PMGKP Claims - FM Nirmala Sitharaman meets heads of insurance companies, calls for faster settlement of claims

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the heads of insurance companies on Saturday through Video conferencing to review the progress made under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) insurance scheme for health workers fighting Covid-19.

PMGKP Claims - FM Nirmala Sitharaman meets heads of insurance companies, calls for faster settlement of claims. Photo: PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met the heads of insurance companies on Saturday through Video conferencing to review the progress made under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) insurance scheme for health workers fighting Covid-19.

The meeting also sought to accelerate the disbursement of pending claims under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) during the pandemic, under which 1.2 lakh claims of Rs 2,403 crore have been paid since April 1, 2020, till date.

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The Finance Minister stressed the importance of streamlining the process and documentation requirements under the schemes so that the claims are disbursed speedily, said an official statement.

According to the Ministry of Finance, she observed that under the PMGKP scheme, a total of 419 claims have been paid as of date, amounting to Rs 209.5 crore disbursed in the account of their nominees.

To address the issue of delays arising out of states sending documents, the Finance Minister said that a new system has been put in place whereby a simple certificate from the District Magistrate (DM) and endorsed by the nodal state health authority will be sufficient to process these claims.

Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman chairs a meeting with heads of public & private insurance companies to further enhance the speed of sanctioning of claims under PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (#PMJJBY) & PM Suraksha Bima Yojana (#PMSBY) in New Delhi via virtual mode today. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/8vSvrVpfjb

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) June 5, 2021

She also appreciated the efforts of New India Assurance Co which has been entrusted to manage the scheme and cited the example of Ladakh where a claim was settled within 4 hours of receiving the DM certificate and urged to maintain a similar approach in the future.

The Finance Minister also directed the States to take up Covid claims of health workers on priority and make maximum use of this simplified mechanism that has been put in place.

She further observed that under PMJJBY, a total of 4.65 lakh claims have been paid of value Rs 9,307 crore and since the beginning of the pandemic that is April 1, 2020, onwards till date, 1.2 lakh claims have been paid amounting to Rs 2,403 crore, at a disposal rate of 99 percent.

She also took stock of the disposal of claims made under PMSBY scheme and said that a total of 82,660 claims have been paid of value Rs 1,629 crore as of May 31, 2021.

Sitharaman also emphasised that insurance company officials should continue being sympathetic while providing services to nominees of deceased policy holders, especially during the pandemic period.

She also appreciated the following initiatives taken recently to facilitate claims processing under PMJJBY and PMSBY during the pandemic:

1. Processing of claims to be completed by insurers within 7 days instead of 30.

2. End-to-end digitization of the claim settlement process between banks and insurance companies.

3. Claim documents transmission via email/App, eliminating the delay due to paper transmission.

4. Public Sector insurance companies to implement API-based App for claim transmission by June 2021.

5. Attending doctor’s certificate and certificate issued by DM/authorized officer, in lieu of death certificate to be considered.

6. Rationalized forms and simplified claims process being issued shortly.

PMJJBY and PMSBY were launched in 2015 to provide life and accidental insurance covers respectively of Rs 2 lakh each to all beneficiaries enrolled under the schemes through their bank with an annual premium of only Rs 330 and Rs 12, respectively.

The objective is to ensure that more and more persons working in the unorganised segment get the much-needed financial security of Rs 4 lakh by enrolling themselves under PMJJBY and PMSBY at a premium of less than Rs 1 per day.

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