Mohali, Oct. 19 -- A consumer commission directed Care Health Insurance to reimburse a Dera Bassi woman Rs.74,000 for hospital treatment and ambulance charges after holding that the insurer wrongly rejected her claim by invoking a 24-month waiting period for spinal disorders despite her account of an accidental fall. The commission also ordered the insurer to pay 6% annual interest on the amount from October 1, 2022, the date of repudiation, and Rs.25,000 as compensation for mental agony and harassment as well as litigation expenses. In its October 12 order, the commission's president, SK Aggarwal, and member Paramjeet Kaur partly allowed the complaint filed by Sneh Lata, wife of Prem Prakash, who resides in Patiala Complex, Dera Bassi. According to the complaint, she developed severe pain after falling from her bed on September 28, 2022, and was taken by ambulance to Alchemist Hospital. An MRI of her lumbosacral spine showed disc-related abnormalities. The hospital sought cashless treatment authorisation, which the insurer initially approved for Rs.33,000 before withdrawing it on the ground that spinal disorders carried a 24-month waiting period. The commission noted that the policy itself exempted spinal conditions arising from accidents from the waiting-period restriction. It said the insurer had not established that Lata's hospitalisation was unrelated to her fall. The commission held that the rejection by the insurer, after initially approving cashless treatment, amounted to deficiency in service....