Religare denies insurance claim; Cancer patient wins ₹6.7 lakh compensation
In an eight-month-long battle in a Consumer court, the judges lashed out at Religare for not caring about the ailing patient who paid his premium on time
A cancer patient from Bengaluru has won ₹6.7 lakh after he sued Religare Insurance company for denying him medical insurance for his treatment, according to a report by the Hindustan Times, Livemint's sister publication.
As per the daily, the 60-year-cancer patient was denied medical insurance for his cancer treatment on the grounds that he had diabetes and hypertension that he did not disclose before taking the policy.
In an eight-month-long battle in a Consumer court, judges reprimanded the private firm and said hypertension and diabetes are not diseases but common physical disorders and that they cannot be grounds to deny medical insurance.
The court lashed out at Religare for not caring about the ailing patient who paid his premium on time.
The court ordered the firm to pay the cancer patient ₹5 lakh with a 12% interest, a compensation of ₹1.1 lakh for additional trauma caused by the company for denying insurance to the ill patient, and ₹10,000 towards court expenses and damages.
As per the daily, the 60-year-old patient had purchased the family cover insurance policy from Religare in November 2021. The man was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. And, when his cancer treatment started at the HCG hospital, the hospital handed him a bill of ₹11 lakh. The man approached Religare to get the insured sum of ₹5 lakh refunded.
But the insurance firm denied his claim saying the man did not disclose his pre-existing health conditions of hypertension and diabetes.
Thereafter, the patient send a legal notice and sued the firm in the Bengaluru Rural and Urban 1st additional district consumer disputes redressal forum in the Shantinagar area for unfair trade practices.
The judges of the Bengaluru consumer forum condemned Religare for high-handedness towards a cancer patient and gave the order for the patient to be compensated accordingly by the firm.
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