Pliancy To Boost Health Insurance

Health insurance portability introduced to assist policyholders overcome challenges.

- Himali Patel

While the importance of having a health insurance policy cannot be undermined, the fact that it comes with its fair share of drawbacks is a reality one has to face. Even after having a health insurance policy, a customer simply may not be happy with the services of the insurance company. Yes, it might come as a surprise, but a policyholder often faces challenges such as slow claim settlement process, low-quality services, increased premium and late reimbursements. In order to address such issues in a more effective manner, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) introduced the concept of health insurance portability. The system allows a policyholder the option of porting his or her health insurance policy from one company to another without compromising on major benefits. Further explaining the concept,

Anand Roy, Joint MD, Star Health and Allied Insurance said, “Portability means the right accorded to an individual health insurance policyholder (including family cover) to transfer the credit gained by the insured for preexisting conditions and time-bound exclusions if the policyholder chooses to switch from one insurer to another, provided the previous policy has been maintained without any break.” Just like one would move from one power distributor to another, without interruption of supply or switch from one mobile operator to another without losing one’s number, health insurance portability allows the customer to do the same.