Care Supreme Health Insurance – Detailed Review

Care Supreme is one of the hottest and most selling health insurance plans in India. This health insurance plan is offered by stand-alone health insurer Care Health Insurance. 

Care Supreme provides comprehensive coverage as it covers all the bases and that too with a very competitive pricing. 

But for whom is this health insurance plan good for? Should you buy this plan for yourself and your family?

Here’s the detailed review of Care Supreme for you to find out if this health insurance plan is for you or not:

Highlights of Care Supreme Health Insurance Plan

Care Supreme offers some great benefits which make it stand out from other health insurance plans available in the Indian health insurance market.

Cumulative Super Bonus: Cumulative super bonus in Care Supreme increases your cover by 600% over a period of 5 consecutive years irrespective of your claim status. So with 5 years into the policy, your cover becomes 7 times your base sum insured you started with. The amount does not reduce even if you make a claim in the future. If you started your policy with a base sum insured of Rs. 10 Lakh, after 5 years you end up having the effective cover of Rs. 70 Lakh. 

This is one of the best features as it ensures that you never run out of cover under your health insurance policy. However this is not a default feature and comes with an added cost.

Unlimited Automatic Recharge: Care Supreme comes with inbuilt unlimited automatic recharges. If you run out of cover in any policy year, your base sum insured will get automatically restored to cover any future claims in that policy year.

Instant Cover: With this add-on feature, you don’t have to serve a waiting period on your pre-existing disease. You can cover your pre-existing diseases instantly. If you are suffering from hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia or asthma, get them covered from Day 31 under the plan by paying a little extra premium. 

Main Benefits of Care Supreme

Care Supreme is a decent health insurance plan which covers all the base benefits. It does not have any sub-limits or cappings which makes it a great choice. 

Here are the benefits covered:

Hospitalisation Expenses and Room Rent: Care Supreme covers all hospitalisation expenses and room rent at actuals upto sum insured. There are no sub limits or disease wise cappings.

Day Care Treatments: All day care procedures are also covered under Care Supreme health insurance plan at actuals. 

Pre and Post Hospitalisation Expenses: Pre and post hospitalisation expenses are covered upto 60 and 180 days respectively at actuals ensuring that you get the most comprehensive coverage in case of hospitalisation.

Other Benefits: This health insurance plan covers AYUSH treatment, domiciliary hospitalisation, organ donor expenses and advance technology methods at actuals upto sum insured. Road ambulance cover is available while air ambulance cover is an add-on available at extra cost.

Health Services: Unlimited E-Consultations and doctors on chat are also available. 

Wellness Benefits: You can also get discounts on renewal premiums if you follow a healthy and active lifestyle which meet certain milestones. Free annual health checkup is available for all insured persons under the policy once a policy year. However, these are add-on benefits which come with an extra cost.

Care Supreme Policy Conditions

You have the option of choosing from a wide range of sum insured ranging from Rs. 5 Lakh to Rs. 1 Cr.

Minimum age at entry for adults is 18 years and for dependent children is 90 days. Maximum age at entry for a child is 24 years while there is no maximum age at entry for adults. So you can buy this Care Supreme plan at any age. You can also consider this plan for your older parents or grandparents.

You can buy the policy as a multi individual or family floater. Tenure options of 1, 2 or 3 years are available. 

What’s good is Care Supreme?

Most of the base benefits in Care Supreme are covered at actuals upto sum insured. This ensures you get comprehensive and robust coverage. You have the option to get instant cover in case of 4 pre-existing illnesses which are hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia or asthma which is a great add-on. You get 600% of cumulative super bonus which does not even reduce in case of future claims. Your health insurance coverage literally jumps 7X in a span of 5 years. 

Care Supreme is one of the most affordable health insurance plans out there in the market. The plan comes with zone wise premiums. However, you can take the treatment anywhere in India without any copay. 

Drawbacks of Care Supreme

Waiting period for pre-existing diseases is 48 months which is pretty long. Though you have the option to reduce your waiting period on PEDs to 1, 2 or 3 years, this comes at an extra cost making the plan expensive.

Coverage on non-medical items only comes with an add-on at extra cost. It covers only 68 listed items and hence does not look comprehensive. 

The plan covers all bases but do not expect anything extraordinary such as global cover, maternity benefit cover, bariatric surgery cover etc. 

Though the plan with just the base benefits is quite affordable with base benefits, adding riders or add-ons such as cumulative super bonus or instant cover make it expensive. 

About Care Health Insurance

Care Health Insurance Company Limited is a stand alone health insurer in India providing health insurance and related coverage. It was started in 2012 and was then known as Religare Health Insurance Company Limited. It is promoted by and is a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises.

Care Health Insurance is currently the second largest stand alone health insurance company in India by annual new business premium staying only behind Star Allied and Health Insurance.

If we look at its claim settlement ratio (CSR), Care Health Insurance showcased a stellar performance in the FY 2023-24 with a CSR of 92.61%. Its last 3 years average claim settlement ratio is 90% which is a mark of efficient and smooth claim settlement practices adopted by the company. 

Its last 3 years average incurred claim ratio (ICR) stands at 59% with an average combined ratio of 96.67%. Combined ratio of less than 1 indicates that the company is managing its claims and other expenses well, keeping them put together less than net premiums earned. 

However, Care Health Insurance also received a higher volume of claim complaints with the last 3 years average being 36. This is definitely a cause for concern.

The insurer works with a network of 9400+ hospitals throughout the country to ensure that you avail cashless treatment facility. 

Should you buy Care Supreme Health Insurance?

Care Supreme is a decent product covering all the base benefits of health insurance. There are neither cappings or sub-limits on any kind of treatment nor are there any room rent restrictions. The plan has no copay. The plan comes with zone-wise premiums but you can take treatment anywhere in India without any restrictions. 

The best part is that all these come at very affordable premium rates. 

Its cumulative super bonus feature makes your cover 7X in 5 consecutive years. This is an amazing feature which can take care of medical inflation for a long time. Though this comes at a little extra price. 

The company is performing well in terms of claim settlement ratio, incurred claim ratio and combined ratio. The only cause of worry could be its high volume of claim complaints. 

If you are looking for a basic health insurance plan at affordable pricing, this plan is good for you. Also if you have pre-existing diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia or asthma, this plan is a good choice as you can get instant cover with no waiting period of PEDs at a little extra cost.