Most conversations about medical loans assume an emergency: an admission, a deposit, a clock running. But a large share of the medical files I see on the credit side at Securis aren’t emergencies at all. They’re planned treatments where the family already has health insurance — and has just found out the policy won’t pay for all of it, or any of it.

That’s a different problem from a midnight hospital estimate, and it deserves a calmer approach. You usually have days or weeks, not hours. That time is worth using, because the difference between a well-sized loan and a panicked one is often tens of thousands of rupees.

Where the gaps usually come from

Health insurance in India is designed to cover hospitalisation well. The gaps tend to appear in predictable places, and knowing which one you’re facing tells you how big the loan really needs to be.

  • Room-rent caps and proportionate deductions. If your policy allows a room at 1% of the sum insured per day and you choose a pricier room, many policies reduce the other charges on the bill in the same proportion. A ₹3,00,000 bill can leave you with a ₹50,000–₹70,000 shortfall this way.
  • Co-payment clauses. A 10–20% co-pay, common on senior-citizen policies, means a ₹4,00,000 surgery leaves ₹40,000–₹80,000 on you.
  • Waiting periods. Pre-existing conditions and certain listed procedures often have a waiting period of up to three years. Inside that window, the claim simply isn’t payable.
  • Treatments outside standard cover. Many dental procedures, fertility treatment, some physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and elective procedures like vision correction are frequently excluded or tightly sub-limited, depending on the plan.
  • Non-medical consumables. Gloves, masks, certain kits and admin charges are commonly excluded, and add up to a few thousand rupees on most bills.

Before you borrow a rupee, get two things in writing: the hospital’s itemised estimate, and your insurer’s (or TPA’s) pre-authorisation response showing exactly what’s approved. The gap between those two numbers is your real borrowing need. If a claim has been declined and you believe the policy terms support it, the insurer’s grievance process exists for exactly this, and it’s worth using in parallel — a loan can bridge the time while that plays out.

Working out the EMI before you commit

Once you know the gap, size the loan to it and nothing more. Here’s what typical numbers look like on standard reducing-balance terms.

Scenario 1 — a co-pay or room-rent shortfall of ₹60,000. Over 12 months at 15% APR, that’s an EMI of about ₹5,415 a month, with total interest of roughly ₹4,990. Short, contained, and gone within a year.

Scenario 2 — a dental implant plan outside cover, ₹90,000. Over 12 months at 14%, the EMI is about ₹8,080, with total interest near ₹6,970.

Scenario 3 — a fertility treatment cycle of ₹1,50,000, not covered. Here the tenure choice matters:

  • 18 months at 15%: about ₹9,360 a month, roughly ₹18,440 in total interest
  • 24 months at 15%: about ₹7,270 a month, roughly ₹24,550 in total interest

Stretching by six months saves about ₹2,090 a month but costs about ₹6,100 more overall. Neither is wrong; the right answer is the shortest tenure whose EMI still leaves your household budget comfortable. Treatments that may need more than one cycle are worth planning for honestly — borrowing for one cycle and finding you need a second while the first EMI is still running is where people get stretched.

Check your own ceiling too. Lenders look at FOIR — the share of your monthly income already going to EMIs. Say you earn ₹60,000 a month in bank-credited salary and already pay a ₹12,000 car EMI. Adding the ₹9,360 EMI takes you to about 36% of income on obligations, which is generally workable. Add it on top of a ₹25,000 home-loan EMI instead and you’re near 57%, which is tight for any lender and tighter still for your own month-end.

Considering this kind of loan? Apply for a Securis loan — typical disbursement is 1-2 working days.

How Securis looks at a medical file — and when to skip it

For salaried applicants, Securis offers personal loans up to ₹5,00,000 over one to three years. The purpose prints on your documents as “medical,” but the file is assessed the same way as any other personal purpose: three months of salary credits in your bank statement, your existing obligations, and whether EMIs have bounced. We don’t ask you to justify the treatment, and we don’t judge whether it’s “necessary enough.” That decision belongs to you and your doctor.

Because planned treatments give you time, use it:

  • Ask the hospital or clinic about their own instalment plans first. Many offer staged payments tied to treatment milestones, sometimes interest-free. If that covers you, it’s usually the cheaper route.
  • Check with your employer. Some companies offer medical advances or top-up group cover that pays where a personal policy doesn’t.
  • Look at your policy’s top-up or restoration benefits. Occasionally what seems excluded is partly payable under a rider you forgot you had.

Skip a personal loan if the gap runs well beyond ₹5,00,000 — a long oncology course or a major transplant, for instance. At that scale an unsecured loan isn’t the right instrument on its own; a secured loan against an asset, with longer tenure and lower rates, usually fits better. Skip it too if the EMI would push your obligations past roughly half your take-home pay; a smaller loan combined with the clinic’s staged payment plan is safer than one big EMI.

And a note for the future: if this gap came from a room-rent cap or co-pay, it’s worth reviewing your cover at renewal. A higher sum insured or a policy without room-rent limits costs a few thousand rupees a year and can remove the need for a loan like this next time.

The short version

Get the itemised estimate and the insurer’s pre-authorisation in writing. Borrow the gap, not the bill. Pick the shortest tenure you can comfortably carry, and check your FOIR before you apply. A personal loan is a sensible bridge between what insurance pays and what treatment costs — as long as it’s sized to that bridge and no bigger.

If you want a second opinion on your specific situation, WhatsApp us — we’ll be honest about whether Securis fits.