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Health Insurance Shakeup: Centre Pushes Faster Claim Settlements Amid Rising Costs

The Centre has directed insurance companies and hospitals to speed up health claim settlements. This initiative aims to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for policyholders. Key measures include standardizing treatment protocols and improving cashless claim processing. The government emphasized better service standards and faster turnaround times during hospitalizations.

Key Points: Centre Directs Insurers Hospitals to Speed Up Health Claims

  • Government urges faster onboarding to National Health Claims Exchange platform
  • Standardized hospital empanelment norms to ensure consistent cashless access
  • Focus on controlling medical inflation through hospital-insurer collaboration
  • Improved claim settlement turnaround time during hospitalization process
2 min read

Centre asks insurance firms to speed up settlement of health claims

Government pushes insurance firms and hospitals to expedite health claim settlements, standardize treatment protocols, and improve cashless services for policyholders.

"Insurance companies should ensure policy holders are provided with the highest standards of service and better turnaround time - M. Nagaraju, DFS Secretary"

New Delhi, Nov 14

The Centre has asked insurers and hospitals to take measures such as expediting the onboarding on National Health Claims Exchange, devising standardised treatment protocols, common empanelment norms and seamless cashless claims processing to make healthcare affordable and accessible, according to an official statement issued on Friday.

Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), M. Nagaraju, chaired a meeting to discuss the issues of medical inflation and rising premium costs.

The meeting was attended by representatives from General Insurance Council, Association of Healthcare Providers in India (AHPI), healthcare industry representatives from Max Healthcare, Fortis Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals and insurers like New India Assurance Company Limited, Star Health Insurance and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, along with several others.

Further, he emphasised that having standardised hospital empanelment norms across all insurers would ensure consistent cashless access for policyholders, streamline the service terms, improve operational procedures and reduce administrative burden on hospitals.

He stressed that the insurance companies should ensure that the policy holders are provided with the highest standards of service and better turnaround time especially during hospitalisation process and while providing approvals for settlement of claims.

During the meeting, the Secretary also advised that while medical inflation is interconnected with various cost drivers, greater collaboration between hospitals and insurers through cost control and standardization is necessary to bring transparency and efficiency to ensure better value for health insurance policyholders.

Inderjeet Singh, Secretary General, General Insurance Council, Dr. Suneeta Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals, Shivakumar Pattabhiraman, MD, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Abhay Soi, CMD, Max Healthcare, Dr. Girdhar J. Gyani, Director General, AHPI, Krishnan Ramachandran, CEO , Niva Bupa Health Insurance, Amitabh Jain, ED & COO, Star Health Insurance,. Meera Parthasarathy, General Manager, Oriental Insurance Company, participated in the discussions, along with several other stakeholders.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rohit P
Standardized norms across all insurers is much needed. Currently every company has different requirements and it's confusing for common people like us.
S
Sarah B
As someone who works in healthcare, I appreciate the effort but implementation will be key. Hospitals and insurers need to work together, not against each other.
A
Arjun K
Good initiative but I'm skeptical. Insurance companies always find ways to delay payments. Hope there's proper monitoring and accountability. 💪
K
Kavya N
Medical inflation is real! Our family health insurance premium increased by 25% this year. If they can control costs while improving service, it would be a big relief for middle-class families.
M
Michael C
Cashless claims processing needs to be seamless. During emergencies, families shouldn't have to worry about insurance paperwork. This is a step in the right direction.

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