Tips to handle tough questions when buying insurance
While buying insurance online, the toughest part for most customers is answering the medical-and lifestyle-related queries in the proposal form. Some questions are general, but some are specific and relate to medical condition, profession and hobbies of the buyer. Here's a guide to navigating the difficult questions that you are asked while buying insurance.
However, if the answers are yes, the company seeks further explanations and in some cases even documents so that it can decide the premium or whether to accept your application.
"The purpose of asking about the person's health is to ascertain his well-being. If any risk is noted, further tests may be sought on the basis of sum assured and the person's age," says Bathwal of Birla Sunlife Life.
So, if your answer to the question whether you are a smoker is yes, you will be asked what you smoke (cigarette, beedi or cigar), how many do you smoke in a day and for how many years have you been smoking. If you say you have stopped smoking, you will be asked when and why.
Explanations and documents may not always be difficult to furnish. However, at times, understanding questions, especially the ones related to health, could give you a hard time.
Take, for instance, this question. "Have you undergone/have you been recommended to undergo any of the following: angioplasty, heart bypass surgery, brain surgery, heart valve surgery, aorta surgery or organ transplant or any other major surgery or treatment?"
The use of medical terms, which most people may not be aware of, makes things difficult for the buyer. For instance, you need to be a biology student or a medical practitioner to know which diseases are considered congenital.
Further, it is possible that you have not undergone any of the above mentioned surgeries but some other surgery. Should you mention this in the column 'other major surgery or treatment' category?
Then there are questions that are sure to put you in a fix. So, if the insurer asks if you have experienced any health problem or medical condition within the past three months for which you have not consulted a doctor, what should be your answer? Even if the answer is yes, you will probably not know the name of the condition from which you suffered.
As a result of these issues, insurance companies, which were aggressively promoting online sales, have witnessed very low conversion of online enquiries into sales. The companies are trying to address the issue by starting online assistance, 24X7 call centres etc. Some are even selling online policies through agents.
"To help customers during purchase, we have set up a 24/7 customer helpline. Customers can connect with our telesales advisors through our toll-free number at their convenience. We also call customers who leave their details on our website and assist them through the buying process," says Sevantika Bhandari, director, marketing, Max Bupa Health Insurance.
"Some questions are very technical in nature and so customers may find them difficult to understand. We have tried to translate such questions into a simpler language," says Anuj Gulati, CEO, Religare Health.
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