Health Insurance Free-Look Period: 30-Day Refund Right 2026

You signed up for a health or life policy, then read the fine print at home and realised the cover is not what the agent promised. Good news: the law gives you a full 30 days to walk away and get your money back. Most people never use this right because nobody told them it exists.

The free-look period is a cooling-off window built into life and individual health insurance policies of one year or more. It lets you study the actual policy terms after purchase and cancel if you disagree with anything. Earlier this window was 15 days. Since 1 April 2024 it is a uniform 30 days, whether you bought online or offline.

The right comes from the IRDAI (Protection of Policyholders Interests, Operations and Allied Matters of Insurers) Regulations, 2024, notified by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and in force from 1 April 2024. These replaced the 2017 regulations, under which the free-look was only 15 days for most buyers.

Three things the 2024 regulation fixes clearly:

• 30 days, one uniform window. The free-look period is 30 days from the date you receive the policy document, for life and individual health policies of one year or more, no matter how you bought the policy. The earlier split where physical-mode buyers got only 15 days is gone.
• Cancel for any reason. If you disagree with any term or condition, you can return the policy within the 30 days and ask for a refund.
• Refund in 7 days. The insurer must process your cancellation request and refund the premium within 7 days of receiving it.

IRDAI is a statutory regulator and a public authority. If an insurer drags its feet, the regulator gives you a free grievance channel, the Bima Bharosa portal, and beyond that the Insurance Ombudsman. As a public authority, IRDAI is also covered by the RTI Act, 2005, which gives you a separate transparency tool described below.

1. Check the clock. Note the date you received the policy document, by post, email, or app. Your 30 days run from that date, so act early.
2. Read the policy and decide. Confirm the sum insured, room-rent limits, waiting periods, co-pay, and exclusions. If anything is not what you agreed to, you have grounds to cancel.
3. Write a cancellation request. Send a clear written request to the insurer asking to cancel under the free-look provision and refund the premium. Email is best because it is time-stamped. Quote your policy number and the date you received the document.
4. State your bank details. Give the account number and IFSC for the refund, or ask for the refund to the original payment source.
5. Keep proof. Save the email, the delivery date proof, and any acknowledgement number the insurer gives you.
6. Track the 7-day deadline. The insurer must refund within 7 days of receiving your request. Mark the date.
7. Escalate if delayed. If the refund does not come, write to the insurer Grievance Redressal Officer, then file on the IRDAI Bima Bharosa portal, and finally approach the Insurance Ombudsman.

• Policy document or policy number
• Proof of the date you received the policy, such as the courier slip or email header
• A signed written or emailed cancellation request citing the free-look provision
• Cancelled cheque or bank details for the refund
• Photo ID, if the insurer asks for it
• Any acknowledgement or token number from the insurer

• Missing the 30-day window. The clock starts when you receive the document, not when you decide to read it. Once 30 days pass, the free-look right is gone.
• Cancelling by phone only. A verbal request is hard to prove. Always send a written or email request you can produce later.
• Forgetting the deductions. Your refund is the premium minus a few permitted charges, so do not expect the exact rupee figure you paid back.
• Not preserving the receipt date. If you cannot show when the policy reached you, the insurer may dispute whether you were inside the window.
• Filing a claim first. Using the policy and then trying to free-look cancel weakens your position. Decide before you draw any benefit.
• Giving up after one ignored email. If the insurer stalls, the Bima Bharosa portal and the Ombudsman exist precisely for this.

When you cancel during the free-look period, the insurer does not always return every rupee. Under the 2024 regulation it may deduct only:

• a proportionate risk premium for the number of days the cover was actually in force,
• the stamp duty charges on the policy, and
• the cost of any medical examination the insurer arranged for you.

Anything beyond these three is not permitted, so check your refund working if the amount looks short.

The free-look refund itself is enforced through IRDAI grievance and the Ombudsman, not through an RTI application. But because IRDAI is a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005, you can use the RTI Act to get IRDAI records, such as the status of a complaint you filed, the circulars governing free-look refunds, or data on how insurers handle these requests. This is a useful pressure and transparency tool that runs alongside the grievance route.

A short sample RTI you can adapt:

To,
The Central Public Information Officer
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Hyderabad

Subject: Request for information under the RTI Act, 2005

Under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, I request the following information:

1. The current status of complaint/token number ____________ filed by me
   on the Bima Bharosa portal regarding a free-look refund.
2. A copy of the IRDAI circular or regulation provision governing the
   free-look period and refund timeline applicable from 1 April 2024.
3. Action taken by IRDAI on my complaint to date.

I request the information within 30 days as provided under Section 7(1).
If access is denied, please give reasons and details of the First
Appellate Authority under Section 19(1).

I enclose the prescribed fee.

Name:
Address:
Date:

For drafting, the AI RTI Drafter builds a clean application for you, and if the reply is unsatisfactory the First Appeal Builder prepares your Section 19(1) appeal.

It is 30 days from the date you receive the policy document, for life and health insurance, under the IRDAI 2024 Regulations effective 1 April 2024. The earlier 15-day period no longer applies.

Yes. The 2024 rule made it a uniform 30 days regardless of whether you bought the policy online, through an agent, or by any other mode.

From the date you receive the policy document, not the date you paid or applied. Keep proof of the receipt date.

The insurer must process the cancellation and refund the premium within 7 days of receiving your free-look request.

Almost. The insurer can deduct only a proportionate risk premium for the days you were covered, the stamp duty, and the cost of any medical examination it arranged. Nothing else.

First write to the insurer Grievance Redressal Officer. If unresolved, file on the IRDAI Bima Bharosa portal at https://bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in or call 155255. If still unresolved within 15 days, approach the Insurance Ombudsman.

No. The refund is enforced through IRDAI grievance and the Ombudsman. RTI is a separate tool to get IRDAI records or your complaint status, since IRDAI is a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005.

Once you have drawn a benefit from the policy, your free-look position is weakened. Decide whether to keep the policy before using it.

• IRDAI (Protection of Policyholders Interests, Operations and Allied Matters of Insurers) Regulations, 2024, https://irdai.gov.in/consolidated-gazette-notified-regulations
• IRDAI policyholder education portal, https://policyholder.gov.in
• IRDAI Bima Bharosa grievance portal, https://bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in
• IRDAI Bima Bharosa, how the process works, https://bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in/Home/OurProcess

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• The RTI Playbook
• RTI Act, 2005
• Case-law database