Interesting Correspondence On Medical Insurance Premium

UNION BANK RETIRED EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION

(Registered under Trade Union Act, 1926 : Registration No.G-6201)
(Affiliated to All India Bank Retirees' Federation
through All India Union Bank Retirees' Federation)
403, Sadhana Down Town, Near Punjab National Bank,
Jubilee Chowk, Rajkot - 360 001 (Gujarat).  Phone: 0-94272-07021

  E-mail < ubiretirees@gmail.com > < rajkot@ubiretirees.in >  

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Date: 15th October,'16

To

All the regular recipients of our Association's e-mails,

Friends,

Circular by Bank of Baroda regarding Renewal

of Medical Insurance by Retired Employees

   We forward herewith the above referred Circular. As stated therein -

    (1) Bank of Baroda has decided to grant Rs.3,000/- subsidy to all retired employees for paying the premium

    (2) A Loan up to Rs.20,000/- will be also allowed, if required by the retirees. On further inquiry in the matter, it is understood that the interest rate of the particular Loan Scheme is Rs.9.60%. 

    (3) Regarding switching over from Option  I to II or vice versa next year, Bank of Baroda has got clarified the matter from United India Insurance Company, according to which change of option will not be allowed.

    Bank of Baroda had granted subsidy of Rs.3,000/- to each pensioner for this purpose last year also. The Bank is incurring net loss for last two years. Inspite of that the management is showing good gesture to grant subsidy TO ALL and Loan to needy pensioners for two consecutive years.

   

    Our Union Bank of India is a profit making Bank. The retirees of to-day had devoted their whole lives to run and uplift the Bank. Our All India Union Bank Retirees' Federation requested in writing to the Bank's Chairman & Managing Director to grant some subsidy or atleast Loan for the purpose. But there is no response from the management.

    A request was also made to our Bank to disburse pension of this month on 24th October,'16, so as to facilitate the pensioners to allow debit of the premium. What the Bank replied? The salary of the working employees is to be disbursed on 24th October,'16 so that they can celebrate Diwali festivals with pleasure. But since the Salary Section at the Central Office will be very busy in disbursing salary of the serving employees on that date,  it will not be possible for them to disburse Pension on 24th October,'16. Those pensioners who have no balance in their Savings Account should borrow money from some private sources and credit it to their Savings Account so as to debit their premium or discontinue the insurance cover. If we peep in to monetary affairs of our members, the problem of money crises is not only with retired sub staff and family pensioners. Several old retired Clerical and Officers are also facing similar difficulties. If the Salary Section is to remain busy for disbursement of salary on 24th October, can't they disburse the pension on 23rd or 22nd ? Anyhow, we are running our Bank Retirees' Organizations under such a situation. 

     

Yours sincerely,

B.G.Raithatha,

General Secretary

                                                              ALL INDIA UNION BANK PENSIONERS AND RETIREES FEDERATION

(Affiliated to All India Bank Pensioners & Retirees Confederation – AIBPARC)

163/4, Kutchery Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 600004

E mail i.d: aiubparf@gmail.com/ ubioatnngr@gmail.com/ suryanarayananram@gmail.com

_________________________________________________________________________

Com. P.B. Thomas         Com. Nitin Desai    Com. S. Bagchi        Com. N. Govindarajulu Chairman                                  President        Working President       General Secretary Thiruvananthapuram             Ahmedabad             Kolkata                          Chennai

M: 09447177456                 M: 097277 60641       M: 0983081586           M: 09841089111                                                             

                                                             

Ref. No. GS:131/2016                               15th October, 2016

Shri R.R. Mohanty,

General Manager (HR),

Union Bank of India,

Central Office,

239, Vidhan Bhavan Marg,

Nariman Point, Mumbai – 400 021

Dear Sir,

Sub: Medical Insurance Scheme for Retirees – Staff Circular No. 6467 dated 10/10/2016

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We have received your Staff Circular No. 6467 dated 10/10/2016 regarding renewal of Medical Insurance Policy for Retirees for the year 2016-17 on 14/10/2016. We have been advised the following points:

• The existing policy will expire on 31.10.2016
• The premium on the policy will have to be remitted in October, 2016
• The Retirees have the option for continuing the existing policy or to opt for a policy with domiciliary hospitalization/domiciliary treat up to the extent of 10% of the Insurance Cover i.e. Rs.40000/- for Retired Officers and Rs.30000/- for Retired Award Staff members within the overall cover of Rs.4.00 lacs and Rs.3.00 lacs respectively.
• The Retiree is also permitted to opt out of the scheme by submitting Annexure III to the said Staff Circular
• The last date for submission of the option form is 22/10/2016
• The option form should be mailed to mediclaim.retirees@unionbankofindia.com
• The renewal premium will be debited to the Pensioner’s account on 24/10/2016

You will agree with us that the time allowed to the Retirees to take a decision is very limited and in view of the substantial increase in the premium amount, say from Rs.7000/- to Rs.21000/-, many Pensioners have to make arrangements for providing sufficient funds in their

accounts so that the premium amount is paid to the debit of their account. In respect of Retirees of yesteryears, the premium amount would be far in excess of the Pension being received by them. They may, therefore, have to borrow and remit the amount in their account. Not granting sufficient time to the Senior Citizens of the Banking industry shows the scant regard the Bank Managements have for the Retirees. We, therefore, request you to kindly permit the Retirees sufficient time say at least 30 days to pay the premium amount. The last date for submission of the option form may also be extended at least up to 27/10/2016.

Based on the communication received on 10/10/2016, we had advised our members to submit Option I or Option II as the case may be and a specimen of the draft had been sent to the members. We gather that some of our members have already sent the Option Form by mail to the designated mail i.d. We are sure such Option Forms will be accepted as a valid one. Please confirm.

While on the subject, we gather that Staff Circular No. 6467 dated 10/10/2016 has been mailed to those with e mail i.d. facility. We may inform you that many Retirees, especially in the age group of 70 +, residing in remote villages, do not have internet facility. Such Retirees may not have received Staff Circular cited above electronically and as a result, they may be deprived of taking an informed decision in the matter. Since details of mobile phones of all the Retirees are available with the Management, we suggest that SMS may be sent to them drawing their attention about Staff Circular No. 6467 dated 10/10/2016 and to advise them to contact their Pension Paying branch. This will enable every Retiree to take a suitable decision. Such Retirees may also be permitted to submit the Option Form to their Pension Paying branch, who in turn, can send the mail to the designed i.d. This procedure has been adopted by other Public Sector Banks.

To put in nut shell our requests are:

• Extend the last date for submission of option up to 27/10/2016
• Grant time for 30 days for payment of premium
• Send SMS to all the Retirees about issuance of Staff Circular NO. 6467 dated 10/10/2016
• Permit the Retirees to submit the Option Form to the Pension Paying branch for onward transmission to the designated mail i.d.
• Accept Option Form devised by our Organisation and submitted by our Members
• Release Pension for October, 2016 by 25/10/2016 so that funds will be available for meeting the Premium payment and also enable the Pensioners to celebrate Diwali festival

Please consider our requests favourably and the Pensioners will be grateful to you.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,                                                                                                     

                               (N. GOVINDRAJULU)

                 GENERAL SECRETARY

UNION BANK RETIRED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION

(Registered under Trade Union Act,, 1926 : Registration No.G-6201)

(Affiliated to All India Union Bank Retirees’ Federation)

-: Office :-

403(A), Sadhna Down Town, Near Punjab National Bank,

Opp. Alfred High School, Jubilee Chowk, RAJKOT – 360 001 (Gujarat).

‘E’ mail : < ubiretirees@gmail.com  > Cell : 0-94272-07021

Ref:Insurance:2016:129 Date : 15th October,’16

To                                                                                          Only by e-mail

All the members of our Association,

Friends,

Group Medical Insurance scheme

(A) Domiciliary treatment expenses

1. From several messages being received through WhatsApp and other media, it is understood that  there is some confusion among the retirees as to whether by paying higher premium the retirees will really get reimbursement of medical expenses incurred for domiciliary treatments (without hospitalization). Hence our Association thinks it proper to express its views as under.

2. If we refer Schedule IV of the 10th Bipartite Settlement, it contains following particulars for reimbursement of medical expenses.

1. Day Care Treatment undertaken in a hospital for less than a day

2. Domiciliary Hospitalization means medical treatment taken at home when condition of the patient is such that he / she is not in a position to be moved to a hospital or the patient takes treatment at home because of non-availability of room in a hospital

3. Domiciliary Treatment: treatment taken for specified diseases which may or may not require hospitalization. (59 diseases are identified for this purpose)

Though apparently all the three i.e. (a), (b) & (c) mentioned above look identical, in reality terms those are different. For (c) i.e. domiciliary treatment hospitalization is not essential.

3. In the 10th BP Settlement, the Indian Banks’ Association had agreed with the United Forum of Bank Unions to take insurance cover for serving and retired employees for hospitalization and also for the treatments specified in 2(a) (b) & (c) above. But the Insurance Company had not agreed to grant reimbursement to the retired employees for the domiciliary treatment (i.e. mentioned in Para 2 (c) with an apprehension that the claims of the elderly people would be much more. The Insurance Company had offered refund of the premium to those who were not willing to continue in the Insurance Scheme because of exclusion of the domiciliary treatment. The stand taken by the Insurance Company was consistent with the law, as any proposal can be accepted partially also and in that case the other party has right to cancel the deal.  

4. Now, when our Insurance Policy is due for renewal, the Insurance Company is agreeing to grant reimbursement of domiciliary treatment expenses even to the retirees provided they pay more premiums.

5. The reimbursement of domiciliary treatment expenses is already being granted to –

1. Employees in service of all the Banks (including their spouses, dependent children and parents or parents in law)
2. Pensioners of State Bank of India

6. On our casual inquires with the (i) Leaders of the serving employees’ / officers’ organizations as well Office Bearers of State Bank of India Pensioners’ Association, it is understood that the system of granting reimbursement of domiciliary expenses is working well. Their claims are being settled. Therefore, there is no reason of any apprehension in our mimfd that our claims would not be settled.

(B) Reimbursement of expenses incurred for dental treatment

8. A similar confusion is persisting for reimbursement of expenses incurred for dental treatment.

9. Please refer the Master Insurance Policy No. 500100 /48 /15/41 /00000522 dated 6th November,’15 issued by the United India Insurance Company for retired employees of our Bank. In Clause No.3.3 thereof certain diseases are specified for which day care treatment is reimbursable provided the treatment is undertaken under General or Local Anesthesia in a hospital / day care centre. Certain diseases include Dental Surgery also.

10. However, in terms of Clause No.4.4 of the same Insurance Policy, expenses incurred for dental treatment / surgery is not reimbursable in the following circumstances.

1. Treatment is taken in a Dental Clinic or
2. The treatment is cosmetic in nature

11. In view of these, the expense incurred merely for clearing the teeth is nor reimbursable, because it is cosmetic in nature. However, if we undergo root canal or tooth implant treatment / surgery, it is reimbursable.

12. To cite specific examples –

1. When I had given an intimation to TPA for my own root canal treatment in a dental clinic, the permission was denied to me.

2. Shri J.P.Shah, a member of our Association – now settled at Baroda had sought permission of TPA for root canal treatment of his two / three teeth in a Multi Specialty Hospital (which had more than 15 beds). The permission was accorded and expenses of around Rs.30,000/- was reimbursed.

13. Therefore, if you want reimbursement of dental surgery from the Insurance Company, please choose any Multi Specialty ora  Corporate Hospital, wherein there are minimum 15 beds; though in fact actual hospitalization is not required for dental treatment.

14. If we go for purchasing any direct Insurance Policy or if we join any other Group Medical Insurance Scheme, dental surgery even in a Hospital having more than 15 beds is not reimbursable. But the IBA’s group medical insurance policy applicable to us is granting this benefit.

15. It is a subjective matter of an individual whether to continue in the renewed insurance policy and that too with or without domiciliary treatment. But the basic idea for issuing this e-circular is to remove misconception, if any, as regards (i) domiciliary treatments and (ii) dental surgeries.

16. This circular is being sent by e-mail to those members whose e-mail IDs. are available with our Association with a request to pass on this message to the members who have no e-mail facility.

 Yours sincerely,

(B.G.Raithatha),

General Secretary

 

            

                         October 10, 2016             

Respected Sir/Madam,

Group Medical Insurance Scheme for  Retirees of the Bank

We are in receipt of the revised premium rates from the United India Insurance Company Ltd.  for renewal of Group Health Insurance  - (Retirees) as below:
The renewal premium for 2016-2017 will be in two options.
Option I: Normal Renewal on As Is Basis (Without Domiciliary cover)

For Retired Officers (Sum Insured of Rs. 4,00,000)       : Rs. 13,935 Plus Service Tax @15% = Rs. 16,025/-

For Retired Award Staff (Sum Insured of Rs. 3,00,000) :  Rs. 10,452 Plus Service Tax @15% = Rs. 12,020/-

Option II: With Domiciliary Expenses Benefits Option (59 diseases as per Employees Policy).

For Retired Officers - Domiciliary Cover of Rs. 40,000 with overall Sum Insured of Rs. 4,00,000.

For Retired Award staff - Domiciliary Cover of Rs. 30,000 with overall Sum Insured of Rs. 3,00,000.

For Retired Officers         : Rs. 17,400 Plus Service Tax @15% = Rs. 20,010/-

For Retired Award Staff   :  Rs. 13,000 Plus Service Tax @15% = Rs. 14,950/-

We are enclosing list of diseases for domiciliary expenses given by the Insurance Co.

Retirees are requested:

• Mail their preference if they wish to opt for Option II (with domiciliary cover) by email to   mediclaim.retirees@unionbankofindia.com     latest by 22.10.2016.  
• In case no intimation is received, it will be presumed that they have opted for the existing insurance policy without domiciliary cover with the revised premium as mentioned in Option I above.  
• Retirees who wish to opt out of the Medical Insurance Scheme shall also inform their decision by email to mediclaim.retirees@unionbankofindia.com                        latest by 22.10.2016, failing which it will be presumed that they wish to continue with the existing Insurance Scheme as per Option I and premium will be deducted from their account accordingly and remitted to UIIC.  
• Those who wish to continue with the above Schemes are requested to keep adequate balance in their authorized account as the insurance premium will be debited to their account on 24.10.2016.
• In case of shortage of funds in the account and if premium could not be remitted to the Insurance company, the Insurance coverage to staff will stand discontinued and the Bank will not be responsible for non availability of benefits /facilities under the above Insurance Policy.
• Please use centralized e mail address only for sending your communication.  Bank will not be responsible for any communication sent to any other e mail ID or  given to pension paying branch other than mails received on mediclaim.retirees@unionbankofindia.com.  Since only a fortnight is left,all retired employees are requested to co-operate with us and ensure completion of the exercise within the set time lines.