Post by Acko

Your insurer's right to challenge your medical history has an expiry date. It's exactly 5 years from your policy's start. Most policyholders have never been told it exists. Here's what it is.... . . . . . . . . . Under IRDAI's master circular, after 5 years of continuous coverage, your insurer cannot reject a claim by citing a pre-existing condition you didn't disclose at the time of purchase. The only ground that survives the 5-year mark is proven fraud and the burden of proving fraud sits on the insurer. This is called the moratorium clause. It is one of the most important consumer-right provisions in Indian health insurance. It is also one of the least communicated. Three things worth knowing about how the clock runs. One. It moves on continuous coverage. A single lapsed renewal resets the 5-year count to zero. Whatever protection time you'd built up is gone. Two. Portability preserves the clock. If you switch insurers under IRDAI's portability rules, your accrued moratorium time moves with you. The clock doesn't restart. Three. The clock starts on the date your individual policy first commenced. Not your most recent renewal date. The original commencement date. A large share of disputed claim rejections in this country cite something the policyholder is alleged to have forgotten or misstated years earlier. The 5-year moratorium puts a hard cap on how far back that defence can reach. Worth tracking your start date and your continuity. Both belong to you, not to the insurer.