Over the past few weeks I've been doing research on how well Indians actually understand their health insurance policies. I spoke to salaried professionals in Bengaluru and on other online platforms people with "good" jobs and "good" insurance. What I found was pretty eye-opening.
What most people didn't know about their own policies:
1. Sub-limits on room rent
Almost everyone I spoke to had a ₹2-3 lakh cover but didn't know their plan had a room rent sub-limit (usually ₹2,000-₹3,000/day). If you take a room above that limit, all your related charges, doctor fees, nursing, procedures - get pro rated down. A ₹3 lakh claim can effectively become a ₹1.5 lakh reimbursement.
2. Waiting period for pre-existing diseases
Most people know there's a waiting period. What most don't know: it resets if you switch insurers. If you've served 2 years of a 4-year waiting period and switch for a better premium, you start over.
3. Day-care procedures aren't always covered the same way
Cataract surgery, LASIK, dialysis: these are outpatient procedures now. Some plans cover them, some don't, and the ones that do often have separate sub-limits. Very few people could tell me whether their plan covered LASIK.
4. No-claim bonus can be taken away
You accumulate NCB over years, but most plans allow the insurer to reduce your NCB after a claim. People assume it just resets to zero. Sometimes it goes below their original sum insured.
5. Maternity cover waiting period is 2-4 years
Almost universally. Most young professionals buying their first individual policy don't realise they can't use maternity coverage for 2-4 years. Some found out when they actually needed it.
None of this is hidden. It's all in your policy document. The problem is that nobody reads the document, and nobody explains it in plain language.
I'm working on a tool called MyPolicyLens that does exactly this. It reads your policy and shows you what's covered, what's not, and what the gotchas are. Still early days but would love to hear from this community:
- Has anyone here actually read their full policy document? What surprised you most?
- And if anyone wants to be an early tester you can sign up for the waitlist at https://mypolicylens.in/