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Irdai flags issues at 8 insurers over health master circular norms
BS Reporter
As part of routine inspections to review the implementation of regulatory norms, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) initiated inspections at several health insurance companies and flagged concerns with select firms regarding the implementation of certain norms under the new Health Insurance Master Circular, people aware of the development said.
According to a CNBC-TV18 report, eight general insurance companies—New India Assurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, HDFC ERGO General Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance, Star Health and Allied Insurance, Niva Bupa Health Insurance, Care Health Insurance, and ManipalCigna Health Insurance—are under the scanner for violations related to claims settlement and the implementation of the circular.
The report stated that the violations noted by the regulator involve improper implementation of the Health Insurance Master Circular, which could lead to enforcement actions.
'In order to review the implementation of health prescriptions, Irdai had initiated inspection of all insurers in a phase-wise manner as part of its regulatory supervision and oversight. Accordingly, regulatory inspections were initiated for eight general and health insurance companies as part of the initial phase. The inspection report was shared with the insurance companies. The observations mainly related to industry-wide challenges in implementing the new prescriptions,' an ICICI Lombard spokesperson said in response to a Business Standard query.
'The company has submitted its response to the inspection report, in keeping with our endeavour and spirit of upholding the regulatory prescriptions. At ICICI Lombard, and as an industry leader, we follow high standards of regulatory compliance and corporate governance in all our operations,' the spokesperson added.
Queries sent to the remaining insurance companies remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
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