How Much Health Insurance Cover Do You Actually Need

Rather than picking a round number, size your health cover against three things: typical treatment costs in your city for a serious illness or surgery, your family size (if using a floater policy), and how much of that cost you could comfortably pay out of pocket if a claim were partly disallowed or exceeded your sum insured.

Start with local treatment costs, not a generic number

Hospitalization costs vary significantly by city and by procedure. A cardiac surgery, cancer treatment, or extended ICU stay can run into several lakhs of rupees in a metro or tier-1 city — figures that outdate quickly, so check current estimates from hospitals in your specific city rather than relying on a fixed number quoted online.

Individual vs. family floater

A family floater shares one sum insured across everyone on the policy — cheaper than separate individual policies, but if two family members claim in the same year, the shared sum insured can run out faster than expected. An individual policy per family member protects each person's full sum insured independently, at a higher combined premium. Many families use a floater as a base and add a top-up policy for extra cover at a lower incremental cost.

A practical way to check your number

Ask what a serious hospitalization for the most expensive likely condition in your family (given age, health history, and family conditions) would cost locally, then set your sum insured — combining a base policy and a top-up if needed — to comfortably cover that scenario, not just an average one. Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation; claims are settled by the insurer subject to your specific policy's terms and conditions.