An A-Listed Pan Asian insurance company and the President’s Fund entangled in red tape

A losing proposition for the customers and citizens

I have a life insurance policy from an A-Listed Pan Asian insurance company. I went for this insurance policy due to the reputation of the insurer, but when I needed it the most I was in for a nasty surprise.

I got a serious ailment and with much difficulty managed to get the funds while becoming in debt. As I had taken out an insurance policy I got the amount paid by the insurance company which after satisfying different payment bands was much less than the insured amount. Also, this amount was less than the amount paid out for these ailments from the President’s Fund, partly due to the payments bands mentioned before and the package I obtained was a low-end product which I could afford.

Also, I applied to the President’s Fund for assistance to cover part of the costs. They asked for the original receipts which the reputable insurance company had taken when they made the payment. I requested the receipts multiple times from the insurance company, but they did not return the originals which were requested by the President’s Fund. The amount of assistance afforded by the President’s Fund is more than what the insurer paid out and since I cannot get the receipts to be given to the President’s Fund I am losing out on this amount which is bigger than what the insurer paid out. So everyone taking out insurance, especially from this A-Listed Pan Asian insurance company, one can be left poorer when one has insurance than when one does not have insurance, due to the red tape policies of the insurance company, which effectively denies one’s ability to request further assistance from the President’s Fund since the required documents are not released.

I also provided the President’s Fund with certified copies of the original bills from both the hospital and what was with the insurer, but for some reason, they refuse to act on these documents. Ideally, the President’s Fund can and should proceed with the processing with these documents as one set is certified by the hospital and the other by the insurance company. Also, the insurance company has issued a letter mentioning they have the originals. Mr. President, this is your good reputation at stake, due to the red tape policies at the President’s Fund, which operates in the name of the President of Sri Lanka. Please take action where the stalemate situations, like this, where the President’s Fund insist on getting the original documents when the insurance company insists on keeping the originals, are avoided, for the benefit of the countries citizens.

In order to alleviate the suffering of the good citizens of the country and customers I suggest that the following actions to be taken:

• On part of the government and the President’s Fund
• Act and proceed on certified copies issued by hospitals and insurance companies when the originals are with an insurer 
• Directly verify their authenticity of certified copies by contacting the hospital and insurance companies, if needed
• Provide certified copies to the insurance companies of documents provided if they are needed for audit purposes when obtaining the originals from them
• Establish close liaison with hospitals and insurance companies to serve the citizens of the country better
• On part of the Insurance Regulatory Commission
• Advice insurance companies to release original copies after obtaining certified copies from the relevant institutions
• On part of the insurance companies
• Liaison with the President’s Fund to move forward on assistance request on behalf of the customers
• Provide original copied to relevant institutions where needed
• On part of the hospitals
• Liaison with the President’s Fund and provide relevant documentation where needed
• Unless these issues are ironed out the citizens of the country and the customers of insurance companies are the losers. A person without insurance can be better off than one with insurance, with the assistance of the President’s Fund, as once you claim insurance and surrender the original bills one cannot get further assistance from the President’s Fund.
• Grieving Citizen