Your insurer can soon tweak your health policy, but only if you benefit

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) would soon start approving ‘minor’ changes to products quicker if it benefits the policyholders. The insurance regulator has proposed a list of 12 ‘minor’ changes for which insurer can apply for quicker approval.

If an insurer, for example, wants to give an option to policyholders to pay the health insurance premium in instalments, it doesn’t need to go through the lengthy procedure of seeking the nod from the regulator. Similarly, insurers would be able to add more riders, change sum assured, expand the list of day care procedures, add more critical illnesses to their products faster than before. Along with these, Irdai has would also allow companies to increase or decrease premiums by 15 per cent and tweak minor policy wordings.

In another notification, the regulator has also asked the insurers to send updates to policyholders if they have lodged a claim. “All insurers shall notify about the status of the claim at various stages of its processing. ln case of health insurance, where third-party administrators (TPAs) are engaged for rendering claims services, it is the responsibility of insurers to ensure that status on the claim shall be notified to the claimant at every stage,” said the circular. Read Complete Article