Dear Editor,
Reference is made to the letter in the Stabroek Edition of Thursday February 16, 2023” NIS cancelled my claim on the pretext that its time expired”. Please note that according to the (Claims and Payments) Regulations 14:
(1) The prescribed time for claiming benefit shall be-
(d) in the case of funeral benefit, the period of six months from the date of death of the deceased.
(2) A person failing to make a claim for benefit within the prescribed time shall be disqualified from receiving –
(d) in the case of Funeral benefit, the benefit
Please note that the General Manager can authorize the payment of a late claim for a period of six months and up to a year. Kindly be guided by the following information regarding the case in question:-
(i) A perusal of the documents showed that the Insured Person Gabindranauth Latchmin died on 24th August, 2021 and the death certificated was issued 14th July 2022.
(ii) The claimant first visited the office On January 12, 2023 to submit the claim for funeral benefits but did not have in her possession all the required documents. The claim was stamped, “checked and queried” stamp and was returned to the claimant.
(iii) The Claimant subsequently returned with all the required documents on January 23, 2023 and the claim was received.
Editor, due to the claim being late in excess of one year which is outside the scope of the General Manager, it was disqualified. The National Insurance Scheme empa-thizes with the claimant and do regret that we are unable to offer any further assistance due to the law.
Sincerely,
Dianne Lewis Baxter
Public Relations Officer