Every needs a cheap and best deal, same is the case with life insurance. Now a days there are lots of life insurance companies in India. This has leads to price war among the insurance companies for quoting lesser premium. No doubt, this is a win-win situation for a policy holder, especially when Big Brother (IRDA) is watching and regulating insurance companies.
We bought insurance to safeguard ourselves and love ones from unforeseen risk. What will happen if the promises are not dully fulfilled by the company we had shown trusted. To know this we should check the claim settlement records of the company.
One more interesting facts need to be evaluated here. Let say Company ABC got 10 claims and passed all 10 claims (worth 50 lacs) on the other hands company XYZ got 1lac claims and passed 90,000 claims (worth 45 crores) the claim settlement ratio will be 100% for ABC but 90% for XYZ, however XYZ had keept more promises as compared to ABC.
IRDA’s data reveals LIC had the best claim settlement ratio of 97.73% among life insurers in the country. Private life insurers’ average settlement record was at 88.65%. Of the 23 private life insurers, only five — ICICI Prudential Life, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Max Life and Kotak Life — have a claim settlement record of over 90%. Shriram Life, Aegon Religare, Edelweiss 2.05 % Tokio and DLF Pramerica Life are at the bottom of the list.
The most common reason to reject the claims is non-discloser of facts or wrong information provided while buying insurance.
As per IRDA guidelines, all claims should be decided within six months. While considering claims-pending ratio, ageing of claims pending should be considered. There are three bands — within three months, three to six months and greater than six months. As per policyholder protection guidelines, all claims should be decided within six months. There should not be too many claims pending for more than three months.
By ET Bureau (Preeti Kulkarni, | 24 Feb, 2014, 01.59PM IST)