Now Reading: Agents misuse health insurance portability, customers at risk
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Agents misuse health insurance portability, customers at risk
Health insurance portability lets you switch insurers without losing waiting period credits or no-claim bonuses. But Livemint reports that agents are misusing this IRDAI-introduced rule to earn commissions, pushing switches that may…
The Story in Brief
Health insurance portability lets you switch insurers without losing waiting period credits or no-claim bonuses. But Livemint reports that agents are misusing this IRDAI-introduced rule to earn commissions, pushing switches that may not benefit customers. Some agents sell a wholly new policy disguised as portability, leaving customers unaware until a claim is rejected.
Even after 15 years, transparency is lacking. IRDAI does not mandate public disclosure of porting numbers or claims rejected after a switch. With roughly one in four policyholders not renewing top plans, many may be lost to commission-driven portability. Customers only discover the trap when their claim is denied.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that portability is a simple, consumer-friendly tool ignores how agents and opaque systems undermine it. Blaming only greedy agents lets IRDAI off the hook, it has sat on data that could expose abuse for 15 years. Customers must verify with the insurer directly whether a switch is a genuine port or a fresh policy. The real test: will IRDAI finally publish annual porting and claim-rejection data for every insurer? That number alone would settle who is failing.
Source: livemint.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
