Is overseas travel insurance policy issued by Insurance Companies of Ukraine and Belarus is Valid?

Is overseas travel insurance policy issued by health Insurance Companies of Ukraine and Belarus is Valid? Hindustan Times of Dec 25, 2008 has raised a very interesting question whether overseas travel health insurance policy issued by Insurance companies of Ukraine & Belarus is valid. IRDA has initiated information gathering exercise and we can expect some action in the coming weeks. We foresee this can be in the form of posing questions to the company which has been selling the products. We do not foresee any action against the Insurance co’s as these are not based in India. Points in favor of foreign insurance co are;

1.If Indians are permitted to buy air tickets worth any amount from Foreign airlines then why they should not have the freedom to buy Overseas Travel Insurance from a foreign company.
2.Many foreign insurance co’s (including a BUPA subsidiary )have been advertising in Indians press and selling Health Insurance for Indians living in India .According to information available to us no action was taken by IRDA against them.
3. Let the Indian Insurance co’s face the competition and come out with suitable products, pricing and service level. Point against foreign insurance co is;
Indian customers do not know about the financial strength of this co and it is the duty of IRDA to protect the interests of Indian Citizens. We will be pleased to have the comments from you.

Is overseas travel policy issued by Ukraine/Belarus insurance co's to indians valid

Hindustan Times of Dec 25,2008 has carried the news which raises the question whether Overseas Travel Policy issued by Ukraine & Belarus Insurance Companies to Indians valid.

IRDA has initiated information gathering exercise.

Points against the issue of such policies is;

1.Insurance co's not registered with IRDA.The co selling the products is not licenced by IRDA.

Points in favour of such policies are;

1.As Indians we are permitted to travel by any international airline

Portability of the Healthinsurance policy is coming

Yes,portability of the Healthinsurance policy is coming.It maens you can cahnge the insurance co when it comes to renewal.We feel this will be of help to those who are in the lower or younger age group.Even today this group has no difficulty.

The question arises -will it help those who are in 60+ age group.We doubt it will be so as the premium variation and different policies with respect to "No Claim Bonus" will be a stopping factor.

Indication that group health insurance rates will go up by 50%

We have been of the view that Individuals /families are neglected wherelse group health insurance policies are issued with better terms and lower rates.

The Economic Times od Dec 17,2008 has carried a news item according to which ratio of claims and servicing expenses to total premium figure of Group policies is 160%(Ref Mr Sandeep Bakhshi ,CEO, ICICI Lombard).

This news item also informs that where claims have been high the policies are being cancelled.

We are pleased to know that Insurance industry has started facing the truth and has started taking steps in the right direction.

Does Oriental insure someone who is 75+

We have received comments from some of our website surfers

Group Health Insurance Rates to go up in 2009

Many people wish to know whether the premium rates will go down in the year 2009.No indications are available as far as individuals /families are concerned.

It is becoming clear that Group Health Insurance policies have resulted in claims of over 130% and many Insurance co's are considering to increase the rates during 2009 by 30 to 40 %.