The seminar on “Health Insurance " was organised by M/s Consumer Association of India (CAI) on September 29, 2012 at Chennai.After the welcome speech by the Secretary General of CAI, Shri J. Hari Narayana, Chairman of IRDA delivered the inaugural address.Smt.M.P. Nirmala, Secretary, Food, Co-op, CP Dept., Tamil Nadu was the Chief Guest who has given key note address.The participants include representatives of various consumer bodies from different districts of Tamil Nadu, academicians and some NGOs working for senior citizens.

The first technical session started with presentations focussing on “Consumer Perceptions and Experience” where the survey resulted were presented by the students of colleges from Tamil Nadu with a wrap up session by CAI. It was followed by a panel discussion on the “Health insurance today”.The third session was focussed on Comprehensive Health Insurance for senior citizens where Mrs. Jyoti Vaidya, Dy Director, IRDA has presented IRDA perspective.The session was chaired by Mr. K K Srinivasan, former Member of IRDA.It was followed by “Going Forward” wherein the expectations of consumers from insurers as well as Government were deliberated at length.During the Open Interaction session with IRDA, participants raised various issues focussing on the concerns related to senior citizens which were handled by Mrs.Yegnapriya Bharath, Joint Director, IRDA. Renewal of health insurance policies of senior citizens, lack of transparency at the point of sale and non-compliance with the various guidelines issued by IRDA are some of the issues to name a few.

At the seminar, policyholder handbooks in Tamil/English versions were distributed to all the participants and some copies were handed over to organisers for further distribution through their network.

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