Bima Bharosa Health Insurance Complaint Guide

Bima Bharosa is the IRDAI grievance portal at bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in for any insurance complaint including health, life, motor and others. You can file a complaint after first giving the insurer 15 working days to respond, and the portal aims for resolution within another 15 working days.

Part of the Health Insurance Claim Recovery Series by RightToInformation.Wiki.

The Bima Bharosa portal is the official online complaint window run by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). Earlier it was known as the Integrated Grievance Management System or IGMS. Today it is the single national door for any policyholder who has a complaint against an insurer.

• Bima Bharosa is IRDAI's official online complaint portal.
• It was earlier known as IGMS (Integrated Grievance Management System).
• It is free of cost, open 24×7, and fully online.
• It is used to escalate when the insurer's own grievance officer does not resolve in 15 working days.
• It generates a unique complaint token and the insurer is obliged to respond.
• It has a 15-working-day SLA target. After 15 days you can escalate to the Insurance Ombudsman.

The portal is plugged into every insurer's grievance team, so once you file a complaint, the insurer's internal system gets a ticket pushed into it and a clock starts ticking.

Why Bima Bharosa matters in 2026: health insurance complaints have grown sharply with the rise of cashless networks, third-party administrators and rapid renewals. IRDAI rebuilt the old IGMS into Bima Bharosa to give every citizen a single, mobile-friendly window to push back when an insurer is being unfair. The portal logs every reply, every status change and every closure with a timestamp, so the insurer cannot quietly stall a case. For most health-insurance disputes, Bima Bharosa is the practical first regulator step before Ombudsman or court.

The portal also forwards a copy of every complaint to the insurer's compliance team, not just the claims desk. That extra eye is one reason why a properly filed Bima Bharosa complaint often unlocks a rejected claim faster than another round of emails to the insurer alone.

Bima Bharosa is not the first stop. IRDAI rules and the IRDAI grievance redressal mechanism expect you to give the insurer a fair chance first. Before you click File a Complaint on the portal, make sure of the following.

• You must have first written to the insurer's grievance officer (email or letter), not just the call centre.
• The insurer must have either rejected the claim, partly settled it, delayed it beyond 15 working days, or not responded at all.
• Keep the grievance officer's email reply and reference number ready, even if it is a holding reply.
• For corporate or group health policies, you can file individually. Do not wait for the HR team to act.
• If the insurer has issued a final rejection letter, that letter and its date are enough to move to Bima Bharosa.

A common mistake is to file directly on Bima Bharosa without the grievance officer step. The portal usually routes such cases back to the insurer first, and you lose 15 working days.

How to send the grievance-officer email cleanly: address it to the named grievance officer listed on the insurer's website, copy the company secretary, and use a single subject line such as Health claim grievance for policy [POLICY NUMBER], claim ID [CLAIM ID]. Attach the rejection or deduction letter, the discharge summary and the hospital bill as separate PDFs, not a single zip. Ask for a written reply on the registered email within 15 working days. This single email becomes the legal trigger for Bima Bharosa and later for the Ombudsman.

If the insurer has issued only a phone-call rejection without anything in writing, send the grievance officer email anyway, narrating the call and demanding a written rejection. A bare insurer phone call is not enough proof for Bima Bharosa, but a written record of you asking for one is enough proof of non-response after 15 working days.

This is the actual filing flow, screen by screen. Read it once before starting so you keep all attachments ready.

Step 1: Open the portal

1. Go to https://bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in.
2. Bookmark it. Always type the URL or use the link from the IRDAI main site at irdai.gov.in.
3. Do not search for the portal on a general search engine, because phishing sites copy this domain.

Step 2: Register

1. Click Register if you are filing for the first time.
2. Required fields: name, mobile number, email, PAN, and Aadhaar (optional but recommended for faster verification).
3. You will receive an OTP for mobile and another for email.
4. Set a strong password and store it in a password manager.

Step 3: Sign in and start a new complaint

1. Sign in with your registered mobile or email and password.
2. Click File a Complaint.
3. Choose Insurance Type as Health.
4. Choose the sub-type that fits your case from the drop-down list: Claim rejection, Claim delay, Cashless denial, Mis-selling, Premium dispute, Refund pending, Policy issuance, or Service.

Step 4: Enter policy and insurer details

1. Policy number, period of cover, and sum insured.
2. Insurer name from the drop-down (do not type a custom name).
3. Branch name and state.
4. TPA name if a TPA is in the loop.

Step 5: Describe the grievance

1. Keep it factual and short.
2. You have a 1500-character limit, so write the most important facts first.
3. Reference the insurer grievance officer ticket number and the date of their reply.
4. State the exact relief you want, in money terms.

Step 6: Attach documents

1. Policy schedule and Key Features Document (KFD).
2. Claim form, signed and submitted.
3. Hospital bills and discharge summary.
4. Rejection or deduction letter from the insurer or TPA.
5. Insurer grievance officer reply.
6. Bank passbook or cancelled cheque for refund routing.
7. Government ID.

Step 7: Submit and note the token

1. Once you submit, a unique token like IRDAI/2026/12345 is generated.
2. Save the acknowledgement PDF immediately.
3. An SMS and email confirmation arrive within minutes.
4. This token is the proof you filed.

Step 8: Track status

1. Sign in periodically to view your complaint status.
2. Status flows: Open, Assigned to insurer, Response received, Closed, Reopened.
3. The portal also shows the insurer's reply text once it is uploaded.

Step 9: Insurer's reply

1. The insurer must respond within 15 working days of the complaint being assigned.
2. The reply appears in your portal inbox and in your registered email.
3. You can mark the resolution as accepted or rejected. Always read the reply fully before clicking accept.

Step 10: Escalate if needed

1. If the insurer reply is unsatisfactory, or 15 working days pass with no response, you can file at the Insurance Ombudsman.
2. Your Bima Bharosa complaint reference is usable as a pre-condition for the Ombudsman complaint, so keep the token safe.

Paste this into the description box on the portal after editing the fields in square brackets.

Insurer: [INSURER NAME]
Policy: [POLICY NUMBER]
Claim ID: [CLAIM ID]
Hospitalisation: [DATES]
Hospital: [HOSPITAL NAME]
Claim amount: Rs [AMOUNT]
Insurer action: [Rejected / Partly settled / Delayed beyond 30 days / Cashless denied]
Grievance officer reply: [DATE, REF]

Facts in brief:
1. The insurer rejected / deducted my claim citing [REASON].
2. The rejection / deduction is contrary to policy clause [CLAUSE] and the IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance Business dated 29 May 2024.
3. I gave the insurer 15 working days to respond. Their reply on [DATE] does not address my objection.

Relief sought:
Direct the insurer to pay the rejected / withheld amount of Rs [AMOUNT] with applicable interest under IRDAI Protection of Policyholders Interests Operations Regulations 2024 and the cost of complaint.

The IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance Business dated 29 May 2024 is the most-quoted authority in modern health-claim grievances, so citing it in the body of your complaint is strong practice. It consolidates the rules on cashless authorisation timelines, claim-decision deadlines, room-rent and proportionate-deduction limits, pre-existing-disease waiting period, moratorium after 60 months of cover, and the policyholder's right to a written, reasoned rejection. Even a one-line reference to the circular signals to the insurer that you know the regulatory ground rules.

A second supporting authority is the IRDAI Protection of Policyholders Interests Operations Regulations 2024, which spells out interest on delayed claim payments. If your case includes a delay beyond 30 days from the last document submitted, expressly ask for bank-rate plus 2 percent interest under those regulations. The portal will not award interest on its own, you have to ask for it.

Bima Bharosa accepts a wide menu of health-insurance grievances. Pick the closest sub-type during filing.

• Claim full rejection.
• Claim partial settlement or deductions.
• Cashless denial at admission.
• Cashless denial at discharge.
• Mis-selling at policy issuance.
• Premium dispute including renewal hikes or premium computation errors.
• Refund of premium pending.
• Policy not issued despite premium paid.
• Policy lapsed without reinstatement option.
• TPA service issues.
• Service complaint such as delay in reply or unresponsive contact.

If your case has more than one element (for example, a deduction plus a delay), file it under the most material head and mention the other in the body.

Picking the right sub-type matters because it controls which desk inside the insurer receives the ticket. Claim rejection complaints route to the senior claims manager. Cashless denial complaints route to the cashless desk and the empanelment team. Mis-selling complaints route to compliance. If you pick the wrong sub-type, the right team never sees the ticket and the 15-working-day clock effectively resets when the insurer says wrong queue. When in doubt, choose Claim rejection or Claim delay, because those are the most-monitored heads at IRDAI.

1. Filing without first writing to the insurer's grievance officer, which causes the portal to bounce the case back.
2. Filing with the wrong policy or TPA name, which causes routing failure and lost weeks.
3. Generic complaint without facts, dates and reference numbers, which weakens the case.
4. Forgetting to attach the grievance officer's reply, which is the trigger for IRDAI jurisdiction.
5. Selecting the wrong sub-type from the drop-down, which sends the file to the wrong desk.
6. Closing the complaint as resolved before checking the insurer's actual action, which is final and irreversible.

Bima Bharosa is a regulator-run portal, not a court. It works best when the insurer is willing to be reasonable. If it does not work, move up.

• 15 working days have passed and there is no insurer reply on the portal.
• The insurer's reply does not address the grievance and only restates the rejection.
• The insurer's offer (for example, a smaller refund) is unacceptable.
• Bima Bharosa closes the ticket without resolution.
• There are repeated mis-routing or technical failures on the portal.

Next steps in this scenario: the Insurance Ombudsman complaint format guide on this Wiki, online consumer commission filing through edaakhil, or a direct case under the consumer court route.

The Insurance Ombudsman route is free, evidence-driven and runs by zone. It is the cleanest legal step after Bima Bharosa for claims up to Rs 50 lakh. The Ombudsman can pass an award which the insurer must honour within 30 days. The consumer commission route is good when the dispute also has elements of unfair trade practice such as mis-sold riders or false claim-settlement promises, and when you want compensation for mental harassment beyond the claim amount. A typical citizen ladder is: insurer grievance officer, then Bima Bharosa, then Insurance Ombudsman, then consumer commission, and only then a civil court.

If the matter involves a possible criminal element such as a forged signature on a claim form or an agent who pocketed your premium, file a separate police complaint and reference it in the Bima Bharosa complaint. Do not let the criminal angle be hidden inside a grievance ticket, because the portal cannot register or investigate offences.

• IRDAI toll-free helpline: 155255 or 1800-4254-732.
• IRDAI complaints email: [email protected].
• Bima Bharosa portal: bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in.
• Policyholder portal: policyholder.gov.in/complaint-channels.
• IRDAI IGMS information page: irdai.gov.in/igms1.
• IRDAI grievance redressal mechanism page: irdai.gov.in/grievance-redressal-mechanism1.

• Filing while a court case is already pending on the same cause of action.
• Submitting unsigned scanned documents that the insurer rejects as informal.
• Sending verbal-only complaints to the insurer over phone, with no paper trail.
• Skipping the grievance officer step and going straight to Bima Bharosa.
• Using vague language like I am not satisfied instead of a factual demand with money figures.
• Forgetting the 1-year limitation when later moving to the Insurance Ombudsman.

A salaried policyholder in Pune held a Rs 5 lakh family-floater policy. After a 3-day hospitalisation in March 2026 for dengue, the insurer rejected the cashless request at discharge citing investigation pending and asked the family to pay Rs 1.18 lakh out of pocket. The family paid, filed a reimbursement claim with full documents, and waited. After 17 working days of silence, the insurer's grievance officer sent a holding reply with no decision. The policyholder filed a Bima Bharosa complaint under the sub-type Claim delay, attached the rejection email, the hospital bill, the discharge summary and the holding reply, and quoted the IRDAI Master Circular on Health Insurance Business dated 29 May 2024. The insurer's compliance team reopened the file within 9 working days, settled Rs 1.04 lakh and paid Rs 6,300 as interest. The portal ticket closed in 13 working days. Total citizen cost: zero. Total time from complaint to credit: 13 working days. The key win factor was citing the Master Circular plus the holding-reply timestamp, both of which forced the insurer to put a settlement on record.

Yes. The portal is run by IRDAI and there is no filing fee. You only need a working mobile number, an email address and your policy details. Do not pay any agent who claims to file your Bima Bharosa complaint for a fee.

No. The portal is built for citizens to file directly. The interface is in English with simple fields. A lawyer is useful only if your case is going to also move to the Insurance Ombudsman or consumer court.

The Service Level Agreement is the time the insurer has to respond after IRDAI assigns your complaint. It is 15 working days. If the insurer does not reply within that window, the complaint is treated as un-resolved and you can escalate to the Insurance Ombudsman.

In theory you can, but the portal usually routes the case back to the insurer first. The cleaner path is to send a written complaint to the insurer's grievance officer, wait 15 working days, and then file at Bima Bharosa with the insurer's reply or proof of silence attached.

It is best to do one at a time. The Ombudsman office expects you to first try the insurer and then IRDAI. Filing at both at once can cause duplicate-case rejection. Use Bima Bharosa first, wait 15 working days, then move to the Ombudsman if needed.

Sign in to the portal with your registered mobile or email. The token is visible in your complaints list. The same token is also in the SMS and email you received at the time of filing. If both are lost, write to [email protected] with your name, policy number and date of filing.

Yes. Even if the policy is taken by your employer, you as the insured beneficiary can file individually. You will need the master policy number, your employee ID under the policy, and proof that you are a covered member.

The call centre 155255 is a voice helpline that creates a ticket on your behalf and sends it into the same IRDAI system. Bima Bharosa is the web portal where you file directly and upload documents. For a complex claim issue, the portal is better because you can attach evidence.

Yes. NRIs with an Indian health-insurance policy can register with an Indian mobile or email and file like any resident. The portal accepts international addresses in the profile section, but OTPs go to the registered Indian mobile, so keep that number active.

The portal target is 15 working days from the date the complaint is assigned to the insurer. Simple cases such as token routing or refund processing often close in 7 to 10 working days. Complex cases like full claim rejections can take the full 15 working days, after which you can escalate to the Insurance Ombudsman.

• Pillar: Full rejection guide
• Hub: Health Insurance Claim Help India
• Insurance Ombudsman complaint format
• Cashless denied at hospital
• TPA denied cashless claim
• Claim delayed beyond 30 days
• Claim partly paid deductions
• PED rejection reply
• Non-disclosure rejection
• Late intimation rejection
• Consumer court route

Part of the Health Insurance Claim Recovery Series by RightToInformation.Wiki.

Last reviewed by RTI Wiki editorial team on 2026-05-16.

New 2026 update on RTI Wiki: IRDAI Insurance Fraud Monitoring Framework 2026 and your rights