[infotech58]

Can anyone point towards some details about health insurance coverage (in India) for non residents (NRI/OCI) who may plan to move to India in future or spend significant time there?

Some context:
- I assume it is better to start the coverage now (when medical test isn't required, and is cheaper) than later (when problems may begin to surface up).
- Even if the eventual move to India doesn't happen, this coverage can act as backup (if not cost prohibitive) for quick access to medical treatment (specially when elective / non emergency medical services have a multi year backlog here (Canada)).

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by SedateGuy

Hogwash there are no such rules for age limitation. My FIL who is 90+ is covered by corporate insurance as well as private insurance. Someone is feeding you a truck load of ...

Please share the name of the private insurance.

The company I work for covers parents only up to the age of 80. If I remember correctly, it was the case in the previous organization too. The limitation was not set by the company but by the insurance provider.

My mom's top-up insurance from Care (formerly Religare) also states that the coverage is only up to 80.

[Ranabegins]

I am going to buy health insurance for me and my parents for the first time and I have no idea about good companies in this industry, I have been recommended Star and niva bupa. Can someone let me know if these are good brands and what brands should I go for when buying a plan.

[SedateGuy]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Please share the name of the private insurance.

The company I work for covers parents only up to the age of 80. If I remember correctly, it was the case in the previous organization too. The limitation was not set by the company but by the insurance provider.

My mom's top-up insurance from Care (formerly Religare) also states that the coverage is only up to 80.

I am sorry for the late reply. The company they worked for was TCS and the insurance provider was New India, both from the company as well as the private coverage.

I had also enquired about changing from New India when he was 89, Care was ready to do it but we did not go through with it.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Ranabegins

I have been recommended Star and niva bupa. .

I am also looking for health insurance, and these two were in the 3 that my friend has recommended. HDFC Ergo was the other. He says HDFC Ergo, MNB, and then Star for friendliness of claims. I am also considering the coverage each provides in my regular travel areas also - and ratings of the network hospitals in those areas too. You could check which one covers the hospital(s) you prefer.

[self_driven]

Hi,

My family has a health insurance policy purchased through an agent more than a decade ago. The policy will be due for renewal soon.

Last to last year, the agent made a lot of goof ups in the policy which came to our notice later. He was not very supportive so we got in touch with customer care and got all mistakes rectified. At the end, we were able to save a whopping 35% on renewal premium.

After this experience, we decided to remove the agent as an intermediary from the upcoming policy onwards. I was pretty sure this would be doable as many policies are sold online these days without the need for agents. However when I asked customer care about this, they are only giving an option of some agent portability i.e. appoint a new agent after taking NOC from the current agent.

Can anyone here confirm if the process told by customer care team is correct and the only way out? Insurer is HDFC Ergo.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by self_driven

After this experience, we decided to remove the agent as an intermediary from the upcoming policy onwards. I was pretty sure this would be doable as many policies are sold online these days without the need for agents. However when I asked customer care about this, they are only giving an option of some agent portability i.e. appoint a new agent after taking NOC from the current agent.

Tell Ergo that if you have to take the trouble to port it to a different agent, then you will as well take a little more effort & port it to a different insurance company.

[GKR9900]

Hello, I was considering taking up a health insurance for myself, wife and 2 kids. Came upon this platform called Ditto and they seem to be pretty knowledgeable regarding the various nuances. They also offer after sales service as a point of contact between insurer and us, in case of a claim. 'Care' is the insurer that seems to offer the most VFM. Does anyone have any experience with Ditto and Care? A quick google search indicates Care's claim settlement rates to be lower than HDFC and Star health. Awaiting your valuable inputs.

[OHCVtec]

Hi All, I have a parent policy with Oriental Insurance Co. Recently my mom was diagnosed with cancer and she was admitted to Tata Cancer Hospital which is a reputed government aided hospital for the diesease. While claiming for the reimbursement the insurance company is insisting for a bill paid reciept to support the "Hospitalization Charges" mentioned in the final bill. However the hospital does not provide any reciept for it and is only mentioned in the final bill.

The insurence company is insisting on the paid reciept and the hospital is not providing it. What are my options in this scenario, I have provided them the transaction statement which shows the total amount paid to the hospital, however they are not accepting that. Appreciate your thoughts.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by OHCVtec

...
The insurence company is insisting on the paid reciept and the hospital is not providing it. What are my options in this scenario, I have provided them the transaction statement which shows the total amount paid to the hospital, however they are not accepting that. Appreciate your thoughts.

If they have rejected the claim stating the missing "receipt" as the reason, your only recourse would be to approach the ombudsman - contact details would be listed in the website.

[ShankarG]

Hi all. Is there any company who can issue a travel insurance after the travel has been initiated? I forgot to take travel insurance for my mother and now she has travelled overseas. Not finding any suitable options.

[PetrolRider]

I am a noob when it comes to insurance.

My mom is covered under my corporate policy, where I pay a discounted premium and the policy comes with all bells and whistle of corporate policy. The only issue I realized now is that the max coverage I can get is up to 7 lac only.

Will it be possible to get a top up policy over and above the existing corporate policy?
Can I get it from anywhere or it has to be from same insurance provider?
Do my mom has to go through all the medical tests and coverage restrictions to get the top up policy?

My mom is 72 and current corporate policy doesn't have any restriction on pre-existing issues and does not require any medical test.

[s4ch]

I have a policy with Niva Bupa.

Recently submitted a claim for reimbursement, did everything online on their website. However no news from them and was not able to track the claim even after a week (they say they will take max 7 days for a decision).

Called them and they said due to a technical error the claim ID has not been generated and created a service request for this, and that it will be done in 4 days. Six days later and the claim ID is still not created and no news on the claim at all.

I am at a loss at what to do and cannot believe this is happening. Have called them numerous times but no positive response on even getting the claim started for process.

What are my options?

[deepak_misra]

Originally Posted by robincsamuel

I'm not sure about how the agents/aggregators help with claims. Nowadays, many hospitals handle the claim process, so you usually don't need much assistance.

I like to talk to the insurance companies directly to keep things simple. Some agents I've dealt with in the past don't take medical questionnaires or pre-existing conditions seriously, and it's caused issues with my policies. Now, I just fill out the forms myself to avoid any problems.

I am resurrecting this old thread. I am getting confused with going directly with company or agent.
As I understand the positives of an agent is he can really help with choosing a policy if he is good and objective and can help with claims. Urban folklore is that insurance companies tend to reject individual claims but agents can help with such cases
The negatives is the loading on premium for life.(I heard 10-15%)
A bigger risk is if the agent winds up his business you are stuck with higher premiums

Any opinions from people who have been on this route and have done some research ? Is there a justifiable value add in going through an agent assuming you have done basic research already?

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by deepak_misra

Urban folklore is that insurance companies tend to reject individual claims but agents can help with such cases
The negatives is the loading on premium for life.(I heard 10-15%)
A bigger risk is if the agent winds up his business you are stuck with higher premiums

Suppose from your negatives listed that you are referring to Life insurance. In which case, the question of the agent helping with claims is immaterial.

Just go ahead with Term insurance purchased online, which is the most cost effective (no agent commissions and additional overheads). Secondly, you would fill up the details yourself ruling out any errors in details furnished (which some agents are known to do to ensure the policy is allotted but it causes issues at the time of claim).

The only claim that could arise is in the case of unfortunate death of the policy holder. If all facts are provided at the time of purchase and documentation in order at the time of the claim by the Nominee, there should be no issue.

Also, there is an Insurance Ombudsman for redressing issues.