Money Basics · Insurance done right

Health insurance

Your employer probably gives you group health insurance. That's a good start, but it's dangerously insufficient on its own.

Why corporate cover is not enough

1. You lose it the day you leave the job. Between jobs, no coverage.

2. Typical corporate cover is ₹3–5 lakh. Enough for a routine hospitalisation, not for serious illness.

3. It covers you, sometimes a spouse, sometimes parents, with restrictions.

4. Pre-existing diseases are often excluded in corporate plans.

> A serious private-hospital admission runs ₹5–15 lakh, and an extended ICU stay in a Delhi or Mumbai hospital sits at the top of that range. ₹5 lakh of corporate cover covers a fraction of it either way.

What you need

Individual or family floater policy: ₹10–25 lakh cover depending on city and lifestyle.

• Metro cities: aim for ₹15–25 lakh minimum
• Tier 2/3 cities: ₹10–15 lakh is reasonable

₹10,000–20,000Annual premium for ₹10L individual health cover (25 year old)

Key terms to understand

• Cashless hospitalisation: insurer pays hospital directly. You don't need to arrange money upfront
• Network hospitals: hospitals empanelled with your insurer for cashless claims
• Pre-existing disease waiting period: IRDAI caps this at 36 months. An insurer may offer shorter, never longer, so this is a term to compare, not a term to accept
• No-claim bonus: your sum insured increases each claim-free year
• Room rent limit: some plans cap the room category they'll cover, and exceeding it can scale down the whole claim proportionally, not just the room charge
• GST: individual health and life premiums have carried no GST since 22 September 2025, so the quoted premium is the whole premium. Employer group cover still attracts it

How to compare policies

There is no shortlist worth memorising here, because the right policy turns on clauses that differ per person. Compare on these: the room-rent clause (a sub-limit can scale down your whole claim, not just the room charge), disease-wise sub-limits, whether the sum insured restores after a claim, the pre-existing-disease waiting period, and whether the hospitals you would actually use are on that insurer's network list for your city.

Policies can be bought directly from an insurer or through an aggregator that puts several quotes side by side; either way, the comparison above is what decides how much you actually get paid.

Takeaway. Corporate health cover is temporary and usually insufficient. Buy a personal ₹10–25L health plan with cashless hospitalisation, no room rent caps, and no sub-limits.