We all know how important it is to take a term insurance plan to protect our families. A term plan secures the family by providing them with the necessary finance to fulfil their future needs and requirements.
The advent of the internet has made it very easy to buy an online term insurance plan to secure your families by getting the necessary sum assured. Buying a term plan is important, but knowing the claim settlement process in life insurance is equally important. Hence, it is necessary to educate your spouse regarding the insurance claim process.
Why should your nominee(spouse) know the insurance claim process?
You might have already taken a term plan to ensure that your family receives the necessary finances in the event of your death. But more important is that your spouse needs to know the process of an insurance claim because usually, as a nominee, it is them who would then need to complete the procedures to get the benefits of the claim.
Dealing with death could itself prove very hard for your spouse. Thus, prior knowledge of the insurance claim process would help by not creating any additional stress or worry in such situations. Besides, getting a claim at once by following proper steps is far better than facing a claim rejection and then further working on resolving it.
The claim process usually involves simple steps of submitting certain documents and intimating the insurance company. But it is due to the lack of awareness that things get complicated and lead to further delays in the claim settlement process.
Important information needed to claim life insurance
Information, your spouse, would need to know:
Your spouse needs to know the clear details of the term insurance policy that you hold. Details like policy number, name of the insurance provider, customer care number, nearest branch of the company, documents that are needed for submission, and the claim procedure that is to be followed. This can be easily identified under the claims section of the policy document.
Information, the insurance provider, would need for the claim:
The insurance provider would want to have clarity on the following three points to consider a claim for a life insurance policy:
Death of the insured person.
Nominee details for disbursal of sum assured.
cause of death of the insured.
What can be the reasons for the rejection of a death claim?
Usually, insurance companies have a clear and transparent claim procedure for obtaining a death claim. You should always look for ease of claim procedure ratio while selecting the term insurance plans. This ratio indicates the number of claims raised against the number of claims settled by the insurer, which helps gauge the insurance provider’s reliability.
But several times, it so happens that a death claim could be rejected due to not following the proper procedure and submitting necessary documents. The main reasons for rejection of death claim are -
Disclosure of incorrect information/facts:
This is one of the biggest reasons for the rejection of death claims. The premium that a company charges for life insurance after ascertaining the details you provide regarding age, profession, lifestyle habits like smoking or drinking, pre-existing illness, etc. If these details are wrongly given during the policy’s inception, the policy gets rejected for disclosure of incorrect information.
Non-payment of premium/Policy lapse:
One of the reasons for the rejection of death claims is the lapse of a policy due to non-payment of premium on time. With a busy schedule, you could forget to pay the premium for your policies on time. It is always advisable that you keep your payments for premium on autopay to not miss any due date.
Exclusions mentioned in the policy:
Certain exclusions mentioned in the policy document prevents the insurance company from considering the claim, such as death due to suicide, drug abuse, etc.
What are the steps in the claim settlement procedure?
The following steps are followed during a claim settlement procedure:
Notify the insurance provider regarding the death of the insured.
Obtain the claim form from the company’s website or the nearest branch of the insurer company.
Fill in the details correctly by checking them twice.
Attach the necessary documents such as death certificate, hospital records, FIR report, crematorium certificate, etc.
Submit at the nearest branch and take a receipt of submission of the claim.
It is always necessary that you take the official receipt of claim submission. This helps in tracking the claim and raising any requests that may be necessary for the successful completion of the insurance claim process.
Conclusion
It is imperative that your spouse knows about the insurance claim process to apply for a claim in a quick and stress-free manner. Your spouse should be aware of all the documents required for filing a claim to avoid the hassle of claim rejection.
With the TATA AIA term life insurance plan, you can get easy claim procedures and quick customer support guidance to help your spouse get the claim benefits faster. You can find the list of all the necessary documents required to register for a claim on their website. Therefore, they provide a seamless process with which you can apply for and track your claim.
L&C/Advt/2023/Apr/1202