Health Insurance Firms To Create Database On Fraudulent Claims

India's health insurance companies have banded together to create a database of hospitals and nursing homes that encourage fraudulent claims.

The umbrella body of insurance firms, the General Insurance Council (GI Council), has written to firms selling health insurance to share data on claims they recognise as fraud. The step comes after more than two years of effort by the GI Council to make companies see value in joint action to stamp out the cases where medical establishments inflate bills or provide tailor-made bills to make claims.

GI Council Chairman R Chandrasekaran told Business Standard the measure was independent of any directions from the Union finance ministry. However, Business Standard has learnt that the department of financial services, of the finance ministry, has also sent a letter to all the public sector insurance companies to undertake a similar exercise.

The vigil is significant at a time when the government is hard selling health insurance across the country, particularly for the poor. Mis-selling of health cover is a huge risk the government recognises, said an official aware of the developments. It is the first such concerted action in any insurance segment by the sector to act upon such data. A similar initiative in motor vehicles has yet to take shape.