Top 10 health, GI with highest complaints, Star leads
Have you ever been let down by your health insurance provider? It could be due to mis-selling, sub-par service, slow claims processing, reduced payouts, or outright denials. You pay your premiums faithfully each year, only to be disappointed when you and your family need financial help the most.
The latest data from the Council of Insurance Ombudsman annual report for 2024-25, along with the IRDAI insurance statistics for 2024-25, reveals which insurer received the highest number of complaints and how they stack up when compared on the basis of their customer base.
After failing to get satisfactory resolutions from their insurers, thousands of policyholders file complaints with the insurance ombudsman every year. This has led to the identification of the top 10 worst-performing insurance companies in the Council of Insurance Ombudsman (CIO) 2024-25 annual report.
Keep reading to discover which health insurers have garnered the most complaints from policyholders, and check if your health insurer is among them.
Also read: Latest claim settlement ratio of health and general insurers released by IRDAI in 2026: Niva, Acko, Aditya Birla, Galaxy lead; Shriram, IFFCO Tokio fall below 90%
Star Health takes the lead, followed by CARE Health Insurance
According to the CIO annual report, Star Health & Allied Insurance Co. Ltd received a total of 12,186 complaints during FY2024-25. This figure includes both the outstanding complaints from the beginning of the year and those that came in throughout the year.
Following them, CARE Health had 4,423 complaints against it. Niva Bupa Health Insurance was third with 3,983 complaints.
Among public sector insurers, only one, National Insurance Co. Ltd., made it to the top 5 with 1,890 complaints, while the top 3 spots were taken by stand-alone health insurers.
To understand how many complaints each insurer received, we can divide the total complaints by the number of lives they covered, as outlined in the IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics 2024-25. This metric reveals how many complaints were filed against each insurer for every one lakh policyholders, which is essential for evaluating their customer service and claim settlement processes.
Also read: Top 10 Life insurance companies with highest complaints in 2026, as per Insurance Ombudsman Report 2024-25
Check out the table below for the details on the Total Number of Complaints, Number of Persons Covered (in ’000s), and Complaints Received by the Insurance Ombudsman per Lakh Policyholders for Health Insurance (excluding Personal Accident and Travel)
(A) includes both outstanding complaints at the start of the year and those received during the year.
(B) includes lives covered under all types of policies, like government schemes, group insurance schemes, individual family floaters, and individual plans other than family floaters.
(C) is arrived at by dividing (A) by (B) and multiplying the same by 100.
It’s worth mentioning that even in this list, the complaints against Star Health far outweigh those against other insurers. For instance, CARE Health Insurance, which comes in second, has only around 4,423 complaints, compared to almost 12,186 against Star Health for FY24-25.
In fact, if you add up the complaints (not counting Star Health) against the other four insurers, they still fall short of the total complaints against Star Health.
Looking at general insurers that provide health coverage, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Ltd received 1,542 complaints over 15,654 thousand covered lives (10%), while The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. registered 1,456 complaints with 14,789.824 thousand covered lives (10%).
Also read: Latest claim settlement ratios of life insurance companies in 2026; Shriram, Aditya Birla, PNB MetLife & HDFC retain top spot with over 99%; IndiaFirst lags at 87%
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. received 974 complaints out of 40,899 thousand lives covered, which is about 2%. On the other hand, United India Insurance Co. Ltd., which has the biggest coverage of 168,779.44 thousand lives, only had 876 complaints, resulting in 1%, the smallest percentage in the table.
The latest data from the Council of Insurance Ombudsman annual report for 2024-25, along with the IRDAI insurance statistics for 2024-25, reveals which insurer received the highest number of complaints and how they stack up when compared on the basis of their customer base.
After failing to get satisfactory resolutions from their insurers, thousands of policyholders file complaints with the insurance ombudsman every year. This has led to the identification of the top 10 worst-performing insurance companies in the Council of Insurance Ombudsman (CIO) 2024-25 annual report.
Keep reading to discover which health insurers have garnered the most complaints from policyholders, and check if your health insurer is among them.
Also read: Latest claim settlement ratio of health and general insurers released by IRDAI in 2026: Niva, Acko, Aditya Birla, Galaxy lead; Shriram, IFFCO Tokio fall below 90%
Star Health takes the lead, followed by CARE Health Insurance
According to the CIO annual report, Star Health & Allied Insurance Co. Ltd received a total of 12,186 complaints during FY2024-25. This figure includes both the outstanding complaints from the beginning of the year and those that came in throughout the year.
Following them, CARE Health had 4,423 complaints against it. Niva Bupa Health Insurance was third with 3,983 complaints.
Among public sector insurers, only one, National Insurance Co. Ltd., made it to the top 5 with 1,890 complaints, while the top 3 spots were taken by stand-alone health insurers.
To understand how many complaints each insurer received, we can divide the total complaints by the number of lives they covered, as outlined in the IRDAI Handbook on Indian Insurance Statistics 2024-25. This metric reveals how many complaints were filed against each insurer for every one lakh policyholders, which is essential for evaluating their customer service and claim settlement processes.
Also read: Top 10 Life insurance companies with highest complaints in 2026, as per Insurance Ombudsman Report 2024-25
Check out the table below for the details on the Total Number of Complaints, Number of Persons Covered (in ’000s), and Complaints Received by the Insurance Ombudsman per Lakh Policyholders for Health Insurance (excluding Personal Accident and Travel)
(A) includes both outstanding complaints at the start of the year and those received during the year.
(B) includes lives covered under all types of policies, like government schemes, group insurance schemes, individual family floaters, and individual plans other than family floaters.
(C) is arrived at by dividing (A) by (B) and multiplying the same by 100.
It’s worth mentioning that even in this list, the complaints against Star Health far outweigh those against other insurers. For instance, CARE Health Insurance, which comes in second, has only around 4,423 complaints, compared to almost 12,186 against Star Health for FY24-25.
In fact, if you add up the complaints (not counting Star Health) against the other four insurers, they still fall short of the total complaints against Star Health.
Looking at general insurers that provide health coverage, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Ltd received 1,542 complaints over 15,654 thousand covered lives (10%), while The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. registered 1,456 complaints with 14,789.824 thousand covered lives (10%).
Also read: Latest claim settlement ratios of life insurance companies in 2026; Shriram, Aditya Birla, PNB MetLife & HDFC retain top spot with over 99%; IndiaFirst lags at 87%
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. received 974 complaints out of 40,899 thousand lives covered, which is about 2%. On the other hand, United India Insurance Co. Ltd., which has the biggest coverage of 168,779.44 thousand lives, only had 876 complaints, resulting in 1%, the smallest percentage in the table.
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