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Last updated on: May 20, 2025
Care Health Insurance and Royal Sundaram Health Insurance are both reputable providers in India, offering comprehensive health insurance plans with distinct features. Care Health Insurance is known for its wide network of over 21,100 cashless hospitals, extensive plan options, and high claim settlement ratio, making it suitable for families and individuals seeking broad coverage. Royal Sundaram, on the other hand, stands out with innovative benefits like lifelong renewability, quick claim processes, and value-added services such as free annual health check-ups. While both insurers offer competitive premiums and similar inclusions like maternity and critical illness cover, Care may appeal to those prioritizing a vast hospital network, whereas Royal Sundaram is ideal for customers valuing extra services and hassle-free claims. Ultimately, the best choice depends on your specific healthcare needs, preferred benefits, and the insurer’s service in your locality.
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Read BioIn terms of ensuring your safety and safeguarding your finances against increased healthcare costs, selecting the appropriate health insurance provider is essential. In India, Care Health Insurance and Royal Sundaram Health Insurance are the two companies that are frequently compared due to their high level of presence and the range of their services. New plans and features were added in 2025, and comparing and contrasting these two insurance companies can assist you in making a decision.
In this comprehensive article, we will contrast Care Health Insurance and Royal Sundaram Health Insurance, in terms of important features, plan benefits, premium rates, claim settlement procedure, customer care, and real life user reviews. This guide will help you answer all your questions whether you need health insurance to cover your family, senior citizens, or individuals.
Care Health Insurance (formerly known as Religare Health Insurance) is a leading standalone health insurer in India. It focuses on retail health, top-up, critical illness, maternity and group health plans. The plans offered by Care have become popular due to their wide coverage, the availability of network hospitals, and quick claim settlements.
Royal Sundaram is one of the most reliable general insurance firms in India with a diversified portfolio that includes health insurance products to individuals, families, senior citizens, and groups. The company is credited with bringing the first cashless treatment network and new coverage options to India.
You did not know?
Both Care and Royal Sundaram have won several awards in the insurance industry in the claim settlement and customer service category in 2023 and 2024.
As their needs change, both companies have revised their plans in 2025 to include COVID-19 related treatments, day care procedures, home care treatments, and advanced procedures.
Q. Do both insurers allow parents to be added to family floater health insurance plans?
A. Both Care and Royal Sundaram will permit you to include parents, but the entry age and premiums may differ across plans.
| Care Health Insurance | Royal Sundaram Health Insurance |
|---|---|
| Network Hospitals | 22,000+ |
| Maximum Amount Insured | 6 crore |
| No Claim Bonus | Up to 150 percent |
| Maternity Cover | Yes (with waiting) |
| Restoration Benefit | Available |
| Annual Health Checkup | Yes |
| AYUSH Cover | Yes |
| COVID-19 Cover | Yes |
| Pre Existing Disease Waiting | 2 to 4 years |
Experts Insights:
Care Health Insurance has more options in terms of high sum insured and extensive wellness benefits when compared to the others. Royal Sundaram on the other hand is strong in innovative restoration benefits and family oriented plans.”
Most buyers consider premiums. The table below shows the average annual premiums range of a 30-year-old male with a 10 lakh sum insured:
| Insurer | Individual Policy (₹10 lakh) | Family Floater (2 adults + 1 child) |
|---|---|---|
| Care Health | 6,200-8,800 | 11,000-14,500 |
| Royal Sundaram | 7,000-9,500 | 12,500-16,200 |
Both companies can reprice the premiums on an annual basis depending on medical inflation.
Add-ons such as critical illness cover and maternity riders add to the premium outgo of both.
Case Study:
In 2024, Ritesh, a Bangalore-based IT professional, selected Care Health Insurance to cover his family because of the low premiums and network coverage. His sister on the other hand decided to take Royal Sundaram Lifeline Supreme due to its unlimited restoration cover and maternity cover before her planned pregnancy in 2025.
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Q. What is the better claim settlement ratio of which company?
A. As per the IRDAI Annual Report 2024, Care Health Insurance scored about 92 percent, and Royal Sundaram scored a little higher at 94 percent in retail health.
Efficient claims handling is essential to any policyholder. By 2025, both insurers have digital-first cashless claims.
Real-World Illustration:
Priya is a school teacher in Chennai who had surgery in December 2024. She availed the cashless service of Royal Sundaram and appreciated their prompt service. Her colleague Rani Care Health also had quick turnaround, as she was approved in 3 hours.
Experts Insights:
Smart Cash plans are the best option to cover out-of-pocket expenses in the hospitalization, which is a common worry in Indian metros.
Both insurers are well established in major metro cities but Care has greater choices in tier 3 and distant regions.
Q. How do I verify the hospital network of the two insurers?
One can check empanelled hospitals by PIN code on their official websites or through online marketplaces.
Both insurers require a 36-48 month waiting period on maternity benefits in standard policies.
Real-world Illustration:
A couple based in Pune found the waiting periods on an online portal and preferred Care Health Supreme as the wife had thyroid.
Q. In 2025, do both insurers provide telemedicine benefits?
A. Yes, most plans cover telemedicine as part of the digital transformation of healthcare in India.
You did not know?
The transition to wellness-based plans in India resulted in a 17 percent growth in the number of memberships among the 30-45 age group in 2024 compared to the previous year.
The two companies have also invested in digital-first customer portals, chatbots, mobile applications, and toll-free support.
Both enable policy portability and lifelong renewability without hassles, provided underwriting checks are done.
The renewal reminders and online payments make the process easy.
Important factors to consider when choosing:
Compare the two products on reputable online marketplaces to compare them side-by-side, read recent reviews and get unbiased policy quotes across several insurers.
Recommendation: Consider the unique needs of your family, the sum insured required, and the hospitals of your choice. Use an online marketplace to narrow, compare, and select.
Q. Can I purchase health insurance online in 2025 with Care or Royal Sundaram?
A. Both are IRDAI licensed and have safe online purchase options with customer care.
Q. Are the room rent capping provided in both companies?
A. Capping is a feature of some base plans; make sure there are no sub-limit surprises.
Q. Can I move between Care Health and Royal Sundaram at renewal?
A. Yes, policy portability is permitted provided it is initiated prior to renewal, subject to underwriting.
Q. Senior citizens: Care or Royal Sundaram?
A. Both offer senior citizen plans, but it is advisable to compare them through an online insurance marketplace to get the best fit and value.
Q. How can I check the claim settlement ratio of these insurance companies?
A. Refer to the annual IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) public disclosure or trusted advisory portals.
How could we improve this article?
Written by Prem Anand, a content writer with over 10+ years of experience in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance sectors.
Prem Anand is a seasoned content writer with over 10+ years of experience in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance sectors. He has a strong command of industry-specific language and compliance regulations. He specializes in writing insightful blog posts, detailed articles, and content that educates and engages the Indian audience.
The content is prepared by thoroughly researching multiple trustworthy sources such as official websites, financial portals, customer reviews, policy documents and IRDAI guidelines. The goal is to bring accurate and reader-friendly insights.
This content is created to help readers make informed decisions. It aims to simplify complex insurance and finance topics so that you can understand your options clearly and take the right steps with confidence. Every article is written keeping transparency, clarity, and trust in mind.
Based on Google's Helpful Content System, this article emphasizes user value, transparency, and accuracy. It incorporates principles of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
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