Pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a listed illness — cancer, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure. It is not health insurance: it does not pay hospital bills, it replaces the income you lose during a year of treatment and recovery. Most people need both, not one.
Illustrative figures until sourced from the insurer of record.
Lump sum on diagnosis
Yours to spend on anything
Covers income loss
Not just medical bills
Cancer-specific plans
Payout by stage
Premium waiver
Future premiums stop on claim
₹25 L cover to age 65, non-smoker, age 41
Premiums and claim-settlement ratios are illustrative until sourced from the insurer of record.
CritiCare
92.1% settledCovers 20 illnesses with the most generous early-stage cancer definitions we have read. Best if family history is a concern.
Critical Illness Platinum
98.5% settled15 illnesses but pays the full sum on first diagnosis with no staging reduction. Simpler and harder to argue with.
Cancer Protect
99.5% settledCancer only, so cheapest by far. Pays 25% at early stage and the balance at major stage, plus premiums waived.
Read this before you buy.
- Any illness diagnosed during the 90-day initial waiting period
- Illnesses not on the policy’s listed schedule — the list is exhaustive, not indicative
- Conditions arising from an undisclosed pre-existing illness
- Death within the 30-day survival period
- Congenital conditions and self-inflicted illness
This claim turns on the diagnosis document, not on hospital bills. The definition in your policy is medical and exact — a heart attack must meet stated enzyme thresholds to qualify.
- 01
Get the exact diagnosis in writing
· on diagnosisThe specialist’s report, histopathology and staging. The policy pays on a defined diagnosis, so the wording of that report is the claim.
- 02
Survival period
· 30 daysAlmost every plan requires you to survive 30 days from diagnosis before paying. If not, this pays nothing — which is what life cover is for.
- 03
Insurer’s medical review
· 2–4 weeksA panel doctor verifies the diagnosis against the policy definition. They may ask for a second opinion, which we arrange.
- 04
Lump sum paid to you
· 3–6 weeksTax-free, and unrestricted — treatment, loan repayment, income replacement, all your choice. Future premiums are usually waived from then on.
Assuming health insurance covers this. Health pays the hospital; it pays nothing for the eleven months you cannot work. Households with good health cover still sell assets during cancer treatment, because the income stopped.