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/Modern Treatments
Find what matters most to you.
Pick a coverage concern and see its exact policy terms, compared side-by-side across top Indian health insurance plans.
36 features mapped
6 coverage topics
Start here8
The concerns that cost the most when a plan gets them wrong
Step 1Coverage Directory
Every category, decoded
All 6 coverage topics in one place - start with the worry on your mind, and open the features that decide it.
Step 2Feature Library
Cancer & serious illness
Every feature behind Cancer & serious illness, deciders first - pick one to see how the plans differ.
2 more features here look much the same across the plans we cover - they rarely decide the choice.
Step 3Plan Comparison
What is Modern Treatments in health insurance?
Covers advanced medical procedures like robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, and stem cell treatment. These methods are now used by top hospitals but can be very expensive. Without this, your insurer might refuse to pay because the treatment does not appear on their older approved list.
Every plan, ranked11 · 11 strong
HDFC ERGOStrongOptima Secure · Optima-SelectAll Modern Treatments
Strong
This policy sets no separate rule for modern treatments. There is no list of approved advanced procedures and no sub-limit on them, so robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy and similar treatments are paid under the main hospitalisation clause, up to your full sum insured.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeAll Modern Treatments
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
The usual limits still apply: the treatment must be medically necessary and prescribed in writing, and anything the policy classes as unproven or experimental is excluded.
Star HealthStrongSuper StarListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
The twelve modern procedures on the regulator's standard list, from robotic surgery and oral chemotherapy to deep brain stimulation and stem cell therapy for bone marrow transplant, are paid up to your full Sum Insured with no per-procedure cap. Pre and post hospitalisation expenses for them are included.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
HDFC ERGOStrongOptima RestoreListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
The wording carries no separate modern treatment clause and sets no sub-limit for one. Robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, stem cell therapy for a bone marrow transplant and the other procedures on the standard IRDAI list are paid as ordinary in-patient treatment, up to your Sum Insured. Most policies cap this group at a share of the cover; here nothing caps it.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Watch out
Because no clause names these procedures, a claim is tested only as in-patient treatment: it must be medically necessary, charged at reasonable and customary rates and not an unproven treatment. An admission only to give intra-articular or intra-lesional injections, Zolendronic acid or IV immunoglobulin is excluded.
ICICI LombardStrongElevateListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve technological advancements - robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, stem cell therapy for bone marrow transplant, deep brain stimulation, stereotactic radiosurgery and the rest - are covered up to your full Sum Insured, with no per-procedure cap.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
The table is the standard IRDAI set, so it is not a narrow list, but a technique newer than the table is not covered. Under the Worldwide Cover option a further group is excluded, including cyber knife treatment, femto laser surgery and bioabsorbable stents.
Care HealthStrongCare AdvantageListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve advanced methods - among them oral chemotherapy, robotic surgery, deep brain stimulation, immunotherapy and stem cell therapy for bone marrow transplant - are paid up to your full Sum Insured. Any advanced method outside those twelve is permanently excluded.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
The twelve are the IRDAI standard set, so this is not a narrow list, but it is a closed one. Anything outside the twelve is excluded outright, so a newer technique your doctor recommends may not be payable at all, and you would pay that bill yourself.
Aditya BirlaStrongActiv One · VYTLListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve modern procedures - robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, deep brain stimulation, stem cell therapy for bone marrow transplant and others - are paid at actual cost up to the Sum Insured, with no separate sub-limit. Most policies cap this group at a share of the cover; this one does not.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
The twelve are the standard IRDAI set, and the policy says the list can be changed as medicine advances. A newer technique that is not yet on it can be refused until the insurer adds it.
Care HealthStrongCare SupremeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve advanced treatment methods, including robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, immunotherapy and stem cell therapy for bone marrow transplant, are covered up to the full Sum Insured with no separate sub-limit.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
The list is the standard set of twelve methods and the policy pays only for those. A newer technique that is not on the list is excluded, even if the hospital treats it as routine.
Star HealthStrongStar Health AssureListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
The twelve modern treatments in the standard IRDAI list, including robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy and stem cell therapy for bone marrow transplant, are covered up to the full Sum Insured. There is no separate rupee or percentage sub-limit, which is unusual - most Indian plans cap these procedures well below the Sum Insured.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
Cover applies wherever the procedure is medically indicated, as in-patient or day care, and the pre and post hospitalisation expenses for it are included in the same Sum Insured.
Niva BupaStrongReAssure 3.0 · EliteListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve advanced procedures including robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, stem cell therapy and deep brain stimulation are covered. Elite and Black pay them up to your full Sum Insured. Classic and Select cap them at Rs 1,00,000 for each complete claim, which a single robotic surgery can pass in one admission.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitCovered up to full Sum Insured
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
Watch out
The Rs 1,00,000 cap on Classic and Select applies per complete claim, so a long treatment course does not get a fresh limit each time within the same claim. The Modern Treatments+ option removes that cap entirely, and it can be bought only on those two plans.
Star HealthStrongStar ComprehensiveListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve modern procedures are covered, but nine of them carry their own rupee cap for the whole policy period, and the cap rises with your Sum Insured. Only bronchial thermoplasty, prostate vaporisation and nerve monitoring during surgery are paid up to the full Sum Insured. The caps sit well below the cover most buyers think they have. Deep Dive to know more.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitUp to ₹3 Lakh - Per Policy Year
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
The catch
If a procedure costs more than its printed cap, you pay the balance.
Star HealthStrongFamily Health OptimaListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Strong
Twelve modern procedures are covered, each with its own rupee cap per policy year that rises with your Sum Insured. Three of them - bronchial thermoplasty, green or holmium laser vaporisation of the prostate, and intra-operative neuro monitoring - run up to the full Sum Insured. Every cap sits inside the Sum Insured, not on top of it.
Coverage detailstap any row to understand it
Coverage ScopeListed Procedures (standard IRDAI list)
Expense limitUp to ₹3 Lakh - Per Policy Year
Sub-limit Modification AvailableNo
The catch
Neither the automatic restoration nor the recharge benefit applies to modern treatments. Once a procedure's cap is used for the year there is no second pool for it - at ₹10 lakh Sum Insured robotic surgery stops at ₹3,00,000 and you pay the rest from your own pocket.
Step 4Shortlist
Your decision so far
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Nothing kept yet
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Or read one we prepared for Modern TreatmentsSuper Star vs Optima RestoreSuper Star vs Star ComprehensiveOptima Restore vs Star Comprehensive
Every feature, A to Z
Each one has its own page - what it means, and how every plan handles it.