Category hub
Health Insurance
Choose, use, and defend the right health cover for your family — without agent-speak.
Health insurance is the most confusing insurance line most Indian households buy. A single ₹10 lakh policy can have a 1% room-rent sub-limit, a 20% co-pay, a 3-year pre-existing-disease waiting period, and a 30-day initial waiting period — each clause capable of reducing your effective cover without you realising it at purchase time.
This hub covers the mechanics, the comparisons that actually matter, and the claim-time realities insurers do not highlight in the brochure. We focus on indemnity (mediclaim) cover for Indian residents; international travel medical cover lives under our travel hub.
Start with the beginner guide if you are buying for the first time, the porting guide if you already own a policy and want to switch, or the room-rent article if you want to understand why two policies with the same ₹10 lakh sum insured can behave very differently at claim time.
What you'll learn on this hub
- How family floater, individual, and super top-up policies interact
- Why room-rent limits trigger proportional deductions on every other charge
- When cashless works and when reimbursement is your fallback
- The 30-day, specific-disease, and pre-existing disease waiting periods
- How to port without losing waiting-period credit
- Section 80D deduction limits and preventive health check-up benefit
Guides
- What is health insurance in India?
A beginner guide to family floater, sub-limits, co-pay, and waiting periods.
- Family floater vs individual
When each structure makes sense, and when to hybrid them.
- Pre-existing disease coverage
IRDAI's 36-month cap, waiting periods, and porting credit.
Coming soon
- Cashless vs reimbursement
Process, timelines, and the hidden gotchas at claim time.
- Room rent limits explained
Why the proportional deduction clause can cost you lakhs.
- Super top-up explained
The most cost-efficient way to raise your effective cover.
- Health insurance for parents
Senior-citizen plans, co-pay, and structuring for 60+.
Coming soon
- Port your health insurance
The 45-day rule, continuity credit, and what to watch for.
Calculators
- Health Insurance Adequacy Calculator
Indicative recommended health-cover for an Indian household — based on city tier, age of oldest member, family size, and existing employer cover, with a medical-inflation projection.
Claim guides
- Cashless hospital admission — step by step
What the insurance desk, the TPA, and you should each do from admission to discharge, with realistic timelines.
- Health insurance reimbursement claim filing
The documents to collect, the order of events, and the 30-day IRDAI settlement clock.
- What to do when cashless pre-authorisation is denied
Common reasons, how to appeal, and when to escalate to the IRDAI grievance channel.
- Proportional deduction dispute
How to check whether the insurer applied the room-rent sub-limit correctly and what to do if they did not.