From July 1, insurers to provide claim tracking mechanism

To improve service and ensure timely settlement of claims, the insurance regulator has said all insurers must provide customers clear updates including a tracking mechanism on policies.

The new directive from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will come into effect from July 1.

“Clear and transparent communications play a vital role in servicing of insurance policies and in ensuring that the benefits of insurance policies flow to the beneficiaries in a timely manner,” the authority has said, adding that all insurers should send communication relating to issuance and servicing of insurance policies through letter, e-mail, SMS or any other electronic form.

It has also directed insurers to collect mobile numbers and e-mail IDs of the policyholders both at the point of sale and also on an ongoing basis as part of policy servicing. Further, to ensure fairness and transparency, all insurers shall notify about the status of the claim at various stages of its processing, the IRDAI has said.

It has especially underlined this in the case of health insurance, where TPAs are engaged for rendering claim services. “It is the responsibility of insurers to ensure that status of claim shall be notified to the claimant at every stage of claim,” the watchdog said.

Every claim will have a unique reference number, which will be communicated to the policyholder, who can then track the status. Further, insurers will also be expected to update customers about every stage of the claim processing and requirement for further documents.

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