The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has asked general insurance companies and standalone health insurers to expedite processing of claims related to floods in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

They will have to activate 24x7 helplines to respond to claim intimations and launch awareness campaigns to highlight the actions taken. Even during earlier instances of natural calamities, the IRDAI has issued such advisories to insurance companies. More recently, it had asked insurers to expedite and simplify claim settlement processes after the Odisha train tragedy in June 2023.

In case of specific districts that are likely to report a large number of claims, insurers will have to assign a district claims service head. They will also have to publish the names and contact details of such officials on their websites.

“Special claim desks at district level with adequate delegated claim settlement teams are recommended to be set up in affected areas to facilitate claims speedy processing and settlements including release of on- account, interim payments to assist early reinstatement of property/ businesses,” the IRDAI circular to insurance companies said.

These companies will have to nominate a senior official to act as nodal claims officer to oversee investigators, surveyors and loss adjustors involved in claim settlement and keep the state’s chief secretary in the loop. “It needs to be ensured that all claims are surveyed immediately and claim payments or on account payments are disbursed at the earliest,” the insurance regulator said.

Insurance companies should encourage policyholders to use the digital modes of communication to initiate claim and file the required documents to process the claims. Likewise, insurance companies, too, should make efforts to ensure that digital facilities should used to assess claims. Insurers should ask policyholders to furnish only those documents that are absolutely necessary to ensure that the submission process does not delay the settlement.

The IRDAI will monitor the claim settlement process across insurers. They will have to update the insurance regulator on a weekly basis regarding claims received, settled and rejected, besides claims where interim payments have been made. They will have to send such reports for several segments including fire, motor, health, marine-cargo, crop insurance, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), shopkeepers’ insurance and so on.

(The writer is Preeti Kulkarni.)

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