No cashless facility for Bajaj Allianz policyholders in North India from September: AHPI

Cashless treatment

The Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI), a representative body of hospitals and healthcare institutions, has advised its member hospitals in North India to withdraw cashless treatment facilities for policyholders of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance starting September 1, 2025.

According to AHPI, the decision follows repeated complaints by member hospitals that the insurer refused to revise reimbursement rates in line with rising medical costs, and instead pressured healthcare providers to cut tariffs agreed upon years ago under now-expired contracts. Hospitals have also alleged unilateral deductions, delays in payments and excessive time taken for pre-authorization and pre-discharge approvals, which they claim have further strained operations.

Bhaskar Nerurkar, Head- Health Administration Team, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said “We are committed to resolving these issues amicably and have scheduled a meeting with AHPI representatives this Thursday to discuss and address all their concerns. Our goal is to ensure that our customers continue to receive seamless access to quality healthcare services without any disruption."

Further, a similar notice has been served to Care Health Insurance on 22nd August 2025, with a request for their response by 31st August 2025. "Failing this, our member hospitals will be constrained to discontinue cashless services to Care Health Insurance beneficiaries as well," stated AHPI in the press release.

Responding to the development, Manish Dodeja, Chief Operating Officer at Care Health Insurance has cited lack of details in its communication. “We are surprised to see this reportage as we are in receipt of a mail from AHPI only today (Aug 22) evening. The said communication is generic and does not carry any details such as names of affected providers, tariff or claim deduction challenges, etc. We have had a sustained, progressive association with AHPI, and even today connected with the forum to get specific information in this regard. However, they were unable to provide any specific details.”

AHPI said it has consistently proposed that tariffs be reviewed every two years in line with medical inflation, to ensure hospitals can sustain operations without compromising standards of treatment.

The Director General at AHPI, Dr Girdhar Gyani said hospitals should not be asked to accept outdated rates. “In India, medical inflation consistently hovers around 7–8% per annum, driven by increases in people costs, higher prices of medicines, consumables, utilities, and other overheads. While we continuously strive to improve efficiency and control costs, continuing at outdated rates—let alone lowering them—is unsustainable and risks compromising patient care, something AHPI and its members will not accept,” Dr Gyani said.

For now, AHPI said member hospitals shall continue to provide treatment to patients at self-pay rates, who can seek reimbursement from their insurer on post basis.

Manish Dodeja added, “We have also reached out to hospitals (members of AHPI) who haven’t mentioned any challenges with our services. We are confident of amicably resolving any issues with the said forum, provided our customers’ interests remain the sole objective for any productive outcome.”