Health insurance cover calculator
How much health insurance is enough for my family?
Scaled from the planner's ₹10 L metro family-floater target · ₹35 L in 10 years at 12% medical inflation
How this is calculated
Rules checked against their sources on 29 September 2026. Tax year FY2026-27.
The number that ruins retirement plans
A single hospitalisation is the most common reason Indian households fall into debt or sell assets. A bypass or a cancer course in a private metro hospital costs ₹5 to ₹15 lakh today and medical inflation runs at 10% to 14% a year, double the general rate. Health cover is not a tax-saving instrument; it is the fence around everything else you have saved.
How much is enough
The Eazyretire planner uses a ₹10 lakh family floater as the target that earns full credit today, because it covers most single metro hospitalisations. This page scales that for your family size, your city and the oldest person on the policy, then projects it at medical inflation to show what the same protection costs in ten years. The point of the second number is timing: cover bought later is bought at an older age, at a higher premium, and after any diagnosis that has happened in between.
Employer cover is a loan, not an asset
Group cover from an employer is real while you are employed and vanishes when you resign, are laid off, or retire, which is exactly when you are older and more likely to claim. Count it toward today's cover if you like; do not count it toward the cover you will need in retirement. Buy your own policy while you are healthy and keep it, because a policy held continuously carries its waiting periods and no-claim history with it.
The cheap way to a large cover
Premiums are age-banded and rise steeply after 45 and again after 60. A base policy of ₹5 to ₹10 lakh plus a super top-up of ₹20 to ₹50 lakh that kicks in above a deductible costs far less than a single ₹30 lakh policy, because the top-up rarely pays. Parents over 60 should be on their own policy, so that one long admission does not exhaust the family's floater. Premiums qualify under 80D in the old regime: ₹25,000 for the family, ₹50,000 if you are a senior, and the same again for parents.
What to look for
No room-rent cap or a high one, no disease-wise sub-limits, a short waiting period for pre-existing conditions, restoration of the sum insured, and a claim-settlement record you have checked. Since 2024 the regulator has moved to cashless claims across hospitals and shortened waiting periods; older policies may still carry the old terms and are worth porting.
Questions people ask
- Individual policies or a family floater?
- A floater covers everyone on one sum insured and is cheaper for a young family. Members over 60, or anyone with a condition, belong on a separate policy so their claims do not use up the family's cover and their loading does not raise everyone's premium.
- What is a super top-up?
- A policy that pays once your total hospital bills in a year cross a deductible, say ₹5 lakh. Because it pays rarely, a ₹25 lakh super top-up over a ₹5 lakh base costs a fraction of a ₹30 lakh policy. Match the deductible to your base cover.
- How much do premiums rise with age?
- Rate cards are age-banded: roughly 1.3× the under-35 premium at 35 to 44, 1.8× at 45 to 54, 2.4× at 55 to 59, 3.5× at 60 to 69 and 5× after 70, for the same cover. The retirement planner uses this curve; the calculator shows your band today and in ten years.
- Is my employer's cover enough?
- Rarely, and only while you are employed. It is usually ₹3 to ₹5 lakh, may cover parents at extra cost, and ends when you leave. Treat it as a bonus on top of your own policy, not as the policy.
- What does 80D allow?
- In the old regime: premiums up to ₹25,000 for self, spouse and children (₹50,000 if you are 60 or over), plus up to ₹25,000 for parents (₹50,000 if they are seniors), and ₹5,000 of preventive check-ups within those limits. Nothing in the new regime.
Want the whole picture?
A free Eazyretire plan puts this number next to your income, savings and spending and tells you whether your money lasts to the age you plan for, and what to change if it will not.