"I would advise a client to go for the maximum health cover. If affordability is an issue, I would ask them to strike a balance," says Mashruwala. Striking a balance is very important because you shouldn't be placing in all your savings in a health insurance premium.

"From a financial planning perspective, risk is only one of the components that include term insurance, health insurance and home insurance. So a retail investor cannot afford spending Rs 30,000 only on a health insurance policy when he/she has to think about building a retirement corpus, saving for child's education, etc. And the premium will only go up as he ages," says Harshvardhan Roongta, certified financial planner, Roongta Securities.

May be the hefty premiums for theses health cover seems to be unaffordable, but then there are some cheaper options too, like adding a top-up health cover to your existing 5 lakh or 10 lakh cover. The maximum top-up cover available is 15 lakh. "If you are comfortable getting treated in tier-2 hospitals, a cover of Rs 10-15 lakh in an urban area should suffice," says Roongta.

Mashruwala has suggested another method for resolving the issue of affordability of the high covers. "You should start building a corpus of Rs 5 lakh for medical emergency. You can use this corpus for treatment of your minor illnesses."