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The maximum age limit for taking health insurance may expire in the new year. People can buy health insurance even after the age of 65. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) has proposed to abolish the maximum entry age for taking health insurance policies. Insurance companies can offer health insurance for a period of up to five years. Whereas, general insurance and individual companies can offer policies for a maximum of three years.
IRDA has advised life insurance companies to offer profit based policies. Under this, a fixed price is provided in case of illness covered under the policy. At the same time, reimbursement-based policies that cover hospital expenses would be out of its scope.
The organization has asked to simplify the health insurance renewal process. Companies were advised to avoid health checkup of the policyholder if there is no change in time or sum assured during policy renewal. This will improve the policy renewal experience. IRDAI has asked insurance companies to ensure that policyholders are allowed to make multiple claims from different insurance companies. This will provide several options to the policyholder.
24-hour admissions are also likely to end. Health insurance holders are likely to get huge relief. A 24-hour hospitalization requirement for a patient to be eligible for insurance coverage may be met very soon. The government is considering changing this rule. For this, talks have also been initiated with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the regulator of the insurance sector.
Justice Ameshwar Prasad Sahi, chairman of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), highlighted the change in the mediclaim policy claim and said that nowadays there are many surgeries that are done within a few hours. But, for a health insurance claim, the patient needs to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. Companies reject insurance claims if the patient does not meet this deadline. He said that the companies should be updated about this.
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The Punjab and Kerala court slapped the companies. It may be noted that the District Consumer Court of Punjab and Kerala had given a historic judgment on health insurance claims in August this year. The court reprimanded the health insurance companies for 24-hour hospitalization and ordered the benefit of health insurance to the admitted patient.