Star Cardiac Care Insurance Policy

The company underwriting the policy and paying claims. Distributors and web aggregators sell policies but never carry the risk, so this is the entity whose service and solvency matter.

The Unique Identification Number IRDAI assigns to an approved product. This is the identity key for insurance, the equivalent of a barcode: marketing names change and are reused, the UIN does not.

Whether the product is registered with IRDAI. Anything sold as insurance in India must be, so its absence is a signal to check what is actually being sold.

Whether the policy covers one person or a family under a single sum insured. A family floater shares one amount across everyone, so a single large claim can exhaust the cover for the rest of the year.

The cover amounts the policy can be bought at. It is the ceiling on what the insurer pays in a policy year, before any sub-limits cut it further.

How many illnesses a critical illness policy lists. The count is less informative than the list itself, since policies pay only for the exact conditions named and only as defined in the wording.

How a claim is paid: a lump sum, a monthly income, or a combination. It decides whether a family receives one large amount to manage or a regular replacement income.

How long you must live after diagnosis for a critical illness claim to be paid, commonly 14 to 30 days. A claim fails if death occurs inside this window, which is what separates critical illness cover from life cover.

The period at the start when only accidents are covered, typically 30 days. Illness claims in this window are declined regardless of what the illness is.

How long you must hold the policy before a condition you already had is covered. It is the fact that most often turns a claim down, and it runs from policy start rather than from diagnosis.

The wait for named conditions such as hernia, cataract or joint replacement, usually one to four years. These are listed individually in the wording, separate from the pre-existing disease wait.

Whether the insurer settles directly with the hospital instead of reimbursing you later. Cashless works only at network hospitals and still needs pre-authorisation.

How many hospitals offer cashless treatment with this insurer. The count matters less than whether the hospitals you would actually use are in it, which the insurer's own list settles.

Whether a third-party administrator handles claims rather than the insurer directly. It adds a party between you and the insurer, which changes who to contact when a claim stalls.

The time the insurer states for settling a claim. IRDAI requires settlement within a defined window of receiving the last document, and the wording is where the insurer's own commitment is recorded.

How many days of expenses before admission are reimbursed, such as tests and consultations that led to it.

How many days of follow-up expenses after discharge are reimbursed, covering medication and review consultations.

The youngest age the policy can be bought at.

The oldest age at which the policy can be bought. Health cover bought before this age can usually be renewed for life, which is why entry age is worth acting on early.

The age at which cover ends. For term life this is the point the policy stops paying, and choosing it against your dependants' needs matters more than choosing the premium.

Whether a medical examination is required before cover starts. Where it is not, undisclosed conditions are more likely to surface as a dispute at claim time instead.

Until what age the policy can be renewed. Lifelong renewability matters most precisely when cover is hardest to buy fresh, which is at older ages.

How long one policy period runs. Multi-year policies fix the premium for that period and usually carry a discount.

How long premiums are paid for, which can be shorter than the cover period. Limited-pay policies finish paying early while cover continues.

How long after receiving the policy you can cancel it for a refund of premium less expenses. IRDAI mandates a minimum, and it is the window to read the wording properly.

How long after a missed due date the premium can still be paid without losing continuity. Letting it lapse resets the waiting periods you have already served, which is the costly part.

Whether the policy can be moved to another insurer while carrying over the waiting periods already served. IRDAI allows this for health policies at renewal, and it is what stops a switch resetting your cover.

Whether the premium and co-pay depend on the city you live in. Moving from a smaller city to a metro can raise the premium or add a co-pay at renewal.

What the policy never pays for. Reading these is the only way to know what the cover actually is, and the permanent exclusions IRDAI allows are now standardised across insurers.

A link to the full policy wording, the contract that governs every claim. Brochures summarise and simplify; only the wording decides what is paid.

A link to the insurer's brochure. Useful for orientation, but it is a summary and the wording overrides it wherever they differ.

Which version of the policy wording these facts were read from. Insurers revise wordings, so this records exactly which contract was in front of us.