Genuinely surprised by how many people have never bought a personal health policy because they assume their employer’s group cover is enough. So I had a conversation with Shrehith Karkera from Ditto Insurance about how employer health insurance actually works and what is most important for people to know:

Most employer plans are negotiated on cost, not comprehensiveness. Room rent sub-limits, for example, don’t just cap the room cost, they proportionally reduce surgeon fees, procedure costs, and everything else in the claim.

If you develop a condition under group cover and then try to buy retail, insurers will treat it as pre-existing. Someone who bought a personal policy at 25 has already passed the required checks, has 10 years of history, and will probably pay a smaller premium at renewal. Buying a new policy with pre-existing conditions would be a lot more expensive.

₹5–10L sum insured feels fine at 26. With medical inflation running at ~14% annually in India, it really isn’t at 36. Corporate cover usually stays flat. Personal policies can be upgraded.

The employer-paid premium also gets you no tax deduction. A personal policy in your own name does, every year.

Use the corporate cover for claims, keep your personal policy clean and let the no-claim bonus build. But the policy that protects you when it actually matters is the one you own.

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