Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC’s) New Cancer Cover (Plan 908, UIN: 512N370V01) is a benefit-based critical illness health insurance plan available for sale from October 19, 2026.
Key Features and Benefits
Plan Types and Payouts: A pure-risk health plan that provides fixed payouts for early-stage (25%) cancer and major-stage (100%) cancer, independent of actual medical expenses.
Income and Waiver: Provides a 1% monthly income payout for 10 years after a major-stage cancer diagnosis. Premiums are waived for 3 years after an early-stage diagnosis and stop after a major-stage diagnosis.
Options and Access: Offers Level and Increasing Sum Assured options. You can buy it online or offline.
Eligibility Criteria
Age and Term: The entry age ranges from 18 to 65 years. The Premium Paying Term (PPT) and policy term are 10 to 15 years.
Sum Assured: Starts at ₹15 lakh and goes up to ₹50 lakh, varying by age group.
And a cancer diagnosis often comes with a significant financial burden.
The LIC New Cancer Cover Plan 908 aims to ease this financial burden. It pays a fixed lump sum on diagnosis: 25% at the early stage and 100% at the major stage, irrespective of the treatment costs.
After LICwithdrew its older health plans, it is also one of the first new LIC health insurance plans on offer.
In this article, we cover the key features, eligibility, payouts, sample premiums, how Plan 908 differs from the withdrawn Plan 905, and LIC’s performance metrics.
This LIC Cancer Cover policy is a cancer-specific, fixed-benefit critical illness health insurance plan. It pays a set amount on diagnosis, not a reimbursement of your hospital bills. In simple terms, you can use the money for treatment, EMIs, or time off work.
Two Payout Stages: 25% of the sum assured for early-stage cancer and 100% for major-stage cancer (paid regardless of the early-stage payout).
Monthly Income: 1% of the sum assured every month for 10 years after a major-stage payout.
Guaranteed Premiums: Your premium stays fixed for the whole policy term.
No Money Back: No maturity, death, or surrender benefit.
Online Rebate: Direct online buyers get 7.5% off (10- to 14-year terms) or 10% off (15-year term). The free look period is 30 days.
Ditto’s Insight: This is afixed-benefit critical illness style plan, not a replacement for comprehensive health insurance.Indemnity plans pay your actual hospital bills for accidents or critical illnesses. This plan pays a fixed amount only for certain cancers.
Note: IRDAI permits life insurers to offer health insurance on a benefit basis. LIC New Cancer Cover therefore pays defined benefits rather than reimbursing medical bills. So, even though LIC is a life insurer, it can offer this critical illness plan.
Detailed Conditions of LIC New Cancer Cover
01
Waiting Period
180 days from the policy start or revival date. If you're diagnosed with cancer at any stage during this window, the policy pays nothing and ends.
02
Survival Period
No benefit is paid if the policyholder passes away within 7 days of diagnosis.
03
Finite Policy Term
Cover lasts only 10 to 15 years and terminates at maturity. Continued cancer cover afterward may require a fresh policy under the terms and underwriting available then. In comparison, popular term insurance plans providing Critical Illness (CI) riders offer these add-ons for 20-30 years. For example, Axis Max Life Smart Term Plan Plus offers a CI rider for 30 years.
04
Early-Stage Benefit
Paid only once.
05
After a Major-Stage Payout
No further claims are allowed, though the monthly income continues.
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Eligibility Criteria and Documents Required for Application
Eligibility Criteria
Details
Entry Age
18 to 65 years (last birthday)
Policy and Premium Paying Term
10 to 15 years
Maturity Age
28 to 75 years
Minimum Sum Assured
₹35 lakh (ages 18 to 34), ₹30 lakh (35 to 40), ₹20 lakh (41 to 50), ₹15 lakh (51 to 65)
Maximum Sum Assured
₹50 lakh
Documents Required for LIC New Cancer Cover
KYC identity and address proof (like Aadhaar card)
PAN card
Canceled cheque, bank passbook, or recent bank statements
Income proof, such as salary slips or ITR, when requested
Ditto’s Key Insight: Disclose your medical history fully and honestly. Any cancer or precancerous condition diagnosed or treated in the past is excluded, and the insurer may decline the application altogether.
Cancer Payout Options and Premium Waiver Benefits
Level vs. Increasing Sum Assured
Level cover keeps your sum assured unchanged throughout the policy term. Increasing cover, on the other hand, adds 10% of the base amount on each of the first five policy anniversaries, reaching 150%, and stops once cancer is diagnosed. You cannot switch between the two options later.
How Payouts and Waivers Work
Early Stage (Such as Carcinoma in Situ): 25% lump sum, plus premiums waived for the next 3 policy years or the remaining term, whichever is shorter.
Major Stage: 100% lump sum, 1% monthly income for 10 years, and no premiums from the next policy anniversary.
Let’s run the numbers.
Imagine a 35-year-old woman buys a ₹50 lakh level cover for 15 years at ₹17,600 a year. Early-stage cancer pays ₹12.5 lakh. If she is later diagnosed with cancer that satisfies LIC’s Major Stage Cancer definition, she gets ₹50 lakh plus ₹50,000 a month for 10 years (₹60 lakh).
Total Possible Payout: ₹1.225 crore, which is the 245% maximum, excluding the value of the Premium Waiver Benefit.
Sample Premiums by Age and Cover
Profile
LIC New Cancer Cover
25, Male
₹4,995
25, Female
₹7,605
35, Male
₹8,190
35, Female
₹17,600
For this comparison, we’ve taken sample profiles of healthy individuals living in a tier-1 city like Delhi (pincode: 110010) and covered for a level sum assured of ₹50 lakh with a 15-year policy term. These premiums are indicative and can vary based on your age, health conditions, lifestyle choices, sum assured, and underwriting.
Ditto’s Key Insight:
Surprisingly, women pay more until their 50s, and men pay more from age 60.
Premiums climb steeply with age, so buying young locks in a lower rate.
The Increasing option costs about 13% to 34% more in LIC’s samples.
LIC New Cancer Cover vs. LIC Cancer Cover (Plan 905): Key Differences
Feature
Plan 905 (UIN: 512N314V03)
Plan 908
Entry Age
20 to 65 years
18 to 65 years
Policy Term
10 to 30 years
10 to 15 years
Minimum Sum Assured
₹35 lakh for ages 20 to 34, ₹25 lakh for ages 35 to 40, and ₹15 lakh for ages 41 to 65
₹15 to ₹35 lakh, depending on your age
Maximum Sum Assured
₹50 lakh
₹50 lakh
Major-Stage Payout
100% minus early-stage payout
100% (regardless of early-stage payout)
Premium Guarantee
First 5 years
Entire policy term
Online Rebate
7%
7.5% to 10%
The biggest upgrade is the full major-stage payout. However, the trade-off is a higher minimum cover and a shorter maximum term.
Note: LIC Cancer Cover Plan 905 has been withdrawn and is no longer available for new purchases. However, existing policyholders can continue as per the terms and conditions.
LIC: Performance Metrics
Key Operational Metric (FY 2024-2026)
LIC
Industry Average
Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR)
98.16%
99.00% (Mean)
Amount Settlement Ratio (ASR) (FY 2023-2025)
95.48%
94.83% (Mean)
Solvency Ratio (IRDAI’s Minimum Requirement: 1.5x)
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Conclusion
Your first priority should be a comprehensive health insurance policy that pays eligible hospital bills across illnesses. LIC New Cancer Cover should only be an extra layer, not a substitute.
If your bigger concern is losing income during a serious illness, compare a critical illness rider with your term insurance, where available, since a rider may cover multiple listed critical illnesses rather than cancer alone and offer coverage for a longer duration.
If you still want dedicated cancer or critical-illness cover, compare the definitions, waiting periods, policy term, and payout structure in our critical illness insurance guide before buying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is LIC’s New Cancer Cover (Plan 908) a good cancer insurance plan?
As an LIC Cancer Cover Plan, it can work as supplementary cancer protection if you already have comprehensive health insurance and want a fixed cash payout for treatment gaps, income loss, or other expenses. It should not be your primary health cover because it only pays for cancers that meet the policy’s specified early-stage or major-stage definitions. It also has a 180-day waiting period, a 7-day survival period, and a limited 10- to 15-year policy term.
What is the waiting period under LIC New Cancer Cover (Plan 908)?
The LIC Cancer Cover policy has a 180-day waiting period from the date of policy issuance or revival, whichever is later. If any stage of cancer is diagnosed during this period, no cancer benefit is payable, and the policy terminates. Separately, there is a 7-day survival period from the date of diagnosis for both specified early-stage and major-stage cancer. The 7 days include the date of diagnosis itself.
Which types of cancer are excluded from LIC New Cancer Cover?
The LIC cancer policy does not cover every cancer diagnosis. Cancer, precancerous or related conditions diagnosed within the preceding 36 months, or for which medical advice or treatment was recommended or received in that period, are excluded. The policy also excludes certain tumors from its early-stage and major-stage definitions, including benign, borderline or non-invasive tumors in specified cases. Alcohol- or drug-related conditions, except prescribed drugs, and nuclear contamination are also excluded. The exact policy definition controls the claim.
Can I buy LIC New Cancer Cover for my spouse or children?
LIC New Cancer Cover is an individual policy, not a family floater. The minimum entry age is 18, so you cannot add a minor child to your own policy. An eligible adult spouse or adult child would need a separate policy, subject to LIC’s underwriting and age limits. Among LIC health insurance plans, New Cancer Cover is specifically a fixed-benefit cancer plan, so each insured adult needs an individual policy rather than sharing one family cover.
Should I choose the level or increasing sum assured option in LIC New Cancer Cover?
Choose Level Sum Assured if you want the lower premium and are comfortable keeping the same cover through the policy term. Under the Increasing Sum Assured option, a ₹50 lakh Basic Sum Assured increases by ₹5 lakh, or 10% of the base amount, on each of the first five policy anniversaries. It can therefore increase from ₹50 lakh to ₹75 lakh after the fifth anniversary, provided no specified cancer is diagnosed earlier. Once a specified cancer is diagnosed, further increases stop as per the policy terms. It costs more, and you cannot switch later. In LIC’s published samples, the premium uplift is roughly 13% to 34%, depending on age, gender, and term.
Do I still need LIC New Cancer Cover if I already have a regular health insurance policy?
Yes, but only if you specifically want additional cancer-related cash protection. Comprehensive indemnity health insurance should come first because it pays eligible hospital bills for various illnesses, while this LIC health insurance product pays fixed benefits only for specified cancer diagnoses. If you have both comprehensive health insurance and LIC New Cancer Cover, your comprehensive policy can settle eligible treatment expenses, while LIC's cancer policy can separately pay its predefined benefit when you meet its diagnosis conditions. You could use that additional cash for income loss, household expenses, or costs outside your regular health insurance cover.
Does LIC New Cancer Cover provide lifelong cancer protection?
No. The premium is guaranteed only for the policy term you choose, which can be 10 to 15 years. The policy terminates at maturity, so it does not provide lifelong cancer protection or a lifelong premium lock. If you still want cover after the term ends, you may need to buy a new policy then, subject to entry-age rules, underwriting, and terms at that time. This limitation matters especially for younger buyers.
What is the maximum payout under LIC New Cancer Cover?
The maximum cancer benefit can reach 245% of the Applicable Sum Assured, excluding the value of any premium waiver. For example, if an admissible early-stage claim is followed later by an admissible major-stage claim, the LIC cancer cover can pay 25% plus 100%, along with monthly income equal to 1% of the Applicable Sum Assured for 120 months. If the insured dies during the income period, the remaining monthly payments continue to the nominee as they fall due.
Which cancers are covered under LIC New Cancer Cover Plan 908?
LIC New Cancer Cover covers specified early-stage and major-stage cancers. Early-stage conditions include carcinoma in situ, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, bladder cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and severe cervical dysplasia. Major-stage coverage includes invasive malignant cancers meeting LIC's definition, including leukemia, lymphoma, and sarcoma. However, certain non-invasive tumors and early-stage skin, prostate, thyroid, and other cancers are excluded from major-stage benefits. Payouts depend on the exact diagnosis, medical evidence, waiting and survival periods, and policy exclusions.
