Pay ₹0 Renewal vs #1 Seller? | HDFC Optima Secure vs Aditya Birla Activ One Max

So, you are looking at health insurance and you must have seen SDFC Ergo's Optima Secure plan everywhere. I mean, this is SDFC's best-selling plan. Then you see Aditya Birla's Active One Max plan. And you think, can I cover my PED from the first day? And potentially, I can get a 100% discount for renewal. Now you are confused. And honestly, I don't blame you for this. SDFC Ergo's Optima Secure has sold lakhs of policies. It has already earned trust. And SDFC Ergo itself is a brand. On the other hand, Aditya Birla's Active One Max plan features are so great that you can't believe it. Now the problem is, which plan should be bought from these two? And what is the solution to this problem? The solution is to compare these two plans in detail. Which we are going to do in the next few minutes of this video. First, we will know what are the USPs of these two plans. Those features that make these plans special. Those features that stand out. Then we will understand what are the eligibility conditions. That is, what are the conditions in the rules to buy these plans. Who can buy these plans and who can't. In coverage and benefits, we will compare crucial points like room rent and ICO. And then we will also talk about premium. That is, which plan is giving you more value in less money. And the most important thing is the claim settlement. In this matter, is SDFC Ergo better or Aditya Birla? Because we don't have to do anything about a long list by collecting on-paper features. When the patient is in the hospital on the bed, then the claim should be obtained. And at the end of the video, I will also tell you my opinion that what are the pros and cons of these two plans. So that you can better understand their differences with more clarity. So are you ready to know which is the best plan among these two plans? So let's start the video. In SDFC Ergo Optima Secure Plan USPs, the first feature is their Secure Benefit. Secure Benefit says that whatever insurance you choose, it will double from the first day. You can claim double amount of it. Suppose there is a policy of 10 lakhs. You can claim 20 lakhs from the first day. And this is called Secure Benefit. Next comes Plus Benefit. Plus Benefit is their cumulative bonus. Whether you have taken a claim in the whole year or not, you will get a 50% cumulative bonus of some insurance. Next year, you will get another 50% on renewal. You can collect a cumulative bonus up to a total of 100% of some insurance. Irrespective of claim. And when there is a claim, this money can be used in the same claim. Next benefit is Protect Benefit. Protect Benefit is the coverage of their non-medical, i.e. consumer items. In which you get the coverage of 68 non-medical items of Annexure B. And finally comes the feature of Automatic Restoration. In which once a year, your amount up to 100% of some insurance will be restored. If it falls short in any treatment or this money runs out. Although you can convert it in unlimited times. But for that, you will have to take an add-on. Now let's talk about the special features of Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. The first USP is their Chronic Care. In which you can take coverage of 7 listed conditions from the first day. No waiting period will be applicable on them. Their second USP is Super Credit. It says that you can take 100% extra some insurance on every renewal. And the maximum limit of this cumulative bonus is 5 times. In the policy of 10 lakhs, you can take a super credit of 50 lakhs. And you can also use it for a single claim. And this is irrespective of the claim. Whether you have taken the claim or not. The maximum super credit limit is up to 3 crores. Their next benefit is Super Reload. This is their unlimited restoration benefit. In which if your some insurance runs out during a treatment. Or falls short. Then up to 100% of some insurance will be restored and reloaded. And this can happen in unlimited times. To use this money. But this feature will be activated from the second claim in the entire policy lifetime. You won't be able to use it on the first claim. The fourth USP of Active One Max Plan is Claim Protect. This is the inbuilt feature of this plan. And in this, you get the coverage of all four non-medical items of Annexure 1. That is, the problem of deduction from the claim is almost over. The final USP of Active One Max Plan is Health Returns. These are some reward points that you get in return for being active. Which you get in return for achieving the target of step counts. And whatever rewards you collect. You can also use them to pay the renewal premium. And its maximum limit is up to 100% of renewal premium. You just have to keep yourself active. Achieve the target. You can save up to 100% of renewal premium. Now friends, it is important to know which policyholders can take these two plans. That is, it is also very important to understand the eligibility conditions. The first point is of entry age. What should be the minimum and maximum entry age to take these two plans? SDFCR's Optima Secure Plan and Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. The entry age of adults is 18 years to maximum no age capping. And if we talk about a dependent child. Then for a minimum of 91 days to 25 years. Dependent children i.e. those children who are non-earning. They are not married. They can live with their parents in a family floater policy. That is, in both the plans, the criteria for age is the same. Next comes renewal. You can renew both these policies lifelong. There is no age capping on renewal. If we talk about the plan type. Then you can buy individual, multi-individual and family floater policies in both the plans. And now comes sum insured. How much money can you cover in both these policies? In SDFCR's Optima Secure Plan, a minimum of Rs. 5 lakhs of sum insured is available. And the maximum limit is Rs. 2 crore. In Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan, a minimum sum insured is Rs. 2 lakhs. And the maximum sum insured is Rs. 6 crore. Now let's talk about the variants. Are there only one variant in these plans? Or are there different versions available? So SDFCR has only one variant in Optima Secure Plan. Optima Secure. If you take a 3-year long-term policy. Then that variant becomes super secure. Then you will get super secure benefit instead of secure benefit. But there is only one variant. At the same time, in Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. Max itself is a variant. A total of 7 variants are available in this plan. The name of the main plan is Aditya Birla's Active One. And its variants start with Next. Then comes Max, Max Plus, Vital, Saver, VIP, and VIP Plus. But today we are talking about the Max variant. Which is one of the most popular variants of this plan. The next difference is of the premium type. On what basis will the premium of the policy be charged? Is it age-bended? So in Optima Secure Plan, there is no age-bended premium. Your premium can be revised every year. But in Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. The premium will be age-bended. That is, the premium that increases with your age. It will not be revised every year. There is an approximate band of 5 years. When it is complete, when it goes to the next age band. Your premium will be revised. Here in Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. You can avoid increasing premiums again and again. Especially from the age premium. Because here the premium is age-bended. Now friends, let's compare some common yet important features. The first feature that is used in every claim. It is needed in every claim. And it has a lot of meanings. That is room rent. That is, which room can you take during treatment? In SDFC Ergo Optima Secure Plan. And in Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. There is no capping of room rent. You can take a room of any category. You have complete freedom. Next comes pre and post hospitalization expenses. When we are admitted for a treatment. It is not necessary that the treatment expense is limited to that admission. Some expenses have been done before that too. And even after being discharged from the hospital. Some expenses are still there. When recovery is going on. So in SDFC Ergo Optima Secure. Such expenses which are related to that admission. 60 days of pre-hospitalization. And 180 days of post-hospitalization expenses are covered. And in Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. The number of days of pre-hospitalization is a little more. One month is more. 90 days. And the number of days of post-hospitalization is 180 days. And in these days. Expenses of consultation related to that admission. Expenses of medicines. And the tests written by the doctor. Their expenses can also be reimbursed. By your insurance company. Next benefit is day care treatments. Day care treatments are small surgeries. Procedures. In which there is no condition. That you have to be admitted for 24 hours. Because in other health claims. You have to be admitted for 24 hours. But due to technology advance. There are some surgeries. Which are done in 2-3 hours. And the patient gets leave. So the listed day care procedures. Are covered in both the plans. Up to some insured. Now let's talk about modern treatments. This is also a very important coverage. There is no capping in both the plans. That will also be covered up to some insured. If we talk about domiciliary treatment. That is taking treatment at home. Due to compulsion. Or in hospitals. In which the treatment was to be taken. There are no beds available there. Or the patient's condition is not such. That they can be shifted to the hospital. So that is also covered in both the plans. Up to some insured. And apart from this. Home care treatment. Which is being promoted a lot these days. Companies. In which you can take treatment at home. From a listed home care service provider. So even on that. There is no capping in both the plans. If we talk about road ambulance. In an emergency situation. If a policyholder uses an ambulance. So that has also no capping. No sub limit. In both the plans. If we talk about air ambulance. So in the standard version of HDFCare Optima Secure plan. You get this coverage of Rs. 5 lakh. You can take the convenience of a domestic air ambulance. But in Aditya Birla Active One Max plan. If you want this. Then you will have to take an add-on separately. Apart from this. Ayush. That is alternative treatments. And coverage like organ donor. In both the plans. Covered up to some insured. So friends. This was about standard coverage and benefits. We compared them. And explained the actual difference. But. These days. Through add-ons. You can completely modify your health plans. That's why. It is also very important to understand the add-ons. Which plan offers how many add-ons. And what needs can be fulfilled from them. So first of all. We will talk. HDFCare Optima Secure. The optional features of the add-ons. The first add-on is of critical illness. That is. If the diagnosis of a serious disease is listed. You can take the expense of the company's treatment in the policy. Lumsum Benefit will give you. And at maximum coverage. Goes up to 5 crore rupees. You can take coverage up to 5 crore rupees. If you consider more risk of serious diseases. Then this kind of critical illness. Lumsum Benefit. You can take. The second add-on is unlimited restoration. As we learned earlier. In the standard Optima Secure plan. The amount will be restored once. If you want unlimited. Then you can take this add-on. Unlimited restoration. Then there will be no limit to the number of restorations. Within a policy year. The third is hospital cash. If apart from the expense of treatment. Some expenses of per day are also required. Then you can claim that too. As long as the patient is admitted. Then you will have to take the hospital cash add-on. And you will have to choose a specific amount. Which you want per day. And you will also have to choose the number of days. For a policy year. Then you can take that benefit separately. With this add-on. If you think. SDFC Ergo Optima Secure plan. The premium is very high. But you want the plan here. Then the annual aggregate deductible add-on. Is a good feature. Which can reduce your premium. Annual aggregate deductible means. Within the entire year. The coverage up to this amount. Approved claim amount. You will not get. After that the coverage of this policy. Will start. And the minimum option for annual aggregate deductible. Is Rs 25,000. Which you can choose. As much discount you want in premium. According to that. You can also choose the amount of annual aggregate deductible. Apart from this. Personal accident rider up to Rs 1 crore. Can also be taken. In which the proposer. After the death of the policyholder. Up to Rs 1 crore claim. Nominee or family. Can get. Now friends. Let's talk. Some recently launched. Latest add-ons. Which are added in Optima Secure plan. And in that. The first number comes. Parenthood. In which the claim of maternity. You can take. Normal and C-section delivery. But in this. I did not see any special coverage. Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh coverage. You will take. So this add-on is very expensive. Apart from this. Newborn baby also. There is no coverage in it. So that's why. I did not see any worth in it. Next add-on comes. Limitless. In which in a lifetime. You can stretch a claim to an unlimited amount. There will be no limit on it. If you want to take this kind of freedom. So you can take Limitless Rider. And finally comes ABCD Rider. In which asthma. BP. Diabetes. Such conditions. You can give coverage from the 31st day. I am talking about pre-existing conditions. If it is diagnosed after purchasing the policy. Then it will be covered with the usual waiting period. But these conditions are already there. Then you give them coverage from the 31st day. By opting this add-on. ABCD. Now friends. Let's talk. Aditya Birla. What are the optional covers given to you. What are the add-ons you can take. And the first add-on is. Durable equipment cover. After treatment. The doctor says. That you will have to take some devices. You will have to keep it together. Like this. It can be a wheelchair. It can be a prosthetic device. So these kinds of listed devices. Whether you buy it within 30 days of treatment. Or take it on rent. 5 lakh rupees. Next add-on is. Advanced health check-up. In this. You get two advanced health check-ups. PET. And CTA. Before purchasing the policy. Within the first 90 days. You can't get this test done. Even if you have taken the add-on. And you have to get it done on a cashless basis. The next two add-ons. They can reduce your waiting period. Specific disease. That is. The listed illness. Their waiting period. Is 24 months. Which you can reduce. And you can get it done. And if there is any disease. Pre-existing condition. Its waiting period. Is 36 months. You can reduce it. To 24 months. Or 12 months. If you want to get its coverage. As soon as possible. Apart from this. The add-on is. Critical illness cover. In which. You get diagnosed. With serious diseases. With listed serious diseases. For a minimum of. 10 lakh rupees. To 25 lakh rupees. You can choose the cover. Whose initial. Waiting period. Will be 60 days. Before purchasing the policy. Within the first 60 days. You can't claim it. And survival. Period. Is 15 days. 15 days. That is. On getting diagnosed. For 15 days. The policy holder. Needs to stay alive. So this lump sum benefit. They will get it. In the same way. Personal accident. Can also be covered. Starting from minimum. 10 lakh rupees. Of some insured. Till 50 lakh rupees. In which. Accidental death. Permanent total disability. And permanent. Partial disability. Will also be covered. The next important add-on. Comes. Cancer booster. In which. Your some insured. Is equal to. 100 percent. Of your some insured. You get extra money. Which is only. For cancer related treatment. You can use. In which. Pre and post hospitalization. Expenses of this cancer. Can be. For day care treatments. You can use the money. And this. As a reimbursement claim. From the insurance company. Will have to take. Next add-on is. Compassionate visit. If a family member. Is staying away from the family. And there. He gets sick. And this hospitalization. More than 10 days. Goes on. And final add-on is. Annual screening package. For cancer. Diagnosed. Patients. Which. Policy. May. Be. Listed. Surgery. A large. Melodious. Zadadar. E. N. T. A. Choti Moti. Surgery. Yamil. D. Detail. List. A. Of. you can refer to the policy wordings or the individual video of both these plans, in which I have given all this information in great detail, I am giving it to you in the description of this video. You can also check it out later, whichever plan you like. The third waiting period is of PED, Pre-Existing Disease, which is of 36 months. You can also reduce it in the Aditya Birla Active On Max plan. It can be done from 36 months to 24 months and 12 months by paying extra premium. Now friends, it is time to compare the premium of both these plans. So, I have taken the sample family size of 2 adults and 2 children. The age of the adults is 38 and 35 years and the age of the children is 12 years and 10 years. Their address is New Delhi and they do not have any pre-existing conditions. We assume this. In the SDFC Ergo Optima Secure plan, we have taken one add-on, that is Unlimited Restoration. Its premium of Rs 10 lakh will be Rs 31,220 for a year of this family only. And if they choose to have Rs 25 lakh of coverage, then their premium will be Rs 36,457. Now, if they go for Aditya Birla Active On Max plan, then they have not taken any add-on separately because there is coverage of non-medical items, super credit, super reload, health return, everything is in the standard plan. So, they will get coverage of Rs 10 lakh in only Rs 23,152 only. And if they choose to take Rs 25 lakh of sum-insured, then they will get Rs 33,985. They will have to pay this annually. Now, here you have seen that the premium difference is quite high in lower sum-insured. But as the sum-insured increases, as we saw the price of Rs 25 lakh, then this difference does not remain much there. Before I tell you my opinion about these two plans, pros and cons of these two plans, first, let's review the data of claims of these two companies. In which, the first ratio we have taken is the claim settlement ratio. And this is the average of the last 3 years. Per 100 claims, how many claims has SDFCR settled, and that percentage is amazing, it's 98%. If we talk about Aditya Birla, then they have settled 95 claims, which is above average. That is also a very good percentage. Now, let's talk about the Incurred Claim Ratio, i.e. how much premium they took from the policyholders, and how much claim they gave in return. We will check this through ICR, i.e. Incurred Claim Ratio. In SDFCR, the Incurred Claim Ratio is 82%. i.e. when Rs 100 was taken from the policyholders, out of that, they gave Rs 82 claims. This means that the company is not stingy. Now, let's talk about Aditya Birla. Their Incurred Claim Ratio is 68%, which can be said to be quite good. It's good because it's good for the policyholders and it's good for the company to maintain their profitability and sustainability, and at the same time, the policyholders are also getting a good claim. If the Incurred Claim Ratio is above 55-60, then it's considered average. But here it's 68%, so it's considered above average. But the Incurred Claim Ratio of 82% is definitely better than 68%. The third criteria is of complaints. Whether the policyholders buy the policy, give money to the policyholders, whether they face problems during the claims or not, this information will give us the data of the complaints. If we look at the complaints per 10,000 claims, then there are only 7 complaints in SDFCR. This shows that the policyholders are quite happy with these policies and services. On the other hand, Aditya Birla's number of complaints per 10,000 claims is 22, which is almost three times that of SDFCR. Friends, let's quickly conclude this video. First, let's talk about Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan. If your age is very low, and you feel that no regular claim is going to come according to your lifestyle, age, and health condition, or if your age is on the extreme side, if you are crossing 55 or 60 years of age, or if you have a pre-existing disease, then in both cases, Aditya Birla's Active One Max Plan gives you more flexibility and affordability. If the chances of a claim coming at a young age are low, then you will have to pay a low premium, and you will not feel burdened that you are not taking a claim and paying an expensive premium. On the other hand, if you have a pre-existing disease at a young age, then you get more flexibility to reduce the waiting period, to cover some chronic conditions from the first day, then this plan offers you more value, if you are in one of those situations. Apart from this, there is no issue of deductions, the money that is deducted from the claim, because all four lists of Annexure One are covered here, and most of the companies deduct money from these non-medical items on the pretext of consumables. So, there is no tension here. The third thing is affordability, that is, your premium increases on every renewal. You will feel this pain less in Active One Plan, because there is an age-bended premium here. For 5 years, the age-bended premium is not going to increase, and the inflation-bended premium is not revised every year. Means premium will revise less frequently in Aditya Birla Active One Max Plan. And apart from this, the choices of add-ons are also very flexible in Aditya Birla Active One Max Plan, in which you get critical illness, tests related to cancer, screening, such add-ons are also available. You can reduce the waiting period. Now let's talk about SDF's Ergo Optima Secure Plan. So, if you want two things, first of all, if there is no hiccup during the claim, then you can go for SDF's Ergo. But it is also necessary to fulfill the second condition, that you should not be taking more money from the company, because the premiums are revised every year, except for one year. And you get the benefit of this during the claims, good services, full claim amount, lesser complaints. So, if your expectation is that I don't want any trouble in claim servicing, then go with SDF's Ergo. But be mentally prepared for this, that you may have to pay more premiums over the coming years. If you want affordability, flexibility, and the chances of claim are low, and you want to avoid paying more premiums for no reason, then you can go with Aditya Birla Active One Max Plan. And that's why I always say that not a single health insurance plan can be the best for everyone. Because the definition of the best health insurance plan is, which will align with my needs, my goals, my needs, and will fulfill them in a reasonable premium. That is my best health insurance plan. So, with this comparison, I hope, you have also understood, which plan is made for you. The points and features that we have compared in this video, apart from this, there can be many terms and conditions, which are related to a plan or a feature. So, while buying your health insurance plan, don't forget to do all the research and detailed analysis. Because every policyholder has different needs, plan can be different, choices can be different, and that's why the best health insurance plan can also be different. If this video has created some value for you, then you can subscribe this channel for showing your support in return. The easiest way to check the efficiency of any health insurance company is to look at their claims data. In the first quarter of 2025, how your health insurance company has performed, you can see by clicking here. I, Harvinder Singh, will meet you in the next video. Till then, take care, stay fit and stay healthy. Jai Hind!