Nirmala Sitharaman appreciates insurers for faster claim settlement under PMSBY, PMJJBY

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday appreciated the initiatives taken by insurers to facilitate faster claims processing under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). Amid the ongoing pandemic, the claim settlement period of the two welfare schemes of the government has reduced to 7 days from 30 days.

The two schemes – PMJJBY and PMSBY- were launched in 2015 to provide life and accidental insurance covers of Rs 2 lakh each with an annual premium of only Rs 330 and Rs 12. As of March 31, 2021, the total cumulative enrolment stood at 23.36 crore under PMSBY and 10.32 crore under PMJJBY.

The Finance Minister also appreciated the end-to-end digitization of the claim settlement process between banks and insurance companies and claim documents transmission via email/App. In an official statement, the government stated that public sector insurance companies are going to implement an API-based App for claim transmission by June 2021 and rationalised forms and simplified claims process being issued shortly. In addition, attending a doctor’s certificate or certificate issued by a DM/authorized officer, instead of a death certificate will also be considered for the faster settlement of a claim.

If you are wondering what these schemes are about, here is a low-down on the features of the two policies:

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima (PMJJBY)

It is a term insurance plan with the standard cover of Rs 2 lakh at the cost of Rs 330 per year. In case of the policyholder’s untimely death, the policy gives a lumpsum benefit of Rs 2 lakh to the nominees of the policy.

Other features of PMJJBY:

— No medical examination required

— Age bracket is 18 to 50 years. The maturity age of this policy is 55 years.

— The annual premium of Rs 330 is deducted from your bank account before or on 31st May every year.

— Insurance policy plan can be selected for one year or more under PMJJBY.

— The bank itself will deduct the money from your account as per the scheduled time.

— The policy can be bought only once. If one manages to buy multiple policies then at the time of claim only Rs 2,00,000 will be paid

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana covers accidental death and full disability. It also offers a cover of Rs 1 lakh for partial disability. The annual premium of PMSBY is only Rs 12 and is offered by banks in tie-up with insurance companies. This amount is automatically deducted from your bank account before or on May 31. If there is zero balance in the bank account at the end of May, then this policy will be cancelled.

Other features of PMSBY

– The policy is available for people in the age group 18 to 70 years

– Aadhar would be the primary KYC for the bank account.

-Covers total and partial disability

– You can apply for Suraksha Bima Yojana by going to any bank branch or contacting an insurance company.

Claim Details

A total of 4.65 lakh claims have been paid amounting to Rs 9,307 crore under PMJJBY. Since the beginning of the pandemic that is April 2020 onwards date, 1.2 lakh claims have been paid amounting to Rs 2,403 crore, at a disposal rate of 99%.

Similarly, a total of 82,660 claims have been paid settled under PMSBY amounting to Rs 1,629 crore as of May 31, 2021.