You pay the premium from your NRE or NRO account; the policy covers your parents at hospitals in India. A disclosed pre-existing condition can carry a waiting period of up to thirty-six months of continuous cover.
What it is
An individual or floater health policy where your parents are the insured and you are the proposer and payer. It pays hospital bills, cashless at network hospitals or by reimbursement elsewhere. Senior-citizen plans exist for parents above 60, with higher premiums, co-pays and sometimes a medical test before issue.
Who it's for
Parents aged roughly 55 to 80 living in India, especially if their only cover is your employer's policy (which usually stops at retirement or doesn't include them) or an old low-sum policy bought years ago.
What it needs from abroad
Your parents' ID and age proof, their address, a medical test for older applicants, and the premium from your NRE or NRO account. Claims are handled in India: your parents or a family member deal with the hospital desk and the insurer's app, with you on WhatsApp.
Risks and catches
Room-rent limits that cut every other bill proportionally; co-pays on senior plans; sub-limits on specific procedures; waiting periods that mean a new policy won't pay for a known condition straight away. These vary by plan. Porting an existing policy carries over the credit already gained for pre-existing-disease and specific waiting periods; cancelling it loses it.
Tax, for an NRI
If you have income taxed in India, and you compute it under the regime that allows these deductions, premiums paid for parents may be deductible — up to ₹25,000, or ₹50,000 if they are senior citizens. Many NRIs have no such income, in which case there is no deduction to take.
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