Signed a discharge voucher or 'full and final' settlement — can I still dispute the amount?

This page cannot tell you whether a signed voucher ends your right to dispute the amount: that depends on the voucher's exact words and the circumstances in which you signed, and it is a legal question. What you can do is read any voucher before signing, put your disagreement in writing at the time, and keep proof. If you have already signed, write to the insurer now setting out what you dispute and why you signed, and take legal advice before relying on any route.

Look first at what your policy says a payment does. New India's Arogya Sanjeevani wording, for example, says a payment of any benefit is "a full, valid and an effectual discharge towards payment of claim by the Company to the extent of that amount for the particular claim". A separate voucher you are asked to sign may use wider words, so read both.^[1]

"Full and final" is not a casual phrase. Under the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, a complainant who accepts a mediation recommendation writes "stating clearly that he accepts the settlement as full and final". Treat the same words on an insurer's voucher as meaning what they say.^[2]

Before you sign

1. 1

   Read the whole voucher

   Look for "full and final", "in full satisfaction", "no further claim" or similar words, and check the amount against the settlement sheet. See reading the settlement sheet.

2. 2

   Ask whether you must sign it

   Ask the insurer in writing whether the admitted amount will be paid without a full-and-final voucher, and keep the reply.

3. 3

   Put your disagreement in writing

   Before signing, or with the signed voucher, send a dated letter naming the amount you dispute and why, and saying that you are accepting the payment without giving up your complaint. Whether that changes the legal effect of the voucher is not something this page can promise; what it does is record your position at the time.

4. 4

   Keep proof

   A copy of the voucher, your letter and proof of sending. See sending so you can prove it.

If you have already signed

1. 1

   Write to the insurer now

   Set out the deductions you dispute, why, and the circumstances in which you signed — what you were told, by whom, and when.

2. 2

   Make it a complaint

   Address it to the grievance officer. An insurer should resolve a complaint within 14 days, with reasons that refer to the policy terms if it does not accept it.^{[3, 4]}

3. 3

   Know the next route and its limit

   A partial repudiation of a claim is one of the grounds the Insurance Ombudsman can hear, once the insurer has rejected your written complaint, not replied within one month of receiving it, or replied unsatisfactorily. A complaint must be made within one year of the insurer's reply or, if it never replied, of the end of one month after you sent your complaint. Whether the signed voucher affects that complaint depends on your facts.^[2]

4. 4

   Take legal advice

   Especially before choosing between routes, since a signed document may matter differently in each.

Why the written record matters

A complaint to the Insurance Ombudsman must set out "the facts giving rise to the complaint, supported by documents". A dated letter written when you signed is a document; your memory of a conversation at the billing desk is not.^[2]

ClaimAssure is an independent private platform. It is not an insurer, IRDAI, Bima Bharosa or the Insurance Ombudsman, it never files anything on your behalf, and it cannot promise any outcome. What it does is read your documents and show you what they say.

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