Smit

Product @ Angel One | Passionate about Tech, Finance & everything in between

[Anand Kr Shaw @AnandShawKr]

₹50,000 premium. ₹15 lakh coverage. ₹0 peace of mind.

India's health insurance system is broken. And no one's fixing it.

Let me tell you what happened to my family last week.

My wife needed gallbladder surgery. We have HDFC Optima Secure with @HDFCERGOGIC . We've paid premiums for years. We did everything right - got cashless approval, chose a network hospital (@ManipalHealth Whitefield), followed every process.

On 26th Dec, I received the settlement letter:

"Amount to be paid by insured: ₹0"

Surgery happened. It went well. She was recovering. We were ready to go home.

The hospital refused to let us leave.

Despite holding a valid insurance document that said we owe NOTHING, they wouldn't discharge a recovering patient. My wife sat in that room - tired, in pain, wanting to go home - while I begged at the billing counter.

We were only "allowed" to leave after I blocked ₹X,XX,XXX on my credit card.

A patient. Held hostage. In a hospital. In India. In 2025.

Then on 30th Dec, magically, a new settlement letter appeared:

"Amount to be paid by insured: ₹X,XX,XXX"

Same surgery. Same bills. Same everything. But now I suddenly owe lakhs.

Here's how the trick works:

The hospital bills ₹5.8L. The insurance company says "we have an MOU with the hospital, agreed package rate is ₹1.9L." So they settle for ₹1.9L.

The remaining ₹3.9L? "Patient to pay."

But wait - the MOU is between the hospital and insurance company. The "agreed package rate" is THEIR agreement. Why is the patient paying the difference for a deal they negotiated?

The letter was updated AFTER we left. The hospital and insurance company sorted it out between themselves. The patient? Just a pawn in the middle.

Both letters say: "No amount to be collected from insured"

Their own words. Their own document. Exposed for what it is - meaningless paper.

This is not a one-off incident. This is the system working exactly as designed:

→ Insurance companies collect premiums for years, then find ways to deny or reduce claims → Hospitals inflate bills knowing insurance will negotiate down, and patients will pay the difference → Patients are trapped between the two - too exhausted to fight, too scared to refuse → IRDAI exists but is reactive, not preventive - they'll act after you file a complaint, not before you're harassed
Where is the protection for patients?
Where are the regulations that say a hospital CANNOT hold a patient hostage for payment disputes?
Where is the accountability when an insurance company issues two contradictory letters and expects the customer to just figure it out?

We pay GST on premiums. We pay taxes. We fund the regulators. And when we need help, we're left standing at a billing counter, blocking credit cards to take our family home.

I've filed a complaint with @IRDAI_official. I have every document. I'll fight this.

This is not customer service failure. This is systemic exploitation.

@HDFCERGO - honor your own document. Claim: RC-HS25-15349896_1 Policy: 2856205638548200

@IRDAI_official - regulate before patients are harassed, not after.

@JPNadda - health insurance is not a luxury product. Millions of Indians depend on it. The current system is failing them.

@raghav_chadha Need your help to raise this insurance scam in parliament.

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@sidborderwala Crazy stuff, congratulations 🙌

[Smit @ladsmit17]

what was once known for innovation is now rebranding glassmorphism as liquid glass.
meanwhile, across the bay everyone’s racing to put ai everywhere—yet apple barely fixed last year’s ai features, let alone debut something new.
is this the real signal of decline?

[Smit @ladsmit17]

Is Shamani x Mallya sponsored? Feels like every other content I see is screaming, watch this😂

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@RBI any portal where we can share phone number and bank and description for which they called? To verify and see if this was true/scam? This further could be amplified in live feed on web / social media.

[Smit @ladsmit17]

looking at companies declaring hefty dividends and not giving employees hike/bonus, signals all more reason to be invested in market.

your take-home may not increase as much as dividends and market value

[Smit @ladsmit17]

a simple and most effective gen ai application in app would be help user identify need, navigate and help use the app.

another one, simplify post transaction and support journey

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@Swiggy @swiggydineout could you introduce sort by avg rating?

[Smit @ladsmit17]

The browser scene today is confusing:
Chrome has all extension support but no sidebar.
Opera has a perfect sidebar & free VPN but low extension support.
Brave has extensions & privacy but paid VPN & partial sidebar.
Edge hits the sweet spot without a VPN.

[Smit @ladsmit17]

Tried out some fancy pan-asian stuff in Ahmedabad

10/10 Vibe
8/10 Food

📍Sizzling Shihai

[Smit @ladsmit17]

DMart should buy out Dunzo/Zepto/Instamart and leverage its scale

[Smit @ladsmit17]

One question,
Dark stores = Kirana store, right?

For economy growth of dark stores is better or kirana store?

Both kirana and q-comm have most things similar, diff is the discount, right?

DMart provides better discounts then q-comm and remains profitable, then why q-comm hype?

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@SonyLIV @SonyLIVHelps why am I seeing ads when I am on premium plan?

I was promised no ads on recorded shows when I purchased the plan.

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@sidborderwala What are you building? Sure it is interesting enough to allow us to contribute 🙈

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@sidborderwala Would say lives up to reviews and deserves a try

[Smit @ladsmit17]

Tried out hyped sourdough pizza place, would say fine by Ahmedabad standard

📍Pizzaiiolo, SBR, Ahmedabad

[Smit @ladsmit17]

Fairly good Mexican and Lebanese food in Hyderabad

📍Hummus House, Banjara Hills

[Smit @ladsmit17]

@MiyaBhaiLive @chandrikadeb7 iPhone 11 Pro

[Smit @ladsmit17]

One of finest place for Karnataka style dosas in Hyderabad

📍Swach Restaurant, Madhapur