For the residents of the twin cities Hyderabad and Secunderabad, their exact location of residence does not matter for all practical purposes, since the cities extend to each other and are only separated by a lake.

The exact geographical boundaries are of interest only for the civic and census authorities.

So, it may come as a shock to the residents of Secunderabad, that they are perceived as ‘second-class’ citizens, vis-a-vis those residing in Hyderabad -- in the eyes of an insurance company, that is.

Here is an instance of discrimination simply because an insurance customer hails from Secunderabad.

MS Murthy, a former banker, who once headed the erstwhile State Bank of Mysore, took a health insurance (group) policy with United India Insurance, and had to recently make some claims for hospitalisation expenses, including room rent for a couple of days.

The policy document says that for Hyderabad the ceiling is ₹7,200 and the hospital charged him ₹6,500. But when it came to completing the discharge and billing formalities (supposedly a breeze when they sell you the policy with cashless claims), Murthy was in for a shock.

United India Insurance apparently considers Secunderabad as a separate city and and not part of Hyderabad and allowed only ₹4,500 as applicable to Secunderabad.

Default city

That’s not all. The company’s list of cities doesn’t include Secunderabad, and their system considers it as a default city under Grade III.

An e-mail from Anand Rathi Insurance Brokers points out that: “As per the policy documents, Secunderabad is not finding a place as either Tier I City or Tier II City. So, by default, it is falling in Tier III City, as per the policy terms and conditions. However, we are continuously following it up with the insurance company to put Secunderabad under Tier I City at par with Hyderabad. It has been agreed in principle, but official communication is awaited.”

Murthy’s efforts at arguing his case have so far been stonewalled, and a hundred e-mails have been exchanged (seen by BusinessLine ) with the insurance company, its various departments, the third-party administrator, insurance brokers and even the Indian Banks’ Association (roped in by the company to give their opinion), in what seems like a continuous buck-passing exercise by the parties involved.

Murthy’s dismay at being led on this wild goose chase, and the fact that none of the various functionaries have taken pains to correct their list of cities, is very visible.

It is ironical that Hyderabad is the headquarters of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). Perhaps, the first task for the new chairman may well be to intervene and stop the discrimination in his own backyard and get the companies to revise their list.

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