Formal licensing of TPAs, however, will have to await the notification of regulations by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda).

New India has selected Paramount Health Care, ICAN Medicare, Sedgwick Cologne Parekh and E-Meditric, while United has empanelled Paramount, ICAN, Sedgwick and Apollo. For starters, the TPAs would be allocated different cities in which they have a sizeable presence and where the insurers have large health policy coverage. They would issue photo identity cards to existing and new Mediclaim policy-holders, monitor and process Mediclaim policies, and conduct investigations, if required, into claims arising from health policies.

The TPAs and insurers have been trying to iron out differences over the functions that the intermediaries can be allowed to perform. The draft regulations on TPAs circulated by Irda last year ran foul of the public sector insurers, since they proposed to allow TPAs to distribute health policies on behalf of the insurance companies.The insurers argued that TPAs should restrict themselves to processing of claims, and not get into functions like marketing insurance products. Irda chairman recently conceded that regulations pertaining to TPAs were getting delayed because the PSUs and TPAs had been unable to agree on certain provisions in the draft, but had hoped that these would be ready by March. TPAs too are hoping to obtain registration once the regulations are through, so that they can begin licensed operations in the new fiscal. However, it remains to be seen if the regulator can bring about a reconciliation of interests and work out a mean acceptable to both.