Need insight into health insurance

With my experience, the Care health insurance premium for my parents (> 65, pre-existing disease) was costlier than other providers.
HDFC Ergo and Maniple Cigna had very competitive premiums compared to Care. This was two years back.
 
My parents currently have a Care health insurance with 5 lakh SI. It due for renewal next month.
The renewal link shows me that the premium has doubled :screamcat:
The renewal page also shows an option to switch to "Care Advantage" plan which has SI starting from 25 lakhs.
For 25 Lakhs SI, the premium is coming to be the same as the existing policy( 5 lakh SI) premium. With 25 lakhs base coverage, I can skip the super top up insurance.
So the premium doubles but the SI is increased by 5 times!!
Need to check the policy terms in detail.
 
I went through the policy wordings of Care Advantage health insurance plan and compared it to a plan on Manipal Cigna.
I found the Manipal Cigna better in terms of the automatic recharge, exclusion list and of course the premium amount.
I choose Manipal Cigna for the comparison because, my parents have a super top up insurance from them.
I did go through the HDFC Ergo plan but looks like they won't cover new policies for individuals aged above 65. Their portal doesn't have that option.
Their Sales team promised a call back from the portability team but I haven't received a call from them.

I have captured the comparison in here
docs.google.com

Health insurance plan comparision 2023

Sheet1 Care Advantage,Manipal cigna Prime senior Classic,Manipal cigna Prime senior Elite,HDFC Ergo optima secure Link to Policy wordings,<a href="https://cms.careinsurance.com/cms/public/uploads/download_center/care-advantage-(health-insurance-product)-policy-t&c-(effective-from-01-april-2021)...
docs.google.com docs.google.com
 
TinTinSnowy said:
@sudokp I had zero success with insurance portability. No insurance company wants to port an existing policy especially for aged.
Click to expand...
Yep, looks like it.
I will try if I can get it ported to Manipal Cigna :fingers_crossed:

I have captured the comparison in here
Click to expand...
One notable observation I made while conducting my comparison is that companies are now incorporating common medical procedures like knee replacement surgery and varicose vein treatments into their permanent exclusion list.
 
Is Star health a good health insurance? Anyone here has a good exp. or review from peers?
Asking as few people are praisg a lot about Star.
 
nRiTeCh said:
Is Star health a good health insurance? Anyone here has a good exp. or review from peers?
Asking as few people are praisg a lot about Star.
Click to expand...
I had a pretty rough experience when trying to cancel my policy during the free-look period. It's been a whole month, and I still haven't received my refund.

Firstly, it took them a good 8 days just to acknowledge my cancellation request, and that's only after I made multiple follow-up calls to their customer care. The real problem started when I tried to cancel a ported policy, which, according to the policy brochure, isn't eligible for the free-look period. However, the welcome letter for my policy clearly states that it is indeed eligible. In insurance, it's usually the policy statements that hold the most weight. So, naturally, I raised a grievance ticket, but to my surprise, there was no response. I escalated it to grievance level 3, but again, no reply. To make matters worse, the customer care executives seemed to have no idea about the grievance tickets. There's even a separate customer care number for grievances, and that led me to wait on the line for around 10 minutes before talking to a human. However, when I did connect, I was simply forwarded to the claims department, which, unfortunately, didn't have a clue about the grievance tickets. I made the call to the grievance customer care number twice, and both times I ended up speaking to the claims department. The worst part was that each time I had to endure that 10-minute hold just to be forwarded to someone who couldn't help.

In desperation, I decided to raise a ticket on the BhimaBharosa portal, maintained by the IRDA. After waiting 5 days, I finally received a response, which stated that the free-look period doesn't apply to ported policies. But why did my welcome letter clearly mention the free-look period, and why hasn't anybody addressed that? It's been 15 days now, and I still haven't received a response to my escalation.

Meanwhile, I've requested policy cancellation with a 17.5% premium deduction (if canceled within a month), just so I can get something back. I did receive a confirmation that my request is being processed, but I haven't seen any refund credited to my bank account, and it's been 13 days.

If it's this tough to cancel a policy, I can only imagine how complicated the claims process would be. I've certainly made up my mind to steer clear of Star.
 
sudokp said:
I had a pretty rough experience when trying to cancel my policy during the free-look period. It's been a whole month, and I still haven't received my refund.

Firstly, it took them a good 8 days just to acknowledge my cancellation request, and that's only after I made multiple follow-up calls to their customer care. The real problem started when I tried to cancel a ported policy, which, according to the policy brochure, isn't eligible for the free-look period. However, the welcome letter for my policy clearly states that it is indeed eligible. In insurance, it's usually the policy statements that hold the most weight. So, naturally, I raised a grievance ticket, but to my surprise, there was no response. I escalated it to grievance level 3, but again, no reply. To make matters worse, the customer care executives seemed to have no idea about the grievance tickets. There's even a separate customer care number for grievances, and that led me to wait on the line for around 10 minutes before talking to a human. However, when I did connect, I was simply forwarded to the claims department, which, unfortunately, didn't have a clue about the grievance tickets. I made the call to the grievance customer care number twice, and both times I ended up speaking to the claims department. The worst part was that each time I had to endure that 10-minute hold just to be forwarded to someone who couldn't help.

In desperation, I decided to raise a ticket on the BhimaBharosa portal, maintained by the IRDA. After waiting 5 days, I finally received a response, which stated that the free-look period doesn't apply to ported policies. But why did my welcome letter clearly mention the free-look period, and why hasn't anybody addressed that? It's been 15 days now, and I still haven't received a response to my escalation.

Meanwhile, I've requested policy cancellation with a 17.5% premium deduction (if canceled within a month), just so I can get something back. I did receive a confirmation that my request is being processed, but I haven't seen any refund credited to my bank account, and it's been 13 days.

If it's this tough to cancel a policy, I can only imagine how complicated the claims process would be. I've certainly made up my mind to steer clear of Star.
Click to expand...
Woah! Thats a bummer!

Then which policy to get is the big question now? Or its better to rely on employers policy and immediately die after retirement year.
 
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