New Delhi, Feb. 17 -- The venue was the National Stock Exchange. The agenda: investments, markets and wealth creation.

But one session shifted the focus from making money to protecting it.

Because one medical emergency can wipe out years of disciplined investing. And yet, despite the obvious risk, health insurance remains under-penetrated across Indian households.

At the Mint Money Festival, Mahavir Chopra, founder of Beshak.org, and Shilpa Arora, co-founder and chief operating officer of Insurance Samadhaan, confronted an uncomfortable question: what's really broken in India's health insurance system? For a product that sees the highest consumer complaints within the insurance industry, can families realistically skip insurance and re...