Aug 16, 2015 04:47 PM
36103 Views
IDBI Federal's claim settlement ratios for the 2012/13/14 have been 67%, 80% and 90% respectively. This is a good, improving trend.
Insurers typically artificially raise their settlement ratio(in terms of number of policies) by rejecting proportionally more high value policies. This is detected by looking at the ratio of benefit amount paid and benefit amount claimed. For example, ICICI Prudential settled 94% of claims but the claim value ratio is just 79%(2014 numbers). This indicates a very high rejection ratio for high value policies.
IDBI Federal's benefit amount paid to benefit amount claimed ratios the 2012/13/14 have been 64%, 72% and 83% respectively. This is also a very good, improving trend. Moreover, one needs to remember that the company has been in existence only since~2007. So it is likely that many claims have been made within 3-years of policy issuance. Such cases are always treated suspiciously(especially for high value policies) and mostly get summarily rejected.
Overall, I would rate them very high, maybe not in top 5 but certainly within top 10 life insurers in India. And given that their online term plan, iSurance, was the cheapest among the top 10 companies(in terms of the true settlement ratio), it was a no-brainer to choose them when I decided to extend my coverage.
My personal experience has been this: applied on 10th August, medical test on 12th, document verification by 13th and policy issued on 14th. And this was despite the fact that I had earlier been rejected by another insurer. That leaves me suitably impressed.
The communications have been prompt and professional. I hope they also stay like this if, god forbid, my nominee needs to make a claim.
