Health Insurance plans, compared

All health insurance plans we have reviewed

Scores are plan features 45%, insurer strength 45%, premium 10% — how we score plans.

What separates these plans

• HDFC ERGO Optima Secure+ — This is the plan we put in front of most families, and the reason is the claims record rather than the feature list. A 97.61% settlement ratio with 8.87 complaints per 10,000 claims means that when you are standing at a hospital billing desk, this insurer is the one most likely to just pay. The Infinite Benefit is the other reason — cover that adds 100% of the base every year with no ceiling quietly solves the medical-inflation problem that catches most people out a decade in. It costs more than Activ One MAX. We think it is worth it.
• Care Health Care Supreme — Care Supreme has the better feature sheet and HDFC ERGO has the better claims desk, and which of those you weight more heavily should decide it. The unlimited recharge, the 22,100-hospital network and the Instant Cover add-on are all real advantages, especially if you live outside a metro or have a pre-existing condition you want covered quickly. But 42.67 complaints per 10,000 claims is a number we will not talk you past — it means roughly one in every 234 claims ends up escalated. Buy this for the network and features, with your eyes open about servicing.
• Aditya Birla Health Activ One MAX — The best value on this list, and by a clear margin. It undercuts every other plan at every profile while holding a 96.25% settlement ratio, and the 500% cumulative bonus means the cover you buy at 28 is worth several times as much by 40. The caveats are that restoration starts from your second claim rather than your first, and that maternity is not available at all. If you are young, reasonably healthy and not planning a pregnancy in the next few years, this is where your money goes furthest.
• Niva Bupa ReAssure 2.0 Platinum+ — On paper this is the cleverest product here. The age-lock, Booster+ and unlimited restoration together form a design nobody else has matched. The problem is the gap between design and delivery: a 92.92% settlement ratio and 37 complaints per 10,000 claims are the weakest insurer metrics of the five. We recommend it to buyers in their twenties and thirties who will hold it for a long time without claiming, because that is exactly the scenario the age-lock and Booster+ are built for. If you expect to claim early or often, take HDFC ERGO instead.
• SBI General Super Health Platinum Infinite — The most feature-complete plan on this list and, unavoidably, the most expensive. The two features worth paying for are the 2-year pre-existing disease wait and restoration from the first claim — both directly reduce the odds of a claim being declined in the early years. That combination makes it worth a serious look if you are covering parents with existing conditions, where the third waiting year is a genuine risk. For a healthy 25-year-old it is dramatic overkill; Activ One MAX does the job for a quarter of the price.

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