New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- When 60-year-old Lakhwinder S. Lamba finally got his health insurer to pay for his heart surgery after a year-long battle, he thought the worst was over. Then came another shock-his insurer refused to renew his policy altogether.

"I had undergone a precautionary heart scan in 2006. Nothing significant came up in the report and no treatment ever happened. I happened to mention it to the treating doctor when I got hospitalised in May 2023 for an open heart surgery. The insurer rejected my claim [for the surgery] and cancelled the policy saying that I hid a pre-existing disease. But I had no heart ailment when I bought the policy in 2015," said Lamba, who runs an IT hardware and software sales business in New Delhi. (Wh...