Have you ever faced a medical emergency only to see your health insurer reject your claim? You’re not alone. The Insurance Ombudsman’s 2023-24 report shows that thousands of Indians experienced the same nightmare.

Leading the chart is Star Health & Allied Insurance, with a staggering 13,308 complaints—10,196 of them due to claim rejections. To put this in perspective, Star Health alone received more complaints than the combined total of CARE Health (3,718), Niva Bupa (2,511), National Insurance (2,196) and New India Assurance (1,602).

Even after adjusting for customer base, Star Health recorded 63 complaints per lakh policyholders, the highest ratio among insurers. Niva Bupa followed with 17 and CARE Health with 16 complaints per lakh.

The Ombudsman also ordered insurers to pay compensation in thousands of cases. Star Health was directed to award ₹6,054 lakh in FY24, while CARE Health and Niva Bupa faced payouts worth ₹2,012 lakh and ₹1,654 lakh respectively.

Alarmingly, overall health insurance complaints jumped 21.7% in a year, even as life and general insurance complaints fell. To tackle this, IRDAI is setting up Internal Ombudsmen within insurers for quicker claim redressal—but doubts remain about their independence.