How to Deal with a Health Insurance Claim Rejection?

Prevention of Health Insurance Claim Rejection:

Keep the following in mind about your health insurance policy to never have to deal with this again:

1. Always make copies of all the documents that you submit with the claim form for your insurance policy, to the TPA as measure of future reference.
2. Make sure that you go through the policy wordings along with terms and conditions, especially exclusions, deductibles and claim process more than anything else along with the benefits of the policy.

1. Make sure that you submit the claim request before 30 days from the date of hospitalization.
2. You must send all the medical records to the TPA. In the case of post hospitalization costs incurred the details and submission must be done within ninety days from the date of hospitalization.
3. Always double-check the insurance claim form for accuracy. (Keep multiple forms in hand incase you need to fill it again before submission)
4. Also gather enough information and proof such as doctor's prescriptions, etc. and submit or post it to the TPA.

What Needs to Be Done?

Even after a claim rejection, an insurance company may reconsider your claim keeping in mind that you are able to convince the insurer that your claim is genuine. But you first need to know why it was rejected, since you need to take the next steps, accordingly. But once you know the reason, here is what you have to do:

1. See through your medical insurance claim form, submitted to the insurance company. The most important things here are the names and your policy number. If there are errors in reporting these, the TPA has to be informed to reopen the case as well as the insurer has to be clearly made aware of the error.
2. Some claims are rejected due to errors in the system caused by insufficient information provided by the claimant. The TPA representative can help you out with the solution then and there also making sure that you record details about this conversation as well as document it if possible.
3. You must check the documents sent with the claim form and whether any mistakes have been made in the form of insufficient or incorrect documentation or even lack of attestation.
4. If you figure out what is the problem it can be cleared by providing sufficient documents with correct details and attestation.
5. If the reason for rejection is medical procedure deemed unneccessary, get sufficient opinion of licensed medical practitioners to prove your claim.
6. Once you have all the documents ready supporting your claim:
   1. Write and send a formal letter with the statement that includes reason for claim being genuine or valid.
   2. Attach appropriate documents along with medical opinion of the licenced medical practitioner for claim substantiation.
   3. Note, that multiple appeals for the claim validation can be made.
   4. If the insurer does not respond to your claim in 30 days you can approach Ombudsman. This organization allows you to submit a written complaint at the Office of insurance Ombudsman within thirty days from the health insurer's response.

The office of Ombudsman is your last resort to get your claim validated. Beyond that you might need legal aid which will cost you more than your medical bill in most cases. Hence, make sure you have a valid claim and have sufficient supporting documents.

GST rate of 18% applicable for all financial services effective July 1, 2017.

Disclaimer: Premiums may vary depending upon factors like age, location and prevailing taxes/GST.