How Much Health Insurance Cover Do You Need?

Short answer: For a family in a metro, aim for a meaningful base cover plus a larger top-up plan, because hospital bills for serious illness in private care have risen sharply.

Why Employer Cover Is Not Enough

The group health cover from your employer is useful but ends the day you leave the job, is often modest, and may not cover your parents. Treat it as a top-up, not your only protection. Always hold a personal policy you control.

Sizing the Cover

Medical inflation in India runs well above general inflation, and a single major surgery or ICU stay in a private hospital can be very expensive. Pick a base cover that handles a routine hospitalisation comfortably, then stack a super top-up plan that kicks in beyond a chosen threshold for big bills, since top-ups are cheap per rupee of cover.

Family Floater vs Individual

A family floater covers everyone under one shared sum and is cost-effective for a young family. Older parents are usually better insured separately, because claims by elders can exhaust a shared floater quickly and raise everyone's renewal.

Read the Fine Print

Check waiting periods for pre-existing diseases, room-rent limits, co-payment clauses, sub-limits on specific procedures, and the list of cashless network hospitals near you. A higher premium with no sub-limits often beats a cheap policy riddled with caps.

Buy Before You Need It

Health cover is hardest to get once you already have a condition. Buy while young and healthy to clear waiting periods early, and never let a policy lapse, since that resets those waiting periods.

Sources: IRDAI

This explainer was written by The Dispatch desk to answer a question readers commonly ask. It is general information, not personalised financial advice.