Thai Life Assurance Association mulls one central claim centre

Thai Life Assurance Association mulls one central claim centre

Thai Life Assurance Association (TLAA) plans to set up a central claim centre, pooling all health insurance claims to improve convenience for claimants and hospitals, reducing claim processing costs and helping prevent insurers from overclaims.

If the central claim centre is incorporated, all health insurance policyholders can make claims at a single point regardless of their insurer, said president Nusara Banyatpiyaphod.

The concept is for a claim for medical bills to be shared in proportion or based on policies that are taken out first, in case of multiple health policies, she said.

Making a claim for multiple health benefit policies is a time-consuming process because some insurers require an original receipt for hospital bill claims to prevent policyholders from overclaiming, said Ms Nusara.

Many life insurance companies offer uncomplicated products through the digital channel, but the industry still lacks sharing facilities, unlike the banking industry, which has ATM pools, or the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which has a clearinghouse for net settlement of securities trading for brokers.

A central claim centre will allow hospitals to view all the health insurance benefits for patients, instead of checking from life insurers' websites one by one.

"It would be better if the association can create a central claim website for hospitals to let them know the overall health benefits of patients just by filling out the 13-digit ID number," she said.

The idea helps insurance policyholders, hospitals and insurers not only cut costs, but also supports the ecosystem for digital insurance in the future, said Ms Nusara.

"The TLAA is bracing for an aged society in the near future, as demand for healthcare is likely to increase," she said.

"Life insurers should provide better services for customers than we do now."

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