Policybazaar unveiled the Health Claims Experience (HCX) Index, India’s first benchmark designed to measure how customers experience the health insurance claims journey. The index has been launched as part of the second edition of its nationwide consumer study, Is India Happy with Health Insurance Claims? 2.0.
While claim settlement ratios remain the industry’s most widely tracked metric, there has been no standard framework to evaluate the actual customer experience during claims. The HCX Index seeks to bridge this gap by measuring both operational efficiency and customer sentiment across the claims journey.
The study surveyed 2,228 Indians across metros and Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities who underwent hospitalisation for themselves or their loved ones and filed a health insurance claim between August 2024 and September 2025. The base also includenon-customers across all channels who filed health insurance claims. The inaugural HCX score for India stands at 82.8 out of 100, placing the country’s health insurance claims experience in the ‘moderate’ category.
The study found that cashless claims are driving much of India’s positive claims experience. Seven in ten respondents underwent cashless treatment, with such claims recording an HCX score of 86.7, significantly higher than reimbursement claims at 73.7. Customers cited ease of paperwork, faster approvals and access to network hospitals as key drivers of satisfaction.
Commenting on the findings, Sarbvir Singh, Joint Group CEO, Policybazaar said, “Health insurance ultimately proves its value at the time of a claim. While claim settlement ratios provide an important view of insurer performance, they do not fully capture what customers experience during the claims journey. The HCX Index is an attempt to bring greater transparency and customer-centricity to this aspect of health insurance by creating a common benchmark for measuring claims experience. Regulatory initiatives led by IRDAI in recent years have played a significant role in improving customer outcomes and accelerating the adoption of customer-friendly claims processes. As the industry evolves, the next frontier is not just settling claims, but ensuring customers clearly understand claim decisions and have confidence in the process.”
Based on the findings, the report recommends greater transparency in claim communication, claim-specific rejection explanations, stronger verification at policy purchase, real-time claim tracking, deeper hospital-insurer integration and reduced paperwork to make health insurance claims faster, simpler and more dependable for customers.