year

2 lakh - 3 lakh

87.38%

82.09%

Bajaj Allianz Health Guard

Individual/ Family Floater plan

3 months

80 years

1 year

1.5 lakh- 10 lakh

73.59%

74.94%

Moving on, let’s go through the unique features of these top health insurance plans and credibility of insurance providers.

1. Religare Health Insurance Care

Religare health insurance is one of the most prominent health insurance providers in the market. Religare health insurance is started by the founders of ‘Fortis Hospital, Religare Wellness and SRL Diagnostics’. Such is the goodwill and market credibility of this insurance provider. There is no third party agent involved in the claim settlement which makes the entire claim settlement process quick and easy. Religare has a huge network of 4700+ hospitals covered in its cashless facility.

Here are a few unique features of Religare Health Insurance Care:

• This comprehensive policy can be purchased online. It offers restoration benefit wherein limits can be recovered if the initial sum insured is exhausted by any of the family members.
• Care Anywhere is a unique benefit offered under this plan. The policyholder can enjoy insurance benefits for treatment availed across the world for specified treatments (listed in the policy).
• Organ donor’s hospitalization expenses are also covered under the plan

2. Max Bupa Heartbeat Health Insurance:

Max Bupa is one of the leading players in health insurance sector. It’s a joint venture of Max with the UK based Bupa financial which has over 60 years of market experience. The Company offers innovative and comprehensive plans with direct settlement route.

Apart from all the other hospitalization benefits, here are few exclusive features of Max bupa heartbeat gold

• Plan offers maternity benefits for 2 deliveries
• Policy can be bought for an individual as well as family. Cover can be extended to 14 members of the family
• Heartbeat also offers coverage for new born’s first year vaccination.

3. Apollo Munich Easy Health Plan

It’s a joint venture of Munich Health and Apollo Hospitals which is the largest and leading healthcare providers across Asia. The Company offers products in ample of variety at an affordable cost.

Here are some salient and unique features of Apollo Munich easy health plan:

• Coverage includes maternity expenses, Homeopathy and Unani treatments and Ayurvedic treatments too.
• It also extends coverage for hospitalization, ambulance charges, and daily cash allowances for the organ donor.
• Policy is cost-efficient with optional critical illness rider.

4. ICICI Lombard Health Advantage

ICICI Lombard is one of the largest private players in the field of health insurance. It’s a joint venture of India’s leading bank ICICI and Canada based general insurance player Firefax Financials.

Here is the USP of ICICI Lombard Health Advantage:

• Most suited plan for individuals which covers both inpatient and outpatient treatments under the single policy.
• Policy covers H1N1 flue/swine flue

5. Bajaj Allianz Health Guard

The company’s coverage is wider. It covers 5000+ hospitals for the cashless facility. Products are affordable and also efficient to serve every need of the buyer. This leading market player is a joint venture between Bajaj Finserv and Allianz SE.

Here are the unique features of Bajaj Allianz Health Guard

• Policy offers coverage for 130 day care treatments.
• Covers laser eye surgery after 4 years of waiting period
• No sub-limits on room rate with relatively cheaper premium

Conclusion

On a closing note, Insurance requirement of each individual is need based. We have put in our effort to help you shortlist some unique and best health insurance plans. It is always crucial to consider affordability, features, claim settlement ratio and market credibility of the insurance provider. Our advice is to carefully review the health plans available based on your requirement and affordability.

Source: IRDAI annual reports 2014-2015 & 2015-2016

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