IRDAI directs insurers not to delay claim payments

IRDAI has asked life insurers not to withhold or delay settlement of claims of policyholders if there is any objection from claimants to fill the discharge voucher.

Discharge voucher is required to be furnished by claimants before raising a claim. Policyholders have to furnish the information in discharge voucher and submit it back to the insurance company to raise a claim.

“Where the policyholder/claimant expresses unwillingness or reluctance or objection for any reason to execute the advance discharge voucher or to accept the amount, the Life Insurer should not insist on the discharge voucher or make it conditional for releasing the policy payment”, IRDAI said in a circular.

In such an event the life insurer shall not withhold or delay the payment for this reason but make the policy payment to discharge its contractual obligations, it said further, adding the life insurer may preserve the proof of making the payment.