The TPA denied cashless at the hospital. That is not the end of your claim.

A cashless denial is a preliminary, administrative decision — not a repudiation of the claim. You retain the right to reimbursement, and the TPA's reasoning can be contested with the insurer's grievance cell. IRDAI has directed insurers to speed up cashless authorisation and expand cashless to every hospital, so unjustified or slow cashless denials are themselves grievable. IRDAI's 2024 master circulars put numbers on this. The insurer must decide a cashless request within one hour of receiving it and give the final discharge authorisation within three hours of the hospital's request, and any extra charge the hospital levies for a delay beyond those three hours is the insurer's to bear. A reimbursement claim must be settled within fifteen days of submission, and a late payment carries interest at the bank rate plus 2 per cent that the insurer must add on its own. No claim may be repudiated without the approval of the insurer's Claims Review Committee, and a rejection must set out the specific policy terms it relies on.