Manipal Cigna Lifetime Health - Too good to be true?

03 Sep, 2021 | by jasmer singh

I have spoken to at least 10 Brokers.

Not one of them has recommended Manipal Cigna, most are not even aware that the company exists.

For a 1 Crore Policy for 3 years (Multi Individual, not floater) Manipal Cigna LTH premium for us (53&47yrs old) is Rs.1,17,255/-

The costs for a 25 Lakh Policy (FLOATER not individual) from:

HDFC Ergo Optima Secure - Rs.2,00,400/-

HDFC Ergo Oprima Restore - Rs.1,86,117/-

ICICI Lombard Health Shield - Rs.1,60,830/-

Care Advantage - Rs. 1,57,341/-

Max Bupa Re-assure - Rs. 1,69,213/-

Manipal Cigna is offering 4 times the coverage (base sum assured) at almost 40% less than other companies.

Furthermore, if one is porting from a policy of more than 10 Lakh SA, the ENTIRE new sum assured with Manipal Cigna will be covered upto Rs.3 Crore without any waiting period.

Because LTH is launched in March 2021, the claims ratio data is not available.

Question:

If Manipal Cigna Lifetime Health is so much cheaper, why are more brokers not advising it?

Is it because brokers earn more commission from other companies or is it because it is in the interest of the broker to sell a higher premium so that their amount of compensation increases?

Health Insurance

Purchase

4 Answer

Post

03 Sep, 2021

harivansh agrawal

see NO policy is too good to be true all have some fault within it

for eg. you are talking about Manipal Cigna lifetime health policy, it does no offer NO claim bonus it does not have unlimited restoration or refill whatever you say like for related illness also they have unlimited restoration for unrelated illnesses like Max Bupa reassure but you are tempted to be asked does related/unrelated matter given such high sum insured I think No

Both Max Bupa reassure (unlimited restoration) and HDFC ergo secure offer same illness restoration with 50% NCB each year Maximum up to 100% so your 25 lac becomes 50 lac but be careful as this will be reduced as the same proportion as they increase in case of a claim

All the policy's you mentioned as expensive do offer some additional benefit like air ambulance in case of an emergency which Manipal Cigna offer as an option (i.e paying extra premium)

Both max bupa reassure and Hdfc ergo secure offer claim for not payable items Hdfc has this feature built In where as you pay extra about 10% in case of Max bupa

I think manipalcigna also have this feature as option(you have to pay extra)

Broader health check-up than ManipalCigna lifetime health plus as ManipalCigna has a list of yearly checkup but HDFC ergo secure give you the amount I think no list so you can do any type of test yearly within that amount

There is no room rent capping via section as you can pick any room including a suite in case of Max Bupa and Care Advantage but in the case of Manipalcigna you can pick only a Single room (for Upto 200lac sum insured ) if you choose above that category of room you will have to pay proportionally

Be careful this premium will increase as according you your age as yearly or as a 5-year bracket

and also insurers have a right to increase the premium of same age next year after 3 years every year

I will clarify to you what I just said

suppose you say you fall in age bracket of 50-55y and your premium for 1Cr sum insured will be suppose 40000

so you assuem that you age is 51 your premium will remain constant in this case 40000 but this is not the case after 1 year if your insurer will face losses your insure will approach the IRDAI to increase the premium they will increase the premium

so see the premium will not remain Static the 1CR sum insured Premium is low because your insurer knows getting a claim of 1CR is too low so if the possibility is too low premium will also be lowered

See I am not saying Manipalcigna lifetime health is a bad plan

But you can't deem a product Good just because the Premium is Low

All the plans you mentioned are equal deemed worthy as other's

Regarding the broker thing since manipalCigna lifetime is relatively new Product very few health insurance broker heard of it

I think compare the product by its features since this is the only thing that is remain static for a while ( insurer can change it but they rarely do) relative to Premium

5 Comments

05 Sep, 2021

jasmer singh

Thank you for your detailed explanation Harivansh.

Some back of the envelope calculations for 2 persons (53 and 47 years old) Multi Individual, not Floater.

Manipal Cigna SI Rs.50 lakh premium Rs. 1,35,138/- with Heathplus rider covering consumables, air ambulance etc. (no NCB, no Recharge etc)

Max Bupa ReAssure SI Rs 20 lakh premium Rs. 1,49,618/- with Safeguard Rider covering consumables (NCB 100%, Unlimited Recharge)

HDFC Ergo Optima Super Secure SI Rs.20 lakh premium 1,76,010/- (NCB 100%, Recharge upto SI Only)

All these recharge and NCB benefits offered by HDFC Ergo and Max Bupa come with restrictions of usage and terms and conditions. Manipal Cigna is anyway offering more than double the SI with no conditions, and all the same benefits, yet it is cheaper by far.

Age slabs are yearly for Max Bupa, and HDFC Ergo and Manipal Cigna are 5 year slabs.

So on paper, Manipal Cigna is the clear value for money option, however because of lack of brokers recommendations, they are not in the running at all.

There must be something that the consumer does not know, I do hope this forum will be able to answer this anomaly.

06 Sep, 2021

harivansh agrawal

See, Again you are focusing on premium as I told you earlier premium will remain dynamic You don't have any control over it think of it as an Advertisement or invitation premium company will try to onboard as many customers that are thinking that premium is low but now think from an insurance company perspective they will have to pay them in a future claim if the hospitalization occurs do you think would you be able to process this many claims probably No they will raise the premium in future IRDAI says you can't raise the premium for the first 3 years of the product launch after that you can raise the premium every year by approaching the IRDAI I think So think it is as an invitation price

Secondly, not many advisors are known of the company or the plan because the company had recently changed its name from CignaTTK to Manipalcigna and in an earlier question, you asked or said that the company will waive the waiting period on the entire sum insured if the earlier sum insured from your ported policy is above 10 lac be I think if it is told by the sales representative then it is probably a lie because as you know they would do anything to sign you up for the policy and it is not mentioned in the policy documents

and you said there is No data of claim settlement as the policy launch in 2021 but let me explain the company will not show claim settlement data for each plan but they show it as an overall claim settlement in a portfolio of their products so in this case maipalcigna have a claim settlement ratio of 76% Secondly the claim settlement ratio is not a matric to judge the company as do not know Why the company rejected the claim or how big the amount of the calim is ..

In case of Hdfc optima secure and MaxBupa reassure restoration benefit terms and conditions there is only one condition that they will pay UPTO Sum insured IN Each hospitalization I think this is the only conditon otherwise they will restore entire sum insured and NCB on full or partial hospitalization.

Again I am not saying ManipalCigna Lifeline is Bad Plan just trying to put my point of view on Premium infront of you because the health insurance is long term product you do not want to jump ship to ship every year because one company is offering lower Premium

13 Sep, 2021

brij goenka

Hi jasmer

I also wanted to port my care policy fr a higher SI and came across tata aig medicare premier, manipal cigna lth and hdfc ergo secure

However it was the manipal lth which was giving the most bang for the buck no matter some gimmicky features missing which anyways becomes redundant in a high SI policy

I wanted to ask u whether u bought this policy as an india plan or global plan and if global plan ll be of any use

Did you buy it as a standalone or with the health plus rider?

One advisor was against this policy as they have a TPA instead of in house and told me their claim settlement is a pain.. Did u come across such thing during ur research?

18 Sep, 2021

jasmer singh

Hi Brij,

I ultimately didn't go in for the Manipal Cigna LTH, as no broker I spoke to recommended it.

Didn't want to purchase something which was so little heard of. Ported to the Optima Super Secure instead.

Better to be with Maruti than Ford was my thinking.

The 25% rebate for agreeing to pay 25,000/- for a claim reduced the outflow as well.

18 Sep, 2021

brij goenka

Hi Jasmer

What a co incidence. Ultimately i did the same thing. I took 50 lac wth 25k deductible and premium was almost same wth LTH if we consider the rider cos without that rider LTH didnt cover consumables and evn then it had some restrictions. Reputation of hdfc along with higher sum insured with premium being close enough to LTH kinda tilted the favor towards hdfc

23 Oct, 2022

Sushmita Sinha

Base Cover Manipal Cigna Lifetime Health Key Benefits

(1) Customize as per the changing life stages with optional packages such as Global+ (Global OPD & more), Women+ (specialized package for women) and Health+ (coverage enhancement)

(2) Loyalty discount on premium from 4th Policy year onwards on the applicable premium

(3) Coverage across the globe for Major illnesses including Cancer treatment

1 Comments

03 Dec, 2022

Vikram Aralikatty

4.3

Dear Sushmita,

In Lifetime health Insurance there are 2 plans

India Plan
Global plan (India plan coverage equivalent or more can be taken)

following riders are available which is very nice

HEALTH 360 - Shield ( Non medical expenses and Medical non durable equipment’s)
HEALTH 360 - Advance Any Room Category, Related disease restoration unlimited times and Air Ambulance
HEALTH 360 - OPD Cashless consultation, Diagnostics and Pharmacy it’s priced very nicely

You can schedule a meeting If have any queries I will guide and help you out.

Reply |

30 Nov, 2022

MAYANK BISHWAS

My comparison also gave me similar observations, however, my broker (on Policybazaar) did recommend going with Manipal Cigna. His reason revolved around:

Brand Trust
Claim Ratio

Can an advisor on this forum please tell, if those two factors should be the ultimate to go with?

Thanks in advance!

1 Comments

04 Dec, 2022

Vikram Aralikatty

4.3

Dear Mayank,

All insurance companies come under IRDAI after the completion of waiting period and if it’s a genuine claim all the companies will honour the claim.

You need a proper advisor to assist you when there is a claim if that is there than everything else is taken care of course Brand is very important while choosing insurance company.

Hope I have answered your query if you need more clarification you can connect with me for a quick meeting.

Thanks & Regards

Vikram Aralikatty, CFP

Reply |

03 Dec, 2022

Vikram Aralikatty

4.3

Dear Jasmer,

I have been recommending Manipal Cigna to everyone it’s one of the best in the industry in terms of giving benefits.

You have rightly mentioned this is the only plan where if you are PORTING from another insurance company to Lifetime Health plan Insurance company waives off the waiting period for the entire sum assured and company also gives loyalty discount and waiver of premium on diagnosis of Critical illness for 1 year.

I had a discussion with Chief Distribution officer of Manipal Cigna regarding this product.

This product designed uniquely by ManipalCigna as people are misguided with Base policy and Top-up for high coverage minimum coverage in this plan starts from 50 lakhs to 3 Cr if you check terms and conditions are not same and when it comes to claim having one policy is always best.

You can connect with me will be glad to help you with Manipal Cigna Health Insurance and give you proper support when it comes to claims.

2 Comments

01 Nov, 2023

Pankaj Lad

Hi Mr. Vikram,

Manipal cigna LTH does not cover angioplasty which is a very surprising thing.

01 Nov, 2023

Vikram Aralikatty

4.3

Dear Pankaj,

Everyone misunderstands by reading T&C

Angioplasty treatment is covered but in waiver of premium benefit angioplasty is not covered.

You must have seen that statement in Major Diseases list

34 major diseases are mentioned.

If any listed major disease is diagnosed then 1 year premium is paid by the company.

Hope I have clarified your point.

Thanks & Regards

Vikram Aralikatty,CFP

Reply |

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