Blogs

CAG, Chennai organized a consumer guidance seminar on October 05, 2016, to discuss the complexities in the medical insurance industry and to increase consumers’ awareness about the intricacies specific to this field . This is the first of a series of five blogs discussing the day’s events and addressing issues raised over the course of the programme. The five blogs are listed together below for viewers’ convenience.

New Suvidha trains were introduced to replace premium trains. The most striking change is the scrapping of the waiting list, a first for a train in the IRCTC. This means that only confirmed and Reservation against Cancellation (RAC) tickets will be issued for these trains. Ticket cancellation can be done up to 6 hours before the commencement of the train journey. In that case, 50% of the fare will be refunded to the buyer’s account.

A little while back, CAG received a complaint from an individual complaining that he signed up at an online job listing service, more commonly known as a job portal. This job portal concealed information from the complainant, which he only found out after signing the registration form and paying the amount. This type of complaints have become common and we have observed a spike in complaints regarding job portals, which can be attributed to the increased use of these websites.

An amendment to the Consumer Protection Act,  2003, re-classified the individuals who could classify as a consumer, by leaving outside the Act’s purview those individuals purchasing a product for resale or commercial purposes.

Ms. Sudha Ramanujam, Deputy Secretary, Office of the Insurance Ombudsman, elaborated on the role of the Insurance Ombudsman and how complaints are handled by the Ombudsman.

Mr. Sameer Mehta, CEO, Mehta Hospitals spoke about hospitals' perception of insurance, in particular on the issue of cash vs. cashless

Ms. Usha V Girish, Chief Manager, Health Department, United India Insurance Company spoke about how claim reimbursements are an evaluation.

Dr. Jai Kishen Avula spoke about how consumers can understand the terms and conditions of medical insurance policy documents.

Ms. Saroja, CAG spoke about the challenges faced by consumers in medical insurance.