Govt general insurers to set up in-house TPAs in six months

Within the next six months, government-owned insurance companies would have an in-house third-party administrator (TPA) system, said G Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of United India Insurance on the sidelines of the Global Insurance Summit organised by Assocham.

While the four general insurers will have equal stake in the TPA, Life Insurance Corporation and General Insurance Corporation might hold a less stake. “This is a proposal that has been designed to meet the needs of the public general insurance players,” Srinivasan said. Last week, A K Saxena, chairman and managing director of Oriental Insurance, had said that the government insurers would slowly move into having their in-house TPAs.

The common TPA has been proposed to minimise fraud claims in the health insurance segment. It is also expected to speed up the claim-settlement process and reduce the claims ratio of insurance companies, which pay a commission of six per cent of premiums to TPAs to settle claims.

Srinivasan said the preferred provider network would add more cities to cover hospitals that have agreed to public sector general insurance companies’ package rates.

Under this network, cashless medical facilities are provided to such insurance holders.