In today’s time, it is essential to have a term insurance plan to ensure the financial safety of your family. The best term policy plan can provide a comprehensive insurance cover for your loved ones at an affordable price. Through a term insurance plan, the policyholder gets insurance coverage for a specified tenure. However, to avail the benefits of the plan, you must know how to file a claim. Filing a claim means carrying out the due process to obtain the sum assured from the insurance provider. And the first step towards this is learning about your insurer’s claim settlement ratio.
Claim settlement ratio:
The claim settlement ratio is a metric through which you can judge an insurer’s ability to settle insurance claims. The ratio is the number of claims settled by the insurer against the total number of claims filed. A higher claim settlement ratio indicates that the insurer has a high probability of settling a claim. When looking for an insurer, you must look for the best claim settlement ratio in a term plan.
Steps to take to file a term insurance claim:
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Contact your insurance company about the claim
In the case of the policyholder’s demise, the beneficiaries must contact the insurance company as soon as possible to start the claim process for the death benefit. Once the insurance company is informed, the beneficiary will have to fill out the insurance claim form. Beneficiaries can obtain this form either at the physical branch of the insurer or through their website.
The beneficiary should compile the different pieces of information that are important for filling the form successfully. The required details include the policyholder’s name, policy number, birth date, place of death, cause of death, hospital’s letter, beneficiary’s name, etc. Beneficiaries can also fill the form online and file the claim.
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Follow all the necessary procedures laid down by the insurance company
All the leading insurance companies have an established process for all times of life insurance claims. You can go to the website or visit the insurance company’s office to get the details of the claim process. With an emphasis on contactless transactions, more and more companies are enabling online claim settlement. You can simply upload the necessary documents and file for the claim.
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Submit all the necessary document properly
Once the form has been filled, the beneficiary will have to provide some essential documents for a smooth term insurance claim process. When filing a claim, the documents listed below are required:
- Claim form filled completely
- Original death certificate (with attested copy which was issued by local municipal authority)
- Passport size photograph of nominee/beneficiary
- Original documents of the policy
- Identity proof like PAN card, passport, Aadhaar card, etc.
- Post-mortem report (if required)
- Medical records (admission note, test report, discharge or death report)
- Last medical attendant certificate by a physician
Suppose the beneficiaries are filing the claim within 3 years of the policy purchase, then the insurance company will conduct an extra investigation to ensure if the claim filed is genuine or not. To confirm if the claim is real, the insurer will:
- Contact the hospital where the policyholder was admitted to verify whether they were admitted or not.
- If the cause of death was because of a critical illness, the insurance company would ask the hospital to provide details like the doctor’s certificate, medical record, etc.
- If the cause of death was by accident, then the insurance company would investigate the accident’s details. For instance, if the insured passed away from a plane crash, then the insurance company would contact the airline authorities to confirm whether the insured was a passenger on the flight or not.
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Claim settlement:
According to the IRDAI (the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India), the insurance companies must settle the claims within 30 days of the claim being filed. The insurer must settle the claim after the beneficiary has submitted the claim form and all the required documents. If the claim requires extra investigation by the insurer, they will have to finish the process within six months of filing the claim.
Important inclusions and exclusions:
The term insurance plan applies to both natural and unnatural deaths. In the event of suicide, the coverage starts only after one year of policy initiation. The exclusions and inclusions in a good term insurance plan will depend on the risk that the insured carries. For instance, non-smokers can get benefits that smokers will not. Typically, the benefits offered by the term plans are the same. But the coverage differs from plan to plan.
Conclusion
Once you buy affordable term life insurance, knowing the claim process is helpful. If required, go through a proper medical test before buying the policy to ensure that there is no chance of claim rejection. The medical test provides the insurer with a decent idea about the policyholder’s health.