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I am looking for a policy where you don't even have to self-declare.

Health insurance companies sell you insurance even if you have some pre-existing disease you & they know you have - in these cases, they have a cool-off period for that particular period - say 3 years.

So if you have X disease, then you can't claim any insurance for any X-disease related illness for 3 years.

So why is there not a policy where companies allow cool-off for all diseases - i.e. after buying the policy, you pay premiums for 3 years but for the first 3 years, you cannot claim any insurance. Post 3 years everything is covered.

This will avoid a situation where they can refuse a claim because they think you hid something in your self-declaration.

Guys any advice on this? My apprehension is that they will keep rejecting all future claims because they will keep asking the same question and I will keep giving them the same answer which they will ignore. If that is going to be case, then there is no point of paying the premium amount every year. I would rather look for a different insurance co. (my mother is 70+ by the way).

Got a shocker mail from Niva Bupa for the renewal of my Medical Insurance. The premiums had been hiked by 25% almost. No reasons mentioned in the renewal mail. When I called the customer care, they mentioned that an add on had been automatically added to the premium cost. Even after removal of the add on, there was a 14% hike whereas the customer care claimed a nominal 10% hike which was normal for the Insurance co. My premium has almost reached now 45K levels whereas the tax benefits are still stuck at 25K. Apart from the hiked premium, the NCB has been stagnated since last year so no change in the Sum Insured either.

I checked for online quotes from other Insurers (didnt opt for general Insurance cos but specific cos which offer only medical Insurance like Apollo, Star Health, TTK Cigna etc), the rates were fairly same as what Niva Bupa offered. Thinking of renewing the same. Any alternate thoughts.

Why don't you try health insurance offered by Union Bank of India. You can buy it if you have account with them. I opted for it 3 years ago and premium at that time was around Rs.13600 for 10 lakhs policy for whole family if the age of eldest person in the family is less than 50 years. Now prices were increased and it costs Rs.15623 for 10 lakhs for whole family. Claimed twice and no issues with them in my case. Union Bank itself does not provide insurance, instead it will sell Manipal Cigna Prohealth Group insurance policy at discounted prices.

I am 25 years old and was looking to get my first health insurance. I fed my details into Acko and got a sum of 10.5k for a coverage of 1 crore. Should I go for it? Seems way too cheap, i thought health insurances are way more expensive than this. Total noob here, would also help any material on this topic.

^^ If you are in India, meet an insurance advisor of a reputed insurance company, have him explain the policy clearly, what will be allowed and not allowed while filing claims, future bonuses etc and then buy a policy. Even though it will cost more than an online quote. A policy purchased online based on lowest premium will mean a lot of caps on many things and a lot of co-pay during claims. We are talking long time here, you will not always be 25!

Check if you (or the oldest member covered in case of a family floater policy) has moved to the next higher age bucket for this year.

The premium escalates significantly in the case of a change in some age buckets.

I am the oldest member in the family floater policy and there's no change to the age bracket. Had moved 2 yrs back and have 3 more yrs before I move to the next age bracket.

Essentially there's no logical reason given by the Insurance co other than inflation. A 10% hike every year for the policy is unwarranted for. Insurance cos have added more customers annually post Covid.

I have been with Apollo Munich then HDFC and have just shifted to Acko. They are doing what they did to car insurance. The reason I went with Acko:

1. For the same premium, I had 25 lakhs with HDFC/Apollo including no claim bonus, Acko gave me 1 cr

2. Acko has what they call inflation, every year, your coverage increases by 10%. Even if u make claims, this is not affected (unlike no claim which resets to 0)

3. No drama of porting no waiting etc, the coverage starts from day one

4. Refill for family members, This was the main reason I switched to Apollo Munich. Say I exhausted the limit for some medical treatment, and another family member needs, Acko will refill the entire amount. So 1 cr us available fr other family members too (I cant claim anymore this year)

5. No co-pay, no limit on room rents. This is important bcos if I go to APollo, the room rent starts at 7k for simple private room

6. Second-opinion coverage is included, very rarely this is included by other insurers.

7. Vision correction above +7.5 is covered (most insurance don't cover).I am already at +5.

8. Organ donar coverage, with the limit of 1 cr, this becomes more practical, having 10-15 lakhs coverage is not going to make this possible

9. All consumable coverage, most insurance have a clause where they will reject many of these

10. All ayush treatment in recognised hospitals is covered (most insurance don't)

I had a great experience with Acko with their motor insurance, so I went ahead with that. Its time we moved away from these traditional insurers and advisors (just like how we have in moto insurance)

Question regarding super top-up plans (note, not top-up, but super top-up): Suppose I go for a base policy of 10L and a super top up plan with a deductible of 10L and sum insured of 1Cr. This tends to be relatively cheap compared to a base policy of 1Cr.

What is the catch? I have spoken to a couple of agents, read through brochures, etc. and it seems like a no-brainer to do that instead of going for a single base policy with a high sum insured.

Why do the base policies with high sum insured even exist in this case?

Yes this is a good option to add additional cover. These are relatively new to the market and the premium is low because the provider has lower risk (your chance of putting a claim and the base cover being from a different insurance provider and hence lower risk for super top-up provider).

Base policy with high sum insured are old in age. Super top-ups are relatively new. Hence high sum insured policies are a hard sell these days. Also, it will be like 5L + 95L v/s 25L + 175L kind of a thing. You choose what you see as value for yourself and family.

Hi Ram. Thanks for your post. I was in the same boat and was wondering about the service from Acko. How did you get the policy and was it ported from HDFC ergo?

Bought it online. Acko does not believe in porting, your policy is active from day 1 and they don't have waiting period. Having said that I do not have any health issues, so all their questions of existing issue my answer was "No", so I am not sure if the process changes if you say yes.

In my case, both base and super top-up are from the same provider. So essentially, the risk to the provider is the same, isn't it? I'm covered either way for a large sum.

Hence, my question about any possible fine print catches that allow the base + super top up to be so cheap compared to just a base plan for the same sum insured amount.

This explains the pros and cons:

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/74311809.cms