If you have a mediclaim policy that gives you the right to demand cashless facilities, then this news might not go down your throat so easily. You will no longer capable of getting these facilities at high-end hospitals such as Apollo, Fortis, Ganga Ram, Max or Medicity in Delhi, the national capital region and the metros of Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

All insurance firms offering mediclaim facilities, which are a cashless health insurance, have stopped direct payment of treatment charges to 150-odd high-end hospitals in Delhi and NCR only from July 1.

If anyone pays a visit to any of these hospitals, then the payment has to be made from one's own pocket regardless of having a valid mediclaim policy with all premiums paid on time.

When claiming the total amount to be reimbursed, there would be no guarantee offered by the insurer that the whole amount will be paid.

At least 18 insurance firms, as well as the four public sector entities, have taken off no less than 150 hospitals in Delhi and NCR from their chosen list for the cashless facility.

This facility will now be obtainable at only 100-odd hospitals, where none of them form the big chains. There has been a comparable axing of hospitals from the catalog in other cities.