What is the role of TPA in Travel insurance?
TPA in travel insurance : Travel insurance is offered by many service providers but in most cases, the company will not have an office in the destination that you are travelling to. This is why a TPA or Third Party Administrator is usually appointed by all major insurance companies for ease of customers. A TPA helps in the claim filing process and deals with the customers in clearing any issues that may arise during the claim filing process.
TPA as an outsourcing agent
A TPA is any organisation hired by an insurance firm for providing cashless facilities to the client. The process of claim filing can be a cumbersome process and the TPA is usually used to ease the process. The actual liability still lies with the insurance firm. The TP serves as a claim processor, information provider for the customer and also helps in networking. As per the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India), a TPA is any entity that is licensed by the authority and serves in return for a pre decided fee for an insurance company. The concept of TPA is in place in India since 2001.
TPA as a separate department within the main firm
Sometimes a major insurance firm may set up a separate department to deal with the process of claims and for networking with the customers. This is usually done to avoid the risk of hiring a separate entity and keeping the process within the main institution. As a customer, you can contact the TPA in case you have any queries about your policy or need to file a claim. The TPA’s responsibility is to help you with any issues and clarify the same. TPA’s are of great use while travelling abroad since your insurance provider cannot help you in person if they don’t have a physical presence in the destination that you are travelling to.
Use of TPA’s while travelling abroad
Let’s say you are travelling to Paris for a holiday and you encounter some emergency for which you need to file a claim. Most likely, Paris won’t have an office of the insurance company from which you got your policy insured. This is where a TPA comes in handy. You can approach the relevant TPA who will then guide you with the procedure and will help you in filing your claim. Otherwise, you would be wasting time and money on international calls back home to get your queries resolved. For example, National Insurance has a tie up with Coris International. So if you have availed of travel insurance from National Insurance, you can easily approach Coris International no matter where you are in the world. But do research well and try to go for an insurance provider that has a TPA in the country where you are travelling to.
As per the IRDA’s website, there are a total of 30 TPA’s in India in various domains as of 11th May, 2015. The license for any TPA is valid for a period of three years as per IRDA unless renewed.
TPA’s can be of great help to clear claims made. But sometimes the TPAs may not give the claimant the right kind of information which in turn will slow down the process or it may altogether hinder the clearing of the payment. So it is advised that you go through all documents provided by the insurance company even if you have a TPA for assistance.
TPAs basically acts as an inter mediator between the claimer and the insurance company.
They are basically for the help of the customer - to deal with their reviews, their queries etc. Probably, due to the new arrival of this concept and lesser no. of TPs in india , this may be sometimes not a good guide but in future this concept is going to be a milestone.
Third party administrator is a real help in foreign lands. This is specially true when in distress. The TPA’s main motive is to help the insured in claiming the insurance and with any related problems. Most of the insurance company have seperate department or have outsourced it. It is always a better option to know in detail of the various aspects before choosing one.