ICICI Lombard’s health plan tops Mint-Beshak ratings

livemint.com:

Mint series, dissects health insurance plans based on the ratings decided by Mint-Beshak.org. It aims to help consumers understand the salient features of each product that has made its way to the list, starting with Health AdvantEdge. Launched in August 2022, Apex Plus Plan is the latest version of Health AdvantEdge and is renewable for the lifetime.

Here is why it gets top rating. These are the two important features in any health plan. Take for instance a health plan that has a room rent limit of ₹5,000 per day.

“If the actual room cost is ₹10,000 per day, not only will the additional ₹5,000 per day have to be paid by the policyholder but the concept of proportionate deduction will also apply. In such a case where the insurer has only paid 50% of the room rent, it will also pay only 50% of each and every item in the hospital bill," says health insurance expert Aditya Shah. What about single private AC room category? “All rooms like general wards and twin-sharing rooms can be taken without any proportionate deduction, but if you take a suite, the concept of proportionate deduction will come in, thereby limiting your claim," says Shah.

Health AdvantEdge doesn’t have any room rent or type limit. The policy doesn’t have any disease-specific limits either. However, bariatric surgery is limited to 50% of the sum insured (SI) and comes with an upper cap of ₹10 lakh.

Insurance regulator Irdai has specified that the maximum waiting period for pre-existing diseases should not go beyond four years in any health policy. ICICI Lombard has capped it at just 2 years in Health AdvantEdge. Bariatric surgery is the only exception, having a waiting period of three years.