Care Freedom in one table
| Insurer | Care Health Insurance Limited |
|---|---|
| Sum insured | ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh, in tiers of 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 10 lakh. The ₹7 lakh and ₹10 lakh tiers sit under Care Freedom Plan 2, which has a minimum entry age of 46. |
Claim settlement and complaint figures are IRDAI-published and held centrally by NYVO, not taken from the insurer's marketing.
What Care Freedom covers
These are the terms that decide what you are actually paid when you claim. Room rent, co-pay and restoration do more to shape a settlement than the sum insured does, and they are read from Care Health's own policy wording.
| Feature | This plan | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-existing disease waiting period | 24 months of continuous coverage – the whole reason this plan exists, and a year shorter than the 36 months on Care Health's mainstream plans | 36 months or less |
| Pre-policy medical check-up | None, at any age or sum insured, subject to the underwriter's discretion | Not required |
| Co-payment | 20% or 30% of every claim, as set in your schedule. It rises by a further 10% from the policy year after the eldest insured person turns 71, though you can pay to waive that increase if you were 70 or under when you first bought the policy. | No Co-payment |
| Room Rent Limit | Twin sharing room up to ₹5 lakh cover, and capped at 1% of the sum insured a day below ₹5 lakh. A single private room only comes with the ₹7 lakh and ₹10 lakh tiers. | No room rent capping |
| ICU charges | Capped at 2% of the sum insured a day below ₹5 lakh cover; no limit at ₹5 lakh and above | No ICU limit |
| Disease sub-limit | Yes, and they bite. Cataract ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 an eye, knee replacement ₹70,000 to ₹1.2 lakh a knee, hernia, hysterectomy, prostate and kidney stone surgery ₹35,000 to ₹80,000, and cardiac, cancer, renal and fracture treatment ₹1.5 lakh to ₹3 lakh, depending on your tier. | No sub-limit |
| No Claim Bonus | None. Care Freedom has no cumulative or no-claim bonus at all, so the cover you buy is the cover you keep. | 50% each year (Minimum upto 100%) |
| Restoration Benefit | Full sum insured reinstated once in a policy year, but only for an illness unrelated to the one already claimed. Not available at all on the ₹2 lakh tier. | 100% restoration once in a year |
| Pre and Post-Hospitalization | Not measured in days. Combined, they are capped at 7.5% of the payable hospitalisation claim up to ₹4 lakh cover, and 10% above it, and post-hospitalisation runs until 30 days past the policy end date. | At least 60 days pre and 120 days post |
| Consumables | A Consumable Allowance of ₹500 to ₹1,000 a day, for up to 7 days per hospitalisation and only for days beyond the first three. It is a fixed daily cash amount, not reimbursement of what you actually spend. | Consumables covered |
| Day-Care Procedures | A specified list of day care treatments, covered up to the sum insured | Covered without a capped list |
| Companion Benefit | ₹10,000 or ₹15,000 depending on your tier, once a policy year, if a single hospital stay runs beyond 10 consecutive days | Included |
| Dialysis Cover | Up to ₹1,000 a sitting for up to 24 consecutive months. Kidney disease already diagnosed as chronic before the policy started is not covered under this benefit. | Included |
| Annual Health Check-up | Once a year for every adult insured, cashless, regardless of claims history – blood count, urine, blood group, fasting sugar, lipid profile, kidney function and ECG | Included |
| Ambulance Cover | Up to ₹1,000 per hospitalisation | Included |
| Entry age | Plan 1 from 18 for adults and 90 days for children; Plan 2 needs the individual, or the eldest insured on a floater, to be 46 or over. No maximum entry age for adults. | No maximum entry age |
Care Freedom add-ons you can buy with it
Each of these costs extra and each has its own conditions. Some are genuinely worth it; several exist to patch a gap in the base plan. Ask what each one adds before it goes on your quote.
Care Freedom discounts you can ask for
Published discounts on this plan. Most are applied at quote stage rather than offered, so it is worth naming the ones you qualify for. Every figure is a ceiling, not a promise - what you actually get depends on the case.
| Discount | Worth | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Tenure discount | Up to 7.5% and 10% | 7.5% off the second year on a two-year policy and 10% off the third on a three-year policy, when paid as a single premium. |
| Family discount | Up to 5% or 10% | Where more than one member of the same family is covered individually in the same policy. 5% for two or three people, 10% for four to six. |
| Deductible discount | Up to 18.5% to 60% | In exchange for bearing the first ₹25,000 to ₹3 lakh of each year's claims yourself. The percentage falls as the sum insured rises. |
From the plan's own prospectus.
Care Freedom waiting periods: when each part of the cover starts
Waiting periods run from the day cover began, not from the day you fall ill, and they run in parallel rather than one after another.
| Initial Waiting Period | 30 days |
|---|---|
| Named Ailment | 24 months |
| Pre-Existing Disease | 24 months |
The named illnesses that wait 24 months
Care Freedom's named-ailment list is far longer than the industry standard, and that is the detail buyers miss. It runs to 23 entries and includes heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and every type of cancer – all of which most plans cover once the 30-day initial wait is over. An accident is covered from day one. This list is indicative; the wording carries the full set.
Care Freedom exclusions: what the plan will not pay for
Every policy carries exclusions, and they are the clauses people read for the first time at claim stage. These are the ones worth knowing before you buy.
Where Care Freedom falls short
No plan is right for everyone, and a page that only lists strengths is not much use to you. These are the gaps we would raise on a call before recommending it.
Care Freedom questions, answered
How long do pre-existing conditions wait on Care Freedom?
24 months of continuous coverage, confirmed in the current policy wording, the prospectus and the Customer Information Sheet. That is a year shorter than the 36 months Care Health applies on Care, Care Advantage, Care Supreme and Ultimate Care, and it is the main reason to consider this plan. If you see three years quoted for Care Freedom anywhere, including on our own pages before this review, it is wrong.
Do I need a medical test to buy it?
No. The plan is sold with no pre-policy medical check-up at any age or any sum insured, though the insurer notes this remains at the underwriter's discretion. That is what makes it viable for someone with diabetes, hypertension or a high BMI who has been declined or heavily loaded elsewhere. You still have to declare your conditions honestly – non-disclosure is what gets claims rejected, not the condition itself.
How much of a claim will I actually have to pay myself?
At least 20%, and it applies to every claim rather than only the first or only certain conditions. From the policy year after the eldest insured person turns 71 it rises by a further 10%. There is one narrow escape: if you or the eldest insured were 70 or under when the first policy was issued, you can pay extra to waive that increase, at a loading of 7.5% on the premium. The base 20% or 30% cannot be waived.
Is cancer covered from the start?
No, and this is the single most important thing to understand about Care Freedom. All types of cancer sit on the named-ailment list along with heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and end stage liver disease, so they wait 24 months from your first policy. On most plans these conditions are covered once the 30-day initial waiting period ends. Only an accident is covered from day one here.
What are the sub-limits?
They scale with your sum insured. Cataract is capped at ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 an eye, a knee replacement at ₹70,000 to ₹1.2 lakh a knee, and hernia, hysterectomy, prostate surgery and kidney stone surgery at ₹35,000 to ₹80,000. Cardiac, cancer, renal and fracture treatment is capped between ₹1.5 lakh and ₹3 lakh. Your co-payment comes off whatever is payable after the cap, so on a large claim the two compound.
Should I buy Care Freedom or a normal plan with a loading?
It depends on how insurable you are. If a mainstream insurer will take you with a premium loading, that is usually the better deal – you keep uncapped room rent, no sub-limits, no permanent co-payment and a compounding bonus, and you only pay more. Care Freedom is for the case where a normal plan will not take you at all, or will exclude the condition permanently. Compare the two quotes side by side rather than assuming a cheaper premium is a better outcome.
Read it from the insurer
We summarise. The policy wording is the contract, and it is the only document that settles a dispute. These links go to the insurer's own pages.
Understand the terms before you commit
A plan page tells you what this policy does. These explain why each term matters and what it costs you when it is missing.
Other Care Health plans we have read
Care Health files these separately, and the terms differ between them. If you are choosing within the range, compare the waiting periods and the exclusions rather than the sum insured.