Its central feature, ‘Time Travel’, extends an industry first premium-age advantage of buying this insurance cover early. The proposition also brings outpatient care, mental wellbeing, fitness access and wellness rewards into a cover designed to remain relevant as customers move from their first job to marriage and family life.
“In our analysis, during our discussions with our distributors, during our surveys with our customers, one of the points that we found is that the younger generation is not very receptive to health insurance—especially people who are less than 40 years of age, 35 years of age. They are feeling that health insurance is not an important product because they feel that regarding their health, today they do not have any need for buying health insurance; they will buy it later,” Anand Roy, MD and CEO, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company said in a press conference.
“We are trying to address some of the points which have been brought about during our discussion with the market, and we are trying to address that through this product. We believe that this product will increase the reception of health insurance in the younger generation,” he said.
Young Star NEO’s Time Travel feature, someone who joins at 24 can have their renewal premium calculated using age 25, even as they grow older — from 25 to 35 to 45 — subject to policy terms. That is what we mean by rewinding your premium age. We want buying health insurance early to be the key focus as your life changes, Roy pointed out.
Star Health also launched Future Shield and Star THRIVE features.
Future Shield enables completed waiting periods to be passed on to a spouse added to the policy later, preserving the advantages of an early start.
Star THRIVE is Star Health’s health and wellness rewards programme, available with Young Star NEO through the Star Health Customer App . It combines rewards for healthy habits with access to mental wellbeing support and guided health coaching, including stress management, women’s health and Condition Management Programs (CMP) for diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular health and obesity.
The proposition connects the decision to buy insurance at a young age with needs that extend beyond hospitalisation: consulting a doctor, accessing mental wellness support, staying active and adding a spouse later. Available for individuals aged 18 to 40 years, Young Star NEO offers sum insured options from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore, including an Unlimited Sum Insured option, and policy terms of one, two or three years.
“We are having a network of more than 17,000 hospitals across the country where our customers are getting cashless facilities. Our company is settling more than seven claims every minute. Seven claims every minute!,” Roy said.
In the first half of FY2026-27, the company has paid out close to Rs 6,700 crores in claims, and the average monthly claim payout, is more than Rs 1,000 crores. Our retail claim settlement ratio is 92 per cent,” he said.
Roy welcomed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) consultation paper titled “Recalibrating Economics of Insurance Distribution”.
“We are absolutely in alignment to the overall principle what IRDAI is thinking about” he said.
Roy said only suggestion the company has made is on level playing field between general insurance companies and standalone health insurance companies in terms of expense management.
He also said the proposal of co-payment in case of individual health insurance is a step in the right direction.
“In health insurance open cover like what it is offering today is leading to some amount of misuse especially from the providers’ side. I will not blame the customers. But when providers see that okay there is no limit, they tend to overcharge over bill. So, I believe that this is a step in the right direction. But let us see what happens,” Roy said.