Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has asked the insurance companies to establish separate grievance channel to address health insurance complaints from senior citizens. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Mr Mukherjee said IRDA had constituted a committee on Health Insurance for senior citizens under the chairmanship of K S Sastry, former chairman of National Housing Bank. Mr Mukherjee informed the House that the committee has submitted its report to IRDA in 2007. The minister also informed that IRDA has directed insurance companies to allow portability of health policies to enable the policyholders to switch from one insurer to another without losing the past credit of waiting periods for pre-existing disease with the previous insurer. Mr Mukherjee said insurance companies have also been asked to devise a mechanism to reward policy holders for early entry and continued renewals.