INSURANCE PORTABILITY

 

Insurance portability means, an insured person who is not satisfied with the products and services of his / her insurer provider can change the existing insurance company with a new insurance company. The main benefit of this facility is that the policy holder can opt for a similar product from the new insurance company. Currently this facility of insurance portability is applicable only in health insurance policies in India.

At the time of portability, the policyholder won’t lose the benefits which accumulated in the existing policy. Still the process of transferring the policy from one insurer to another insurer is not that easy. The major problems people face in this process are: coverage against previously existing diseases, claim history and present health status of the proposer or insured. IRDA approves the policy holder for portability and has given some conditions regarding that.

Health insurance portability was introduced by IRDA in 2011. In order to avail this facility, the policyholder has to apply to the insurance company where he wishes to port his/her policy, at least 45 days before the premium renewal date of existing policy. Before porting his/her policy, the policy should know the following:

Process: After the submission of application to the insurance company it will ask them to submit medical records and claim history from the existing insurer. The existing insurer has to submit within 7 days through the sharing portal developed by IRDA. The insurance company has to take decision about underwriting the policy within 15 days. It they fail to do so, they will be bound to accept the application.

The Insurer’s Rights: The insurance company has the right to reject any port-in requests. All requests for portability are treated as new and are subject to scrutiny by the underwriter.

The terms and conditions of the policy will differ from insurer to insurer.