Visitors Insurance

We had purchase medical insurance for my in-laws from National Insurance in India. Their claims are now a days handled by Coris America, after they broke up with Mercury(that is what I heard).

My mother-in-law had to visit emergency room and therefore we had medical bills. Insurance from India was not accepted and I was asked to pay first. I have been trying to contact Coris America's Florida office for long time but the customer service is quite poor. Most of the times they do not even pick up the phone calls and there is a recording that says that calls will be returned within 1 week.

If by chance I can get hold of someone, she does not care, talks quite rudely and has not heard the concept of customer service before. She talks as if she is doing big favor to me.

I would NEVER again buy insurance from India. I am planning to buy insurance from US company when my parents come to USA who are planning in October after my in-laws leave.

We have taken Medical insurence cover for my wife and daughter Jyoti for a trip to Singapore,Bangkok,Malasia.

Tour was arranged through a travel agent Neeraj Journeys,in Pune .He advised and asked us to take Medical insurance for travel ,through New India insurance co.We did so.

Unfortunately during the last phase of there tour my daughter suffered abdominal pain and had to undergo first aid treatment at Singapore and was followed by operation and post operative treatment immediatly following straight arrival at Mumbai airport.

We did inform their agent in india Tower Insurance co.and later submitted all documents to their office in Mumbai. Attn. to Mr. Anand. They further sent the document to UK to Mercury International in UK.

I was following the case since then with Tower Insurance on phone and through E-ail. They respond positively but always told me that they waiting for settlement from Mercury. After continued chase they told me there is contractual problem between New India and Mercury,awaiting to clear. Later they told me now the claims are under process but no result.

Lately received acknowledment from Mercury,Uk that the claim is under process but now about a year has passed and no claim is settled or no further replies are received from Mercury International. My claim amount is less than 500 Dollars but still so much stress is going on. Mercury is supposed to have treated patient abroad ,in case of requirement, at their cost. Can we imagine fate of patient on tour abroad , having limited cash, had to undergo some medical treatment. He will be dying without help if he depends on Mercury? GOD Save them.

Update:
Further recently the co. has sent a letter to my home asking again for the set of documents. They were already forwarded to them a year ago,through their agent Tower Insurance co.Mumbai. Now we have requested Tower Insurance co.to respond and await their reply. We are surprised that after one year the co. is asking these copies again.We do not know why? They lost it ?I have seen on internet Mercury do advertise that they guarantee payments and ensure all medical services on travel abroad,immediately.

OK....same story here as with the rest of the complainants. Took my mother to the doctor's for some minor shoulder pain and it was simply diagnosed as old age causing the bone joint to kinda rub together and the resulting pain.

The simple solution was to take some pain killers (specifically Ibuprofen) as and when needed to alleviate the pain. Mercury Claims initially denied the claim stating that it was a result of a previous injury which was reported on the claim form to them. The previous injury was over 2 years prior to this incident, it was more muscular in nature as my mother fell off a stool back in India.

Upon clearing this small misconception on their part, they agreed verbally to process the claim and the money would be forthcoming. 8+ months and still waiting for the infamous check to arrive.

Upon contacting them via e-mail to check status....

here is the verbatim quote :

"Thank you for your recent email.

Please be advised that till date we have not received confirmation from the insured's usual doctor in India that the insured had completely recovered from the previous treatment for her injury. As soon as this has been received we will be in a position to re assess your claim.

Regards
R H
India Claims"

The prior injury has nothing to do with the current problem but it seems they are wanting to hold on to this pathetic excuse from having to pay for the insurance claim.

It is interesting to see that others have had the exact same experience that I've had with Oriental Insurance/Mercury International. My dad had to be hospitalized in June 2002 and I filed the claim with Mercury in the UK. So far I haven't got any response from them. Every time I call Mercury in the UK I get a different answer including one that said that the cheque was in the mail! The last answer i got from them was that Oriental owed them a lot of money and that they had stopped processing claims. My dad who is now back in India wrote to the head of Oriental Insurance and got a response from them saying that they had switched to a different agency in France. I have no idea how to contact this French agency. At the hospital where my dad was treated, the administrators told me that they have had bad experiences with Mercury. In fact they said they stopped dealing with them because they think it is a waste of time trying to bill them and get compensated. So I had to foot the (large!) bill and file the claim with Mercury myself. It has been more than 6 months and so far I have had absolutely no response from anyone. While we may not be able to influence what goes on with the Indian insurance company, we can certainly do something about possible fradulent practices of companies operating in the US. Mercury has an office in the US and if they are indeed screwing customers, we can do something about it. Does anyone know of any organization like the Better Business Bureau that is focused on insurance companies in the US? or any non-profit legal entities that are interested in going after such possible insurance scams?

I had bought "overseas mediclaim policy" from Oriental Insurance co. They had clearly documented on all the papers that all the US claims above $500 will be settled by Mercury International co, UK. Due to some medical problems I had to pay a huge sum from my own pocket in US. And after confirming with mercury over the phone, I sent all the proper claim forms/documents to Mercury office at sussex, UK. What oriental guys didn't tell me was that they had changed their service provider from mercury, UK to CORIS, France. It's been 3 months now since I sent those documents. Neither did I get my claims/ nor my documents back. I have explored all possile ways... talking to 50 different ppl from 10 different offices, shouting at them, threatening them... nothing works. If any of you have been thro' such a situation... and have been able to get thro' your claims... please advise me.

I was reading today's Gujarati newspaper( Gujarat Samachar) online and found the news about Overseas Mediclaim policy from Oriental (GIC) not paying anything when you need it. You can find the news at http://www.gujaratsamachar.com/gsa/20021229/guj/gujarat/news4.html and http://www.gujaratsamachar.com/gsa/20021229/guj/gujarat/news5.html Sorry the news is in Gujarati but I thought it was still important enough to write here.

I am glad I bought insurance from you while my parents came here 4 months back.

When my father got sick and we had to run to the hospital, and I did not even my insurance card with me at that time, I really appreciate all the help you provided me. Thank you for faxing the coverage proof and dealing with hospital staff patiently so that we did not have to pay upfront. Thanks a lot for helping me at around 10 PM. Which other agent would I have received such service at such time? This is truly beyond my expectations.

badly got entangled in a row between National insurance co. and their overseas agent Mercury International UK. I bought a mediclaim policy for my mother who was on a visit to US and she suffered a heart attack. After notifying the local office of Mercury International she went for an angioplasty in July 2002. We summitted the claim to Mercury International, UK and they are not responding as they have some row over the commission with the indian agency. After few months I send a copy to national insurance co. No response from them either. In the mean time National Insurance changed their agent to one in France. They are not bothered about those who bought their policy and facing legal action by the care providers for non payment. Isn't clear cheating and breach of contract? I am sure there are many out there who is in similar situation like me. Please respond.

The Problem:
I had to undergo treatment for my knee starting in November 2001. I was unable to walk more than a few steps or climb stairs without extreme pain in my right knee. I consulted the Pittsburgh hospital who diagnosed the problem but were unable to treat is due to non-payment of claims from Mercury International, UK. The total claim amount is $2,994. The hospitals have filed complaints to credit collection agencies that harass me weekly. I am a student on scholarship and cannot afford to pay this large an amount.

Sequence of Events:
I consulted the Carnegie Mellon University health center (as required by New India Assurance policy) on September 5, 2001. The university nurse identified the problem to be serious, and recommended an Orthopedic Surgeons’ Clinic. The orthopedic surgeon’s clinic in Pittsburgh did a diagnosis (starting September 7, 2001) and advised immediate physical therapy and arthroscopic surgery. I filed an initial claim in November 2001 to Mercury International and a follow up claim on May 18, 2002. Following the initial filing, the doctor filed the claim (four times) too as no reply was delivered to my filing. No acknowledgement or claim was received by either me or the doctors’ office. I was billed for all the diagnostic charges and no treatment was rendered due to non-payment of insurance claims. The problem still exists.

Documentation:
I have copies of the claim filing, all bills from the doctors, and all bills from the credit collection agencies. I also have the doctor’s notes stating that this was not a pre-existing condition and stressing the need for immediate treatment. I have documented the repeated email complaints sent by my father in India.

Attempts to contact Mercury International and New India Assurance:
I have contacted Mercury International’s Florida, USA office and UK office. The staff was unhelpful at first and then used abusive and threatening language insulting me personally and Indians in general. They told me to talk to New India directly and not to bother them or call ever again. My father contacted Mr. K, Senior Branch Manager, New India Assurance, Bangalore, India and Mr. B, Chief Managing Director at the Mumbai Head Office. Their emails are YYYY and YYYY respectively. They did not respond to 3 repeated complaints (all documented).

My policy information:
My policy number is 6 YYYY XX/XX/XX/ YYYY 1 Company Code ZZZ.
Policy period August 4, 2001 to August 3, 2002.
Previous Policy: Year 2000; number 6 YYYY YYYY YYYY ZZZ

Issued by: New India Assurance (Office Code: 670400), 10/1, “Kukreja House”, I Floor, Kumara Krupa Road, Bangalore 560001. Telephone: 91 (80) 22 YYYY X/22 YYYY X. Agent: Mr. R. V.

Request for settlement:
I am very stressed and would request the concerned to tend to this case immediately. As a student I am unable to concentrate on my studies with the pressure from multiple credit collection agencies calling every other day. The response of DR K from New India Assurance claims no fault on his company’s part and states that the problem is with Mercury Insurance, UK. On the other hand, Mercury alleges that New India is not paying them. Either way the customer is at a loss.

Thanks a lot for your kind and prompt reply. I got the link. I really appreciate it. I will definitely refer to all my relatives and friends visiting USA to get insurance coverage from your company.

Thanks a lot again