Cheapest Health Insurance Plans: Buy Affordable Plans


Buying a comprehensive health insurance policy has become necessary in today’s age when medical costs are touching the roof. You, therefore, need a health insurance plan which not only has extensive coverage features but also a high sum insured so that your medical expenses are sufficiently covered. However, when you opt for a comprehensive health plan with a high sum insured, affording the premiums might become a challenge. That is why many of you look for the cheapest health insurance plans in India for your coverage needs.

Insurance companies understand the need for low premium health insurance plans and so they price their plans competitively. Moreover, they offer attractive premium discounts which help you reduce the premium outgoes so that you get the cheapest health insurance policy without affecting the coverage. Premium discounts are available in the following cases –

  • When you buy a long term plan with a tenure of 2 or 3 years
  • When you add two or more family members under the coverage
  • When you practice healthy living
  • If you do not make a claim in a policy year you might earn a no claim discount
  • If you buy the policy online
  • If you submit favourable medical reports, many insurance companies allow premium discounts
  • You might also get a loyalty discount if you are an existing customer of the company 

Plans offering cheapest health insurance in India

There are different types of health insurance plans which offer affordable health insurance without compromising on the coverage features. The top cheapest health insurance policies under each category are mentioned below –

  • Individual health insurance plans

    Individual health insurance plans are those which cover a single individual under a single sum insured. Some of the cheapest medical insurance plans in this category are as follows –

    Name of the plan

    Sum insured

    Salient features 

    The premium for a 35-year old healthy male for a sum insured of INR 5 lakhs

    HDFC ERGO Silver Smart Plan 

    INR 3 lakhs to INR 5 lakhs

    • No sub-limits on room rent
    • Annual health check-ups
    • Sum insured restoration benefit

    INR 8744

    Universal Sompo Complete Health Care Individual Essential Plan 

    INR 6 lakhs to INR 70 lakhs

    • Inpatient dental treatments are covered
    • OPD expenses are covered
    • Coverage for maternity expenses

    INR 6523

    Star Health Comprehensive Individual Plan 

    INR 5 lakhs to INR 1 crore

    • No sub-limits on room rent
    • Free health check-up
    • Automatic sum insured restoration 

    INR 8277

  • Family floater health insurance plans

    Family floater health insurance plans are those which cover you, your spouse, dependent children and dependent parents. The plan covers all family members under a single policy thereby offering complete coverage to your entire family. Top three family floater cheapest health insurance policies are mentioned below –

    Name of the plan

    Sum insured

    Salient features 

    The premium for a 35-year old healthy male and his wife aged 34 years for a sum insured of INR 5 lakhs

    Aditya Birla Platinum Enhanced 

    INR 2 lakhs to INR 2 crores

    • Chronic illnesses are covered from day 1
    • No room rent capping
    • 100% reload of the sum insured 

    INR 12,648

    HDFC ERGO Health Optima Restore 

    INR 5 lakhs to INR 50 lakhs

    • 100% restoration of the sum insured
    • 50% no claim bonus after every claim-free year
    • Free annual health check-up

    INR 12,392

    Religare (now known as Care Insurance) Care

    INR 4 lakhs to INR 6 crores

    • Automatic restoration of the sum insured
    • Free second opinion 
    • A single private room without sub-limits 

    INR 10,885

  • Senior citizen insurance policy

    Senior citizen health insurance plans are those which cover individuals aged 60 years and above. These plans cater to the health insurance needs of older individuals and offer them coverage for their healthcare needs.

    Name of the plan

    Sum insured

    Salient features 

    Star Red Carpet Senior Citizen Health Plan 

    INR 1 lakh to INR 25 lakhs

    No pre-entrance health check-ups are needed

    Modern treatments are covered

    Outpatient consultation is also covered

    IFFCO Tokio Family Health Protector

    INR 1.5 lakhs to INR 30 lakhs

    160+ day care treatments are covered

    Critical illness can be covered

    No pre-policy tests up to 60 years

    Oriental Individual Mediclaim Policy 

    INR 1 lakh to INR 10 lakhs

    Dental treatments due to an accident are covered

    AYUSH treatments are covered

    Daily hospital cash benefit 

    Voluntary co-payment option

Alternative to cheapest health insurance plans

Another alternative to the cheapest health insurance plan is a super top-up health insurance policy. The policy allows you to increase your sum insured at affordable premium rates. Super top-up plans have a sum insured and a deductible limit. If the aggregate claims exceed the deductible, the excess claim is paid.

For example, say you buy a super top-up policy for a sum insured of INR 10 lakhs and a deductible of INR 5 lakhs. In a year you suffer a claim of INR 3 lakhs. Since the claim is below the deductible limit of INR 5 lakhs, the super top-up plan would not pay the claim. After a few months, you suffer another claim of INR 3 lakhs. In this case, the total claims suffered aggregate to INR 6 lakhs. Since this amount exceeds the deductible of INR 5 lakhs by INR 1 lakh, the super top-up plan would pay the excess of INR 1 lakh as a claim. 

Super top-up plans help in supplementing an existing health insurance policy that you might have. They have affordable premium rates thereby allowing you to easily afford a high sum insured. 

The top super top-up plans are as follows –

Name of the plan

Sum insured

Salient features 

The premium for a 35-year old healthy male for a sum insured of INR 10 lakhs and a deductible of INR 5 lakhs

HDFC ERGO Medisure Super Top-up

INR 3 lakhs to INR 20 lakhs

  • No pre-entrance health check-ups till 55 years of age
  • Constant rates of premiums from 61 years of age
  • Attractive premium discounts

INR 1298

Care Enhance

INR 1 lakh to INR 30 lakhs

  • No room rent capping
  • Free health check-up every year
  • Coverage for organ donor treatments

INR 3087

So, if you are looking for the cheapest health insurance plans, you can consider the above-mentioned plans for a good scope of coverage at attractive premium rates. You can also opt for super top-up health insurance plans along with your normal health insurance policy. Super top-up plans would help in increasing the coverage at affordable premiums and prove to be the cheapest medical insurance coverage. So, make your choice and get covered under a comprehensive health insurance plan which is light on your pockets too.


FAQ’s

A top-up policy considers each claim against the deductible limit and if the claim exceeds the deductible the excess claim is paid. Under a super top-up plan, however, the aggregate claims made in a policy year are considered against the deductible. If the aggregate value of claims exceeds the deductible limit, the excess claim is paid. Super top-up plans are, therefore, have a higher probability of claim settlement especially in case of multiple small claims within the same policy year and should be chosen for better coverage.


Yes, health insurance premiums increase with age. So, every time that you renew the policy, the premium would increase. Moreover, if you increase the sum insured at renewal or add a new family member to the coverage, the premium would increase.


The rate of discount depends on the type of discount that you are availing and the practice followed by the insurance company. Usually, you can get a discount ranging from 5% to 15% each on different parameters like choosing a long term policy, covering two or more family members, practising a healthy lifestyle, etc.


No claim discounts are offered by some health insurance plans. Under most plans, the sum insured is increased without increasing the premium if you don’t make a claim in a policy year. This type of no claim bonus is also called cumulative bonus because the sum insured keeps increasing after each claim-free year on a cumulative basis.


Some health insurance companies increase their premiums on renewal depending on their claim experience. Either because of your claim history or because of the overall claim experience of the company, the premium rates might be increased to help the insurance company collect higher revenues from customers to maintain their financial stability. This increase in premium due to claim history is called claim-based loading on the premium.