When 46-year-old Gagan Kapoor, founder of a Gurugram-based marketing consultancy firm, saw an acquaintance’s family grapple with a medical emergency that left them with a hospital bill of over Rs.55 lakh a couple of years ago, it prompted him to take a closer look at his own health insurance. “They struggled to arrange the funds, and many of us pitched in. I would never want my family to face such a crisis,” he says.His current health insurance sum insured is Rs.1 crore, excluding cumulative bonuses, which have further enhanced the cover. “This is necessary given the soaring cost of healthcare. Otherwise, some illnesses and procedures can quickly wipe out smaller covers of Rs.5-10 lakh,” he reasons.Kapoor’s concerns mirror those of many others. Delhi-based Anoop Kumar Madan, 48, has a health cover of close to Rs.3 crore. “The rising medical inflation in the country necessitates such a large cover,” he says.With industry estimates pegging annual medical inflation in the country at 12-14%, health insurance industry watchers believe a Rs.5-10 lakh independent health cover, considered adequate in the pre-Covid-19 era, is no longer sufficient.So how much should the ideal cover be? For term insurance, the simple, though not foolproof, thumb rule is that the cover should be at least 10-15 times your annual income. However, this math doesn’t work for health insurance. “The purpose is to protect against unexpected medical expenses, which are driven by inflation, city of residence, hospital choice, and the nature of treatment. A single cardiac procedure or cancer treatment cycle in a metro hospital can exceed Rs.15-25 lakh,” says Amarnath Saxena, Chief Technical Officer, Commercial, Bajaj General Insurance. As per Policybazaar’s internal claim analysis (2021-2026), cancers and heart ailments account for 22% of claim costs. The average claim size for cancer was Rs.5.55 lakh, (individual treatment costs can go up to Rs.35-40 lakh), while it was Rs.2.08 lakh for heart diseases, hypertension and stroke treatments.