Documents & Rules You Must Know To Ensure Your Insurance Claim is Paid

This article has been sponsored by PolicyX

In August this year, my husband had to undergo a surgery. And one of the things that I was truly grateful for was the insurance cover that helped us sail through the procedure. It was around this time that I realised that if one keeps all the documents ready, making a claim for insurance is not as tedious or difficult as it seems.

Here are some of the documents you need at the time of making an insurance claim, whether health, motor, or personal.

Health Insurance

• In case you wish to make a cashless claim then you need to send your case report along with the diagnosis, and prescription/advice to your insurer.
• If the hospital where you are getting the procedure done is empaneled with the insurance company, these documents may be collected and sent to the insurer directly by the hospital.
• One needs to be admitted for a minimum of 24 hours or more to avail the policy benefits.
• If you are looking for a reimbursement claim, remember to have your claim form, provided by the insurance company that can also be found at the hospital, filled out.
• A medical certificate duly signed by the treating physician.
• Discharge summary from the hospital.
• Original bills and receipts.

Term Insurance

• The first step one must follow to claim term insurance is to inform the insurance company of the insured’s demise.
• The death certificate.
• Original policy documents.
• ID proof of the beneficiary.
• Age proof of insurer.
• Discharge form (executed and witnessed)
• Medical certificate (as proof of the cause of death)
• Police FIR (in case of unnatural death)
• Post-mortem report in case of unnatural death.
• Cremation certification.

Motor Insurance

• A detailed approximation of the loss and expense to the insurer needs to be mentioned.
• Once the insurance company is informed, an incident inspector will be sent for the survey and the feedback is passed on to the insurance company, for further processing.
• Once the insurance company reviews the matter, a letter for reimbursement will be issued.
• While making this claim, do remember to have your driving license, fitness certificate, First Information Report (FIR), repair bills, and receipts ready.

Personal Insurance

Any mishap that is caused due to an accident resulting in death, bodily harm or injury, or even a total or partial disability will be covered under personal insurance. To make a claim under this, ensure you do the following –

• Once the accident occurs, make sure you report it to the insurer at the earliest.
• All documents that you need to submit vis-à-vis the accident like original death certificate, inquest report, hospital records, original hospital bills, any other evidence, newspaper cuttings, photographs, X-ray reports, test results, etc. need to be handed over to the company.
• The authority will look into the claim and call for an investigation to ascertain that no fraud was perpetrated in raising the claim.
• Once the investigation has concluded, the insurer will pay the claim amount.

Note that while this is a general overview of the documents that you might need to submit at the time of making a claim, each company might have their own set of documents that you need to fill out and submit. Do check with your insurer on what those might be.