In a customer friendly move, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has now said that insurers must make sure that travel portals do not make travel insurance a pre-selected option. It has also announced a set of guidelines on standardisation in health insurance, mandating that insurers should try to extend health insurance coverage to all the persons to be insured who disclosed pre-existing disease .

Now, artificial life maintenance, internal congenital diseases, age related macular degeneration, puberty and menopause related disorders and mental illnesses will no longer be allowed to be excluded from health covers, the IRDAI has said.

“ If a person makes a proper declaration about pre-existing diseases on proposal while buying a health insurance policy, these guidelines provide much needed clarity to insurers in terms of which diseases can be permanently excluded and also bring in transparency as the customers will know what will be covered under the policy,” said Gurdeep Singh Batra, Head – Retail Underwriting, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

Travel insurance

IRDAI has stressed that the traveller shall be able to specifically choose whether or not to buy the coverage. “Where selected to buy, an option shall be provided for opting out or de-selecting the option before concluding the transaction,” it further said in Circular on Travel Insurance Products and operational matters.

The norms, which come into effect from Tuesday, also mandate that there shall be a provision to let the person to be insured buying a travel cover go through the benefits, terms and conditions offered under the travel insurance cover on the screen itself and consent shall be obtained in the form of selecting a radio button by the prospect/policyholder in confirmation of having read and understood the terms and conditions.

It has also said that the premium should not be received more than 90 days in advance to the date of commencement of the risk covered in case of domestic travel or along with the ticket while purchasing the travel tickets. However, covers for overseas travel can be issued at any time.