If you are above 65 and have been told you are “too old” to buy a fresh health insurance policy in India, that answer is now wrong. From 1 April 2024, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) scrapped the maximum entry-age limit, and insurers must now offer cover to applicants of every age, including senior citizens buying their first policy.

Until early 2024, most insurers stopped accepting fresh proposals once an applicant crossed 65. The IRDAI (Insurance Products) Regulations, 2024, notified on 1 April 2024, ended that practice. Insurers must now make available products, add-ons and riders catering to all ages, all existing medical conditions and pre-existing diseases. The change applies to both new policies and renewals from that date onward.

This is a buying and entry-age guide. If your problem is a rejected or short-paid claim, do not stop here, read how to complain about a rejected health insurance claim and, for court-stage disputes, filing a consumer court case against an insurer.

Two IRDAI instruments govern senior-citizen cover today:

• IRDAI (Insurance Products) Regulations, 2024, notified 1 April 2024, which removed the maximum entry age, redefined pre-existing disease using a 36-month look-back, and shortened the moratorium period.
• Master Circular on Health Insurance Business dated 29 May 2024, which consolidates the policyholder-protection rules: free-look, renewal, portability, moratorium and grievance redressal.

Under Chapter I of the Master Circular, every insurer must make products available to “all ages” and to people with “all types of existing medical conditions”. IRDAI has also directed insurers to design products tailored to senior citizens and to set up dedicated channels for handling their claims and grievances.

• No entry-age cap. An insurer cannot refuse you only because of your age. It can still underwrite based on health, charge a higher premium, and ask for medical tests, but a flat “we do not insure above 65” reply is no longer permitted.
• 36-month pre-existing disease waiting period. A pre-existing disease (PED) is a condition diagnosed, or for which advice or treatment was received, within 36 months before the policy starts. The maximum PED waiting period is now capped at 36 months, down from 48 months.
• 60-month moratorium. After 60 months of continuous coverage, no claim can be contested on grounds of non-disclosure or misrepresentation, except in case of established fraud. This protection moves with you if you port or migrate the policy.

1. Disclose every condition honestly. List all diagnoses, medicines and past hospitalisations on the proposal form. Honest disclosure is what later protects your claim under the moratorium rule.
2. Compare senior-citizen products. Look at premium, room-rent and disease sub-limits, co-payment percentage, and whether the plan covers AYUSH, day-care and domiciliary treatment, all of which IRDAI now requires insurers to offer options for.
3. Complete the medical tests the insurer asks for. The insurer pays at least 50% of pre-policy check-up costs when the proposal is accepted, as per IRDAI norms.
4. Read the Customer Information Sheet (CIS). It must spell out waiting periods, sub-limits, co-pay, free-look and moratorium in plain language.
5. Use the 30-day free-look window. From the date you receive the policy document, you have 30 days to review the terms and cancel for a refund if the plan does not suit you (available for policies of one year or more).
6. Set up renewal on time. A health policy is renewable for life and cannot be denied just because you made a claim; protect your accrued credits by paying within the grace period.

• Age proof (Aadhaar, PAN, passport or voter ID)
• Address proof
• Recent passport-size photographs
• Completed proposal form with full medical disclosure
• Past medical records and prescriptions for any existing conditions
• Pre-policy medical test reports, if the insurer requires them

• Hiding a pre-existing disease to get a lower premium. This can void the claim within the first 60 months; after the moratorium, only proven fraud lets the insurer contest it, so honesty is the cheaper option.
• Assuming “no age cap” means “no underwriting”. The insurer can still price for risk and ask for tests; it simply cannot reject you on age alone.
• Ignoring co-payment and sub-limits. Senior plans often carry a co-pay (you pay a fixed share of each claim) and room-rent caps; missing these turns into out-of-pocket shock at hospitalisation.
• Letting the policy lapse past the grace period. Lapse can reset waiting periods and wipe out the moratorium clock you have already built.

If a public-sector insurer or a regulator sits on your grievance, the Right to Information Act, 2005 can force a paper trail. A public-sector general insurer is a “public authority” under RTI Act 2005, §2(h). You can ask for the file notings on your proposal or grievance, the underwriting policy on senior-citizen products, or the status of a complaint you filed with IRDAI's grievance cell. For drafting and escalation, see The RTI Playbook.

Sample RTI request:

To the Public Information Officer, [public-sector insurer], please provide under the RTI Act 2005: (1) a copy of the board-approved underwriting policy for health insurance across all ages, as required by the IRDAI Master Circular dated 29 May 2024; (2) the file notings on proposal/grievance reference no. dated ; (3) the action taken and reasons recorded. Fee of ₹10 enclosed.

Yes. Since 1 April 2024, IRDAI rules require insurers to offer health products across all ages. There is no fixed buying cut-off at 65, and an insurer cannot reject a proposal on age alone, though it may still underwrite on health grounds.

An insurer can decline or load the premium based on a genuine health-risk assessment, ask for medical tests, and apply waiting periods. What it cannot do is refuse you only because of your age, or impose a flat age cap on buying.

The maximum pre-existing disease waiting period is capped at 36 months, reduced from the earlier 48 months. A pre-existing disease is defined using a 36-month look-back before the policy start date.

After 60 months of continuous coverage, your claim cannot be contested on grounds of non-disclosure or misrepresentation, except for established fraud. For seniors who buy late in life, this is the strongest protection, so paying renewals on time to keep the clock running is critical.

You have 30 days from the date you receive the policy document to review the terms and cancel for a refund, for any policy with a term of one year or more.

This guide covers buying and entry age. For a rejected claim, use the complaint route in how to complain about a rejected health insurance claim, and for the court stage see filing a consumer court case against an insurer.

• IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance Business dated 29 May 2024, https://irdai.gov.in
• IRDAI (Insurance Products) Regulations, 2024, notified 1 April 2024
• DD News (Government of India), “IRDAI removes age cap on health insurance purchase”, https://ddnews.gov.in/en/irdai-removes-age-cap-on-health-insurance-purchase/

• How to complain about a rejected health insurance claim
• Consumer court case against a health insurance company
• The RTI Playbook