Complaints within the insurance industry Many consumers do not know where to go to the ombudsman or how to seek help with insurance complaints. Even in what cases and how the department handles complaints, it is largely in the dark. As a result, be it life insurance or health insurance, there is a violation of getting the right service in many cases. That is why special campaigns are being organized to make consumers aware of all these issues, said Kiran Sahdev, Insurance Ombudsman, Kolkata.
More offices for the states
Besides, IRDA, the regulator, is planning to open ombudsman offices in every state of the country to expeditiously redress consumers’ insurance-related complaints, claims their advisory committee member Bijan Kumar Mishra. Now there are offices in 17 states of the country. Bijan said, “At present Kolkata Insurance Ombudsman has Andaman-Nicobar and Sikkim apart from West Bengal. We are thinking of opening separate offices for Sikkim and Andaman-Nicobar.”
He also said that the center aims to bring all the people of the country under health insurance within the next few years. He said, “The government wants to start more general insurance companies in the country. For this reason, it is thinking of reducing the share capital amount to open the company. Now it is 100 crores. That figure can be reduced to 10 crores.”
Many times, complaints arise, and in many cases, insurance companies refuse to pay the full amount of the treatment. Mishra said, in case of such incidents, the patient or his family members must file a complaint. For this, the first complaint should be made to the organization. If that doesn’t work, go to the insurance ombudsman. There is a lot of news about Mishra’s regrets and complaints. But in reality, very few patients or their families walk that road.
Sahdev is keen to bring more complaints under the Ombudsman. His message, “Presently complaints can be filed in respect of insurance claims up to Rs 30 lakh. The regulator is considering increasing that figure.” He claimed that action has been taken in 91.03 percent of the complaints filed in the Kolkata office in the last financial year.
Apple is testing for 5G
Center is emphasizing on the speedy rollout of 5G services in the country. To that end, last month they asked smartphone makers to quickly prepare their phones. Keeping that in mind, Apple started bringing 5g technology software to their various products experimentally. The company wants to ensure that when Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio, and Bharti Airtel fully roll out high-quality 5g services in the country, users of products like the iPhone get that service. For this, Go to Apple’s website and register. However, Apple did not directly comment on this.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 5G technology in the country on October 1. Airtel and Jio said they will roll out this high-speed mobile service in various cities in the next few months. But concerned sources say telecom service companies have complained that smartphone companies have not updated the phones to make it easier to use 5G.