Reliance Health Gain Plan vs Star Comprehensive With PED Buyback Rider Plan: Overview 2025

In India health insurance is a necessity because the cost of medicine is increasing annually. In selecting a health policy, it is essential to make comparisons between various plans depending on your healthcare requirements, budget, and coverage of preexisting conditions. The Reliance Health Gain Plan and Star Comprehensive Plan containing PED Buyback Rider may be considered among the most outstanding ones in 2025 and meet various coverage needs.

These two health insurance products have good hospitalization coverage; however, there are serious differences in terms of waiting period, coverage of preexisting diseases, sum insured options, wellness benefits, and flexibility. Knowing these points in an in-depth manner, you can easily choose the policy that will bring more value to you and your family.

What Is the Reliance Health Gain Plan and Star Comprehensive Plan with PED Buyback Rider?

Reliance Health Gain Plan is a generic health insurance product offered by Reliance General Insurance to individuals, couples, and families. It has flexible sum insured packages, OPD benefits, wellness incentives and personalized add-on cover. The initiative has been widely recognized because of its comprehensive network access to hospitals, cashless treatment and customer-friendly payment of claims.

Star Health has the Star Comprehensive Plan including PED (Pre-Existing Disease) Buyback Rider of their advanced health coverage. It not only offers broad hospitalization and recuperation advantages, but also has an innovative rider. PED Buyback Rider definitely saves your waiting time on the pre-existing illnesses and therefore is perfect on the pre-existing illnesses.

Did you know?
According to IRDAI data, average health insurance claim increased by more than 28% in the 2025 metro cities due to the increase in medical inflation.

What Are the 50 Majors Differences between Reliance Health Gain Plan and Star Comprehensive PED Buyback Plan?

What Are the Reliance Health Gain Plan Highlights?

• Selection of three schemes: Plus, Power, Prime with incremental benefits.
• Extensive range of sums insured applicable to individual and floater.
• Key covers: hospitalisation, day care, domiciliary, pre and post hospitalisation, donor expenses
• Full recovery of unrelated or related diseases up to 100 percent.
• Higher sum insured No room rent capping.
• Included coverage of current procedures such as robotic surgeries.
• Wellness rewards: fitness points which can be used on premiums.
• PD and maternity add-ons option.
• Fast settlement of claims and customer e-support.

Pros

• Healthy reward points.
• Floater may cover up to 6 family members.
• Fast PED waiting reduction using an add-on.
• No limit on some higher treatments.

Cons

• Maternity and OPD are only available as add-ons.
• Less amount insured plans begin at [?]3 lakh, can be restricted in high cost cities.
• Fewer network hospitals on the list compared to Star.

People Also Ask

Q: Is it possible to purchase the Reliance Health Gain Plan online, and process my claims electronically?
A: Yes. The Health Gain Plan can be purchased and managed online, where documents could be uploaded and the status of your claims could be tracked on the Reliance General Insurance site or the app.

Expert opinion: According to insurance advisers, the flexible add-ons of Health Gain suggest that it is one of the most modular health insurance plans of 2025.

What Are the Highlights of Star Comprehensive Plan with PED Buyback Rider?

• Large amount of sum insured with comprehensive benefits.
• All processes of day care discussed on day one.
• Maternity cover (above 36 months), newborn baby cover and vaccination benefits.
• Outpatient dental and ophthalmic cover (in built) to a maximum of [?]25,000 per year.
• Up to 100% automatic restoration of related/unrelated claims several times per year.
• Annual health checkup of all the insured members even without claims.
• PED Buyback Rider: cuts down the existing waiting period to 12 months (pricey)

Pros

• PED Buyback Rider a blessing to the prevailing health conditions.
• Extensive outpatient and maternity provisions included.
• Massive hospital chain in India (more than 14,000)
• No sub-limits on room rent
• Free annual health check-up regardless of whether you claim.

Cons

• Base premiums are relatively high as compared to Reliance.
• Unable to minimize PED waiting = zero years with rider (minimum 12 months)
• No wellness steps/activity as strong as Reliance.

What is the better Plan to cover Pre-existing Diseases (PED)?

Star Comprehensive Plan including PED Buyback Rider is the best choice among the ones who need PED coverage as soon as possible. Waiting period under this rider is reduced to only 12 months, otherwise it is three years.

Only the PED add-on by Reliance Health Gain reduces waiting to two years, and Star does it with a one-year turnaround with the rider. Star helps you get claims covered faster in the case of diabetes, high blood pressure or even a previous operation.

People Also Ask

Q: Does not the PED Buyback Rider apply to all sum insured bands in Star Comprehensive Plan?
A: PED Buyback Rider Generally, PED Buyback Rider is offered on sum insured options except senior citizen policies; check availability at purchase.

Did you know?
A majority of the urban insured citizens in India currently have at least one chronic condition, and by 2025, PED-friendly plans will be a necessity.

What are the Major Characteristics of each Plan?

The features of Reliance Health Gain Plan.

• Describes 16 high-level day care operations.
• International second opinion on some of the serious diseases.
• Ambulance up to [?]3000 per occasion.
• None of the claim bonuses that add every year without claims.
• Tax benefits under Section 80D

PED Buyback Rider of Star Comprehensive Plan.

• In-patient hospitalization in private single AC room irrespective of sum insured.
• Nursing and non-medical fees included.
• Ayush treatment with no co-pay limited to sum insured.
• Personal accident cover with respect to accidental death (included to [?]10 lakh)
• Bariatric insurance (obesity) cover is offered.

Comparison of Added Benefits.

People Also Ask

Q: Do these plans in 2025 have an association with rewards related to fitness trackers?
A: Reliance has step-based wellness rewards that can be verified via their app. Star Health has more renewal discounts based on claim-free years.

How Are the Premiums on the Two Plans?

Premiums on both plans differ depending on the sum insured, age group, location and optional riders.

An example of a couple of 35 years who considers [?]10 lakh sum insured (no major rider):

• Reliance Health Gain Plus: [?]14,500 per annum
• Star Comprehensive Plan + PED Buyback Rider: Approx. [?]17,500 per annum.

The introduction of such feature as OPD or international cover in Reliance, the PED rider in Star, will add up to [?]2,000 - [?]4,000 per year.

Did you know?
You can directly shop online and compare premiums through health insurance comparison sites, where you can compare benefits and base rates of several insurers.

What are the Comparisons between the Claim Settlement Processes?

• Both insurers are above 97 percent claim settlement ratio in 2025.
• Most network hospitals have been digitized to submit claims, make video consultations, and get quick approvals.
• Star Health is reputed to have direct in-house settlement of claims and broader network coverage to facilitate access to treatment without cash.
• Each has 24x7 helplines and renewal through web and app.

Brief Real Life example.

Mr. Sharma (38) of Pune required liver operation in 2025. He had two years of minor diabetes. He checked online at a health insurance marketplace and realized that the Star Comprehensive Plan with PED Buyback Rider would reduce his waiting period to one year, meaning that his claim would be payable. The PED waiting post add-on would have had to wait another year before he could claim anything under Reliance Health Gain.

What are the Experts saying about these Policies?

According to industry gurus, Star Comprehensive with PED Buyback plan becomes a standard in quick coverage of PED, particularly in the working population of the diagnosed condition. In the meantime, Reliance Health Gain is still very affordable to young, healthy families that focus on wellness, flexibility, and expansive add-on options.

Did you know? According to IRDAI, in India, across urban areas, more than three out of every four new retail health insurance purchasers are actively comparing policies on the digital platform before making a purchase as digital transparency increases in 2025.

TL;DR or Quick Recap Table

When you need faster pre-existing disease coverage: Select Star Comprehensive Plan with PED Buyback Rider (PED covered in 12 months).
You would like some modular features, less expensive, more wellness-oriented: Select Reliance Health Gain Plan (particularly among healthy people and younger families).
When you require inbuilt maternity and newborn cover: Star Comprehensive is the best.
If you would like widest possible network of hospitals and cashless coverage reach: Star Health Network has additional network hospitals across the country.
They can both be compared immediately at health policy comparison websites to get the best rates.

People Also Ask (FAQs)

What is the PED Buyback Rider?
PED Buyback Rider is an additional benefit on Star Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan. It also lets you cut the typical pre-existing disease waiting time (typically 3 years) down to 12 months, on top of which you pay an incremental premium.

Does Reliance Health Gain have maternity cover?
Reliance Health Gain plan does provide maternity cover, but not as a built in option, rather as an optional add on. Star Comprehensive Plan offers maternity cover in the main policy.

Will both plans be purchasable in 2025 over the internet?
Yes, both Reliance Health Gain and Star Comprehensive with PED Buyback Rider are sold directly through the websites of each insurer or through popular third party health insurance comparison marketplaces to compare the benefits and prices of each plan side by side.

What can I do to get the most out of my policy and lower the premium?
Select a higher sum insured plan in the event that you are in a metro city.
Compare online policy platforms to get discounts/ offers in 2025.
Choose wellness or claim-free-year incentives to reduce the renewal premiums.
Only add-ons that are appropriate to your medical history and stage of life should be taken.

What strategy works better with small families in tier-2 cities?
Reliance Health Gain provides great value to small families because of the modular plans and low premium costs. Still, when pre-existing cover is something that matters, you may want to consider Star with PED rider.

Sources:

• Reliance General Insurance Health Gain Plan 2025 Brochure
• Details of Star Health Comprehensive Plan 2025