At a meeting of insurance officials organised by the Insurance Ombudsman for Kerala and Lakshadweep here on Thursday, insurance companies agreed to put in place a system to address the grievances of policyholders.
Representatives of 34 insurance companies, including the LIC, attended the meeting. Ombudsman PK Vijayakumar discussed policyholders’ complaints.
Mis-selling of policies by agents, lapse or foreclosure of policies without proper notice to policyholders, high surrender charges levied for foreclosure, denial of claim on account of pre-existing illness, non-payment of interest for delay in settling claims, fabrication of evidence to reject claims, high-handedness of third-party administrators appointed by the companies and over-dependence on surveyor’s report to reject claims were some of the common complaints made by policyholders.
The meeting decided to set up a grievance redressal machinery for all insurance companies.