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Everything we’ve published
68 articles across insurance in India and the United States, each built from filed policy wordings, court judgments, regulator data and public plan filings. We publish a few more every week.
Comparisons & verdicts
Carrier-vs-carrier reads of the filed wordings, and who they leave exposed.
- Best Medicare Advantage Plans in New York for 2027, by Star RatingOnly 45% of New York's Medicare Advantage members are in 4-star plans, fourth worst in the US. Healthfirst's big plan fell to 3.5. New York's plans, rated.
- Best Medicare Advantage Plans in California for 2027, by Star RatingKaiser's 4.5-star H0524 covers 1.4 million Californians. UnitedHealthcare's California plan fell to 3 stars and Blue Shield's to 2.5. California's plans, rated.
- Best Medicare Advantage Plans in Georgia for 2027, by Star RatingOnly half of Georgia's Medicare Advantage members are in 4-star plans, seventh worst in the US. Humana's H4141 and four other big contracts fell to 3.5.
- Best Medicare Advantage Plans in Texas for 2027, by Star Rating72% of Texas Medicare Advantage members are in 4-star plans. HealthSpring's big Texas contract fell to 3.5. The largest plans, their 2027 stars, and the 5-star options.
- Best Medicare Advantage Plans in Florida for 2027, by Star Rating89% of Florida's 3.1 million Medicare Advantage members are in 4-star plans, sixth best in the US. The largest plans, their 2027 stars, and the ones that slipped.
- Humana Medicare Advantage Star Ratings 2027: Every ContractHumana went from 42% of members in 4-star plans to 95%. Its biggest contract, H5216, rose to 4 stars. All 30 Humana Medicare Advantage contracts with 2027 ratings.
- 5-Star Medicare Advantage Plans for 2027: All 15, and Where They Sell15 Medicare Advantage contracts are rated 5 stars for 2027, down from 22. Where each is sold, including Texas and Florida, and the 4.5-star plans most people can actually buy.
- 2027 Medicare Advantage Star Ratings: Look Up Any PlanEvery Medicare Advantage contract with 1,000+ members and its 2027 star rating, 2026 rating and enrollment. Find yours by the first five characters of your plan ID.
- Worst Medicare Advantage Plans for 2027: The Lowest-Rated, NamedCareFirst's PPO fell from 4 stars to 2.5. 3.4 million people are in plans rated 3 stars or less. The lowest-rated Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, from CMS data.
- Government Health Insurance for Senior Citizens in IndiaEvery government route for a senior's hospital bills, side by side: Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY for everyone 70 and above, CGHS and ECHS for government and armed-forces pensioners, and the public-sector insurers' senior mediclaim policies. PM-JAY's ₹5 lakh is usually per family, not per senior, and fewer than one in four eligible seniors hold the card.
- Senior Citizen Health Insurance Premiums in IndiaComparing headline senior premiums across insurers compares nothing, because the co-payment underneath them differs from 0% to 50%. Matched properly at 20% co-pay, ₹10 lakh, age 61–65, metro — ICICI Lombard ₹34,409, Tata AIG ₹35,000, Niva Bupa ₹36,930 — the cheap-looking plan is the dearest. Every rate we could read from a filed document, plus the carrier still charging 18% GST on cover that has been exempt since 22 September 2025.
- Average Cost of Health Insurance in TexasThe median Texas county starts at $465 a month, $5,583 a year — and $195 a month after a credit on $55,000. All 254 counties, every price point.
- Best and Worst US Marketplace Health Plans 2026UnitedHealthcare wins 568 of 1,227 county-years on total cost. CHRISTUS's cheap sticker costs a median $4,353. Named verdicts, from CMS filings.
- Cheapest Health Insurance in Ohio 2026: 88 CountiesOhio is the cheapest of the three states we price and has the worst premium trap: 77% of its counties. Every county, priced two ways.
- Cheapest Health Insurance in Florida 2026: 67 CountiesFlorida's cheapest premium runs $5,121 to $11,389. In all 67 counties the lowest-premium plan loses for a birth year. Every county, priced two ways.
- Cheapest Health Insurance in Texas 2026: 254 CountiesThe cheapest premium in Texas is $4,226 a year. In 94% of counties it is the wrong plan for a birth year. Every county, priced two ways.
- What You Will Actually PayRun one real ₹4,12,158 knee-replacement bill through ₹5 lakh of senior cover at a dozen Indian insurers and the family's share ranges from ₹41,216 to ₹3,62,158. The co-payment, sub-limit and room-rent terms that produce that spread, converted into rupees from the filed documents.
- AOA:AOY Ratios in Indian Doctors' IndemnityWe read every filed doctors' indemnity wording, prospectus, CIS and product page in India for one thing: does the insurer publish its AOA:AOY ratio structure? Two do — IndusInd with rupee bands attached, New India with the full 1:1 to 1:4 menu. Everyone else settles it in the schedule at quote time, so the ratio cannot be compared before purchase.
- Cosmetic Surgery Cover in Indian Doctors' IndemnityEvery Indian doctors' indemnity wording excludes cosmetic work — but five carriers carve burns, trauma reconstruction and scar repair back in and three do not, and two will not insure a plastic surgeon at all. Read clause by clause from the filed documents, with what a mixed reconstructive and aesthetic practice should verify before buying.
- Plate Glass, Marine Cargo and a Blank Arbitration ClauseWe read every filed doctors' professional indemnity document we could obtain in India. Eight are visibly defective as documents: United India's prospectus opens on plate-glass cover, IndusInd's CIS tells the doctor to notify the port authorities, Bajaj's arbitration clause has a heading and no body, ICICI Lombard's wording still references service tax at 10.2%, National's single filed PDF states two different excess rates, IFFCO Tokio's prospectus promises fines-and-penalties cover its own wording excludes, Tata AIG's carries an unfilled UIN placeholder, and Go Digit's retail wording cross-references an arbitration clause it does not contain.
- Which Indian Insurers Actually Publish Their Doctors' Indemnity WordingBefore you can compare doctors' indemnity policies you have to be able to read them. We scored every Indian carrier out of 10 on what a buyer can verify from public primary documents — wording 4, prospectus 2, CIS 2, UIN 1, own domain 1. HDFC ERGO Mediserve scores 10. New India, the largest general insurer in India, scores 3. Future Generali scores 0.
- Compulsory Excess in Indian Doctors' IndemnityThe excess is the one sum a doctor pays on every covered claim, and the Indian market is incoherent about it. New India and Oriental charge none. United India charges 0.50% of the limit. National Insurance's single filed document states two different rates in two different places. ICICI Lombard, Tata AIG and Bajaj charge the excess against defence costs as well as damages, and Go Digit adds a coinsurance you are forbidden to insure.
- The Lapse Trap: Post-Expiry Reporting Windows in Indian Doctors' IndemnityDoctors' indemnity in India is claims-made, so the day your cover ends the clock on reporting a claim starts. We read every filed wording: HDFC ERGO's Mediserve accepts nothing after expiry, Bajaj gives 30 days only if it cancels, Tata AIG 90 days only if it terminates, six carriers give 90, United India's window cannot be verified at all, and the IMA scheme has no tail whatsoever.
- Hammer Clauses in Indian Doctors' IndemnityA hammer clause lets your insurer stop paying at a settlement figure you refused. We read every published Indian doctors' indemnity wording: Bajaj, Tata AIG and Go Digit carry one, Go Digit adds a coinsurance you are forbidden to insure, and Tata AIG bars you from instructing a lawyer without consent. Ranked, with the verdict.
- Which Doctors' Indemnity Policies Don't Actually Cover MalpracticeA doctor buying professional indemnity is buying cover for harm to a patient. We ran one test across every Indian carrier's filed documents: does the published wording respond to bodily injury at all? Tata AIG's excludes it outright, Bajaj defines it out of "Loss", and SBI General has no product to test.
- Every Doctors' Indemnity Policy in India, Compared on 11 TermsThe complete comparison of Indian doctors' professional indemnity insurance — 13 carriers and the IMA schemes, compared on 11 terms taken from the filed policy wordings, prospectuses and customer information sheets. Ranked by what each insurer will actually let you read before you buy.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance for Doctors: Premium Rates & Cost in IndiaProfessional indemnity insurance premium rates for doctors in India, 2026: about ₹2,360 a year for a radiologist and ₹9,440 for a surgeon at ₹1 crore of cover, plus the full premium table by specialty. The two published rate rules disagree by 10× — we reconcile them against every verified premium.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance for Anaesthetists in IndiaAnaesthesiology is only 6% of India's NCDRC medical negligence caseload — but 13 of 16 cases ended in a payout, and its average award of ₹13.78 lakh is the highest of any specialty. Low frequency, highest severity. What that means for your limit, your premium band, and one exclusion that names your specialty.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance for Gynaecologists in IndiaObstetrics and gynaecology is India's second most litigated specialty, and its largest career risk — PCPNDT prosecution, which suspends your registration once charges are framed — is excluded from every indemnity policy we read. What cover does and does not do for an obstetrician.
- PSU vs Private Insurers for Doctors' Indemnity in IndiaDoctors are told public-sector insurers pay better and private insurers buy faster. No settlement data exists to prove either. So we compared the filed wordings instead: PSUs win on excess and defence clauses, private insurers win on documentation, and the worst reporting window in the market belongs to a private carrier.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance for Dentists in IndiaAcross 111 Indian dental negligence judgments the mean award was ₹1.04 lakh — but cases took an average of 5.3 years. Dentists are sold ₹1 crore limits for a risk whose median award is under ₹1 lakh. What the litigation record says a dentist should actually buy.
- Professional Indemnity Insurance for Surgeons in IndiaSurgery generates more Indian medical negligence suits than any other specialty. Two insurers refuse plastic surgeons outright, and whether reconstructive work is covered changes from carrier to carrier. What a surgeon should check in the wording before comparing prices.
- New India vs ICICI Lombard vs HDFC ERGO: Which Doctors' Indemnity Policy Is Better in IndiaA clause-by-clause comparison of the three doctors' indemnity policies Indian doctors actually shortlist. We read each filed wording: New India charges no excess but hides its policy document, ICICI's excess eats defence costs, and HDFC ERGO publishes everything then shuts the reporting window the day cover ends.
- IMA Professional Protection Scheme vs Private Indemnity InsuranceIMA's Professional Protection Scheme costs ₹2,500–3,000 a year but caps payouts at ₹10–20 lakh and is not IRDAI-regulated insurance. We compare every state PPS variant against private indemnity policies — caps, fees, defence control and the traps in both, sourced from the scheme rulebooks and filed policy wordings.
Guides
How the cover works, what to buy, and how much of it.
- How Much Indemnity Cover Does a Doctor in India Need?Everyone recommends ₹1 crore. Nobody shows the arithmetic. We tested the default against what Indian courts actually award, what insurers actually pay, and the three multipliers — interest from the complaint date, defence costs inside the limit, and no annual reinstatement — that make a nominal limit smaller than it looks.
- Junior Doctors Under a Consultant: Do You Need Your Own Indemnity Cover in India?Working under a consultant does not keep your name off the complaint, and it does not put you on anyone else's policy. At seven of the eleven Indian doctors' indemnity wordings we read, a junior doctor is covered only if named in the schedule — while the nurse beside them is covered automatically.
- Do Residents and PG Students Need Indemnity Insurance in India?The NMC's postgraduate regulations never mention insurance — we searched all 20 pages. Meanwhile seven of eleven insurers cover a junior doctor only if they are named in the schedule, while the nurse beside them is covered automatically. What residents are actually exposed to, and what cover costs.
- Is Professional Indemnity Insurance Mandatory for Doctors in India?No law forces an Indian doctor to buy indemnity insurance in 2026 — the NMC's 2023 regulations never mandated it and are in abeyance anyway. But hospital empanelment contracts and TPA agreements make it compulsory in practice. Here is exactly where the requirement comes from, sourced to the regulations and judgments.
Answers
One question, answered from the policy documents.
- Does Health Insurance Premium Increase Every Year in India?Not automatically. A health insurance premium in India rises when you cross an age band, when the insurer reprices the plan, or when you lose a discount. We compared insurers' own rate charts across versions: increases of 5% to 60% under 60, and exactly 10% for senior citizens since 2025.
- Can Your Insurer Raise a Senior's Premium by More Than 10%?No. IRDAI directed insurers on 30 January 2025 that they shall not revise the premium for senior citizens by more than 10% per annum. It is a prohibition, not a consultation requirement; it starts at age 60, not 70; and it binds old policies as well as new ones. Here is the sentence, what it does not cover, and what to do with a renewal notice that ignores it.
- Cashless Refused for a Senior CitizenA cashless refusal is not a refusal of the claim. The insurer had one hour to decide, three hours to authorise discharge, and fifteen days to settle the reimbursement — and if it misses that, it owes interest at bank rate plus 2% from the day you told it, unasked. Every rung of the escalation ladder with the clock and the fee on each, why the Insurance Ombudsman has to come before the consumer commission, and what our 152 hand-coded awards say about your odds on each ground.
- Why Doctors' Indemnity Claims Get Rejected in IndiaWe read 25 Indian court and consumer-forum judgments where doctors' indemnity insurers were in the dock. Late notification is the number-one claim-killer; insurers contested in 22 of 25 cases. Every repudiation ground, what stuck, and the policy clauses that decide claims — sourced to each judgment.
- Health Insurance With No Deductible: 18 Named PlansA $0 medical deductible plan is the cheapest plan of all in 314 of 409 counties for a birth year. The 18 that win one, named, with prices.
- Self-Employed Health Insurance in Texas 2026: $55,000Your credit is $1,627 in Houston and $3,681 in San Antonio, which flips which city is cheaper. The worked numbers for six Texas counties.
- Why Senior Citizens' Health Claims Get Rejected in IndiaWe read the complete published corpus of Indian insurance-ombudsman mediclaim awards — 5,016 records — and hand-coded the 152 that identifiably concern a senior citizen. Pre-existing disease is the ground insurers plead most and lose most. What defeats a senior's claim is the arithmetic of their own policy: sub-limits upheld in 70% of the awards where they were raised, named exclusions 91%, waiting periods 71%. A disputes sample, never a claim-settlement ratio.
- Does Your Indemnity Policy Cover Your Clinic Staff and Nurses? (India, 2026)Employed nurses and qualified technicians are covered automatically at seven Indian carriers. Junior doctors are covered only if named in the schedule. Unqualified staff cost extra. And the clinic entity itself is usually not covered at all — one hospital's ₹20 lakh claim failed for exactly that reason.
- Claims-Made Policies and the Retroactive Date Explained (India, 2026)Your indemnity policy responds to claims made against you this year, not to treatment you gave this year. One lapsed renewal can reset the retroactive date and push years of past practice outside cover. Every Indian carrier's reporting window and retroactive rule, from a 90-day standard to one carrier that allows nothing at all.
- Criminal Cases and Your Indemnity Policy (India, 2026)Every Indian doctors' indemnity wording excludes criminal acts. Yet a doctor can be prosecuted under BNS section 106(1) for causing death by negligence, and under the PCPNDT Act with registration suspended once charges are framed. What the policy does not do, what Jacob Mathew protects, and why doctors keep IMA membership alongside a policy.
- AOA:AOY Ratio ExplainedAOA is what one claim can draw; AOY is what the whole year can draw. Pick 1:4 on a ₹1 crore policy and only ₹25 lakh is available for the claim you are actually facing. The ratio menus each Indian insurer publishes, what they cost, and why the ratio matters more than the headline number.
- Got a Legal Notice? The Doctor's Indemnity Claim Process in India, Step by StepNotify in writing the same day, forward everything, reply to nothing. Late notification is the single most litigated reason Indian doctors' indemnity claims fail, and one surgeon who told his insurer nine years late lost his cover entirely. The full sequence, with the deadlines each carrier actually imposes.
- What Doctors' Indemnity Insurance Does NOT Cover in IndiaCriminal acts, fines and penalties are excluded everywhere. Beyond that the exclusions diverge sharply: a burns-reconstruction surgeon is covered at five carriers and excluded at three, two insurers will not write plastic surgeons at all, and one 2025-26 wording excludes IVF, opioids and vaping. Read from the filed wordings.
- What Does a Doctor's Indemnity Policy Actually Cover? The Plain-English Guide (India, 2026)Professional indemnity insurance pays the compensation and the legal defence when a patient sues you for negligence. It is not an indemnity bond. It is claims-made, not occurrence-based, and defence costs come out of your limit at every Indian carrier. What it is, how it works, and what it does not do.
Trackers
Regulatory news, and the live status of the cases and rules that change what your policy is worth.
- Aarogya Manthan 2026: NHA's PM-JAY Auto-Adjudication Framework, Patient Data for Research, and Treatment RulesOn 25 September 2026 NHA launched a Framework for Auto-Adjudication of Claims and a Secure Data Environment for 13 crore PM-JAY patient records, and ICMR pushed to pay only for standard treatment. What was announced, what has actually been published, and the ICMR treatment workflow PDFs, hosted here.
- NMC Professional Conduct Regulations: Status TrackerNotified 2 August 2023, suspended 23 August 2023, and still in abeyance when we checked the NMC's own rules index on 2 October 2026. The 2002 MCI ethics code remains operative. What that means for whether indemnity insurance is mandatory for Indian doctors — and what the 2023 regulations never said about it anyway.
- IRDAI Commission Cap Consultation PaperIRDAI's 23 September 2026 consultation paper would cap health insurance commission at 15-20% on a new policy and 5-10% on a renewal or port, against the 24% and 14% averages it found. Every cap, read from the paper itself, plus what it means for your premium, why Policybazaar's shares fell, and how to comment before 25 October.
- Are Doctors Still Liable Under the Consumer Protection Act?Yes — as of 25 July 2026, doctors remain suable in consumer fora. Lawyers were taken out of the Consumer Protection Act in May 2024 and doctors were not, a three-judge bench held the reference unnecessary, a review was dismissed, and a fresh petition seeking parity is pending. The full chronology, maintained.
Documents
Official forms, circulars and premium charts, with a copy to download and what each one means.
- Star Health Insurance Premium Chart PDFDownload Star Health's official premium charts for Super Star, Star Health Assure, Family Health Optima, Star Comprehensive, Arogya Sanjeevani and Senior Citizens Red Carpet, unchanged from Star's own prospectuses. Rates by age, sum insured and city zone, how each chart changed since 2024, and the co-pays, loadings and GST the chart price leaves out.
- LIC NEFT Mandate Form PDFDownload LIC's official NEFT mandate form (PDF, 1.3 MB), the two-page form that tells LIC which bank account to pay your maturity, survival benefit or claim into. Each of its 12 fields explained, the cancelled cheque, Aadhaar and PAN copies it asks for, and the name-match rule that gets mandates rejected.
- HDFC ERGO Optima Secure Premium Chart PDFDownload HDFC ERGO's official Optima Secure premium chart (PDF, 5.6 MB): the 291-page prospectus with rates for every age, six city tiers and covers up to ₹2 crore. ₹10 lakh at age 35 costs ₹14,824 to ₹20,972 before discounts. Plus what Secure, Plus, Protect and Restore mean.
- Care Health Insurance Claim Form PDFDownload Care Health Insurance's official reimbursement claim form (11-page PDF, version JAN/23/AS), unchanged from Care's own site. What Part A and Part B ask field by field, who signs what, the documents to attach, the 30-day filing window in Care's policy wordings, and where to send it.
- PMJAY Package List PDF (HBP 2022): Download the Rate List, and How to Read ItDownload the PM-JAY package list, HBP 2022 (PDF, 2.3 MB), unchanged from nha.gov.in. It is still the current master in 2026: 1,949 rows with rates for Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities. Cataract pays ₹4,500 to ₹5,700, caesarean ₹12,000 to ₹15,000, CABG ₹1.62 to ₹1.95 lakh. How to read it, and what it omits.
- IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25 PDF: Download, and Every Headline Number With Its PageDownload the IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25 (PDF, 12.2 MB), unchanged from irdai.gov.in. Penetration stayed at 3.7%, health premium hit ₹1,17,505 crore, and Bima Bharosa grievances rose to 2,57,790. Every headline figure, health and claims table, with the page it is on.
- IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance 2024 PDF: Every Chapter, in Plain EnglishDownload the IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance Business (IRDAI/HLT/CIR/PRO/84/5/2024, 29 May 2024) as an unchanged PDF, with a clause-by-clause map: the one-hour cashless rule (cl. 15), three-hour discharge (cl. 16), 60-month moratorium (cl. 13), portability, no-claim bonus and who can reject a claim.
Research
Original analysis of court records and market documents.
- States With the Worst Medicare Advantage Plans in 2027, RankedIn Rhode Island only 35% of Medicare Advantage members are in a 4-star plan; in Utah, 97%. Every state ranked on CMS's 2027 Star Ratings, weighted by enrollment.
- 469 Health Plans That Charge You Twice for One Visit3,703 filed entries charge both a copay and a coinsurance for the same service, 95% of them from Blue-branded carriers. The full breakdown.
- What Ranking Health Plans by Premium Costs YouAcross 409 US counties the cheapest-premium plan loses by $6,310 a year for a birth — and by nothing that matters for a broken arm. The full table.
- Medical Negligence Award Tracker: IndiaAverage NCDRC payouts run from ₹4.95 lakh in general medicine to ₹13.78 lakh in anaesthesiology. The tail reaches ₹1.38 crore, ₹2 crore and — once — ₹11 crore as paid. The specialty-by-specialty award record, the claimed-versus-awarded gap, and how long it takes. Maintained annually.
- How Insurers Behave When Doctors Claim (India, 2026)No Indian regulator publishes professional indemnity claim data, so we read the judgments instead. Across 25 court and consumer-forum decisions, insurers contested in about 22 and paid voluntarily in none — but ran the doctor's own defence in 10. The full conduct analysis, with the bias warning that has to travel with it.
Start with a verdict:
- Professional Indemnity for Doctors — India
- Health Insurance for Senior Citizens — India
- Individual Health Insurance — United States
- Medicare Advantage — United States