Health Insurance Portability Rejected or Delayed Near Renewal Date?

Who this guide is for

This guide is for individuals and families in India who hold a health insurance policy and tried to port it to a different insurer, only to find the request rejected, ignored, or stuck close to the renewal date. Portability lets you switch insurers while carrying over the credit for waiting periods you have already served. When it goes wrong near renewal, the worry is the same for everyone: a gap in cover. It is useful if:

• You applied to a new insurer to port your policy and got a rejection or no response.
• Your old insurer is slow to share your policy and claims history through the regulator's portability data system.
• Your renewal date is days away and you do not know whether to renew the old policy or wait for the port.
• You are worried about losing waiting-period credit for a pre-existing disease or a specific treatment.

This guide is about the process failing. It is not about whether a particular insurer should accept your underwriting risk, which is a commercial decision the insurer can make. If your existing insurer is refusing to renew your policy or has sharply raised your premium, that is a different problem covered in our companion guide on renewal denial and premium-hike disputes.

What you can do this weekend

Friday evening

Find your existing policy document and read the section on portability and renewal. Note two dates: your renewal due date, and the last date by which a porting request had to be made. The exact porting window is set out in IRDAI regulations and restated in your policy document. Write both dates down and count how many days you have left.

Open your email and gather every message about the port: your original porting proposal to the new insurer, any acknowledgement, and the rejection or last reply you received. If the rejection came by phone, write down what was said, with the date and the name of the person. You want the rejection or delay documented in writing, so reply by email asking the insurer to confirm its position in writing.

Saturday

Decide your safety net first. If renewal is close and the port is not confirmed, the safe move is to renew your existing policy with your current insurer so there is no break in cover. This is the single most important protection for your waiting periods. Renewing the old policy does not block you from porting at the next cycle.

Now work out where the port failed. There are two common points of failure. Either the new insurer declined or delayed underwriting, or your old insurer did not share your data on the regulator's portability system in time. Read your emails carefully to see which insurer is the bottleneck. Often each blames the other.

Draft a short, factual grievance to both insurers. State your policy number, the porting reference, the dates of your requests and reminders, and the renewal date you are racing against. Ask for a written decision or for the data transfer to be completed at once.

Sunday

Assemble your evidence bundle in date order: proposal, acknowledgements, reminders, rejection, and your policy document showing the porting clause. Number each document so you can refer to it cleanly in any complaint.

Prepare your IRDAI complaint in draft using the template in this guide, ready to lodge on the Bima Bharosa portal on Monday if the insurers do not act. For background on how that portal works, see our walkthrough of the Bima Bharosa health insurance complaint process.

Finally, if your renewal date is within a few days, do not gamble. Renew the old policy now and keep the receipt. You can pursue the port for the next year with a longer runway.

Documents and evidence checklist

Step-by-step action plan

Step 1 — Confirm your two deadlines

Open your policy document and locate the renewal due date and the porting application window. IRDAI regulations require a porting request to be made a set number of days before the existing policy's renewal, and the exact figure for your policy is in the document and on the regulator's portal. Confirm whether your original port request was inside that window. If it was, you have a strong position; if it was late, your priority shifts to simply renewing on time.

Step 2 — Pin down where the port failed

Portability involves two insurers and a regulator-run data exchange. Identify the bottleneck. The new insurer underwrites your proposal and accepts or declines it. The old insurer must furnish your policy and claims history through the regulator's portability data system within the prescribed time. Read every email to see who has not done their part. Note that an insurer's decision to decline a port on underwriting grounds is allowed, but it must be communicated to you, not left in silence.

Step 3 — Protect continuity by renewing the old policy if renewal is near

This is the step most people skip and later regret. If the renewal date is approaching and the port is not confirmed, renew the existing policy with the current insurer. A continuous policy keeps your waiting-period credit intact. A lapse, even a short one, can reset waiting periods and leave you uninsured during the gap. You can port at the next renewal with more time. Keep the renewal payment receipt as proof of continuity.

Step 4 — Send a written grievance to both insurers

Email the grievance redressal officer of each insurer. State your policy number, the porting reference, the dates of your proposal and reminders, and the renewal deadline. Ask the new insurer for a written decision and reasons. Ask the old insurer to complete the data transfer at once. Request a grievance acknowledgement and a ticket number. Keep your tone factual and attach your dated evidence bundle.

Step 5 — Escalate to IRDAI through Bima Bharosa

If an insurer does not respond within the time stated in its policy documents, or the reply does not resolve the problem, lodge a complaint on the IRDAI Bima Bharosa grievance portal. Name both insurers, attach your proposal, reminders, rejection, and policy clause, and describe the timeline plainly. The portal forwards your complaint to the insurers and tracks it. For a detailed walkthrough see our guide to filing a Bima Bharosa health insurance complaint.

Step 6 — Approach the Insurance Ombudsman if still unresolved

If the insurer's final response does not satisfy you, or you get no proper reply within the response window, you can take the dispute to the Insurance Ombudsman for your area. The Ombudsman handles personal-lines disputes such as porting and claims free of cost. File within the time limit the Ombudsman scheme allows after the insurer's final reply, and attach the same evidence bundle.

Step 7 — Consider a consumer commission for deficiency of service

If the failure caused you real loss, for example a lapse in cover or a denied claim during the gap, you can file before a consumer commission alleging deficiency of service. This is a slower route, so keep it as a backstop while you pursue the insurer grievance, IRDAI, and the Ombudsman first. For how that forum works in insurance matters, see our guide on taking a health insurer to consumer court.

Escalation ladder

Copy-paste complaint template

Replace the text in square brackets with your own details before sending.

When RTI can help

The Right to Information Act, 2005 applies to public authorities. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is a statutory public authority, and a public-sector insurer is a public authority for its own records. RTI can support a portability dispute in these specific ways:

• Understanding the procedure and timelines: You can file an RTI with the CPIO of IRDAI asking for the published procedure, circulars and time limits governing health insurance portability and the regulator's portability data system, so you know exactly what each insurer was obliged to do and when.
• Tracking your IRDAI complaint: If you lodged a Bima Bharosa complaint and feel it was not handled properly, RTI can be used to ask how your specific grievance was processed, what was communicated to the insurers, and on what date.
• Your own records with a public-sector insurer: If your old or new insurer is a public-sector general insurer, you can seek copies of file notings and the status of your porting request relating to your own policy.

To file an RTI online with a central public authority, see our step-by-step RTI filing guide. If your RTI is ignored or refused, our guide on filing a first appeal under Section 19 and the broader first and second appeal guide explain the next steps. For complaints against government bodies, CPGRAMS combined with RTI can also help. For deeper strategy, The RTI Playbook covers using RTI alongside regulatory complaints.

When RTI will not help

RTI has clear limits in this dispute:

• RTI cannot force a port: RTI is an information tool, not a way to compel an insurer to accept your proposal. Only the insurer's decision, the IRDAI grievance route, the Ombudsman, or a consumer commission can address the substance.
• A private insurer's internal records are out of reach: Most health insurers are private companies. RTI does not apply to their internal files, underwriting notes, or correspondence. Use the insurer grievance process and Bima Bharosa instead.
• It is not the fastest route: The RTI response window is longer than the insurer grievance and Bima Bharosa timelines, so when your renewal date is days away, RTI is a follow-up tool, not your first move. Renew the old policy and complain to the insurer and IRDAI first.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Letting the old policy lapse while porting is pending: This is the most damaging error. A break in cover can reset your waiting periods. Always renew the existing policy if the port is not confirmed in time.
• Starting the port too late: Applying just before renewal leaves no room for underwriting or for fixing a delay. Begin the porting process well in advance so you have a fallback.
• Accepting a phone rejection without written proof: Always ask the insurer to confirm a rejection and its reasons in writing. A verbal refusal is hard to escalate.
• Not identifying which insurer caused the delay: Porting fails at the new insurer's underwriting or the old insurer's data transfer. Name the right party in your grievance instead of complaining vaguely to both.
• Skipping the insurer grievance step: IRDAI and the Ombudsman expect you to give the insurer a chance first. Send the written grievance and keep the acknowledgement before escalating.
• Assuming portability erases pre-existing-disease waiting periods: Porting carries over the waiting periods already served, it does not waive them. If your concern is a pre-existing-disease claim, see our guide on pre-existing disease claim denials.
• Ignoring related claim problems: If a claim was also delayed or partly cut during this period, do not let it slide. Our guides on claim delays beyond 30 days and consumables deducted from a claim cover those situations.