Pet Health Insurance

[neos4life]

Do you recommend having it, if so who etc

Any advice appreciated.

[Dogsfevr]

research carefully.Many have so many clauses either breed specific or dont cover certain things that it can be a waste of money

[cavNrott]

I have recently cancelled my policy with AFS PetMed. Their list of general exclusions and an additional list of breed specific exclusions made the policy non viable. I wouldn't recommend them at all.

[birgulparis]

Hi there,

I have insurance for my french bulldog with petcover.

I went with them because you are insured for hereditary problems aswell- and at times she has trouble breathing and i just feel at ease knowing if I needed an emergency op for anything that im covered.

There not too expensive I pay $345 for a year- not much for peace of mind.

Why are you hesitant to get insurance?

If your not sure look up online what is covered- and with petcover you can do like a quote on what you would pay.

Hope im making sense- good luck.

[cavNrott]

Hi there,

I have insurance for my french bulldog with petcover.

I went with them because you are insured for hereditary problems aswell- and at times she has trouble breathing and i just feel at ease knowing if I needed an emergency op for anything that im covered.

There not too expensive I pay $345 for a year- not much for peace of mind.

Why are you hesitant to get insurance?

If your not sure look up online what is covered- and with petcover you can do like a quote on what you would pay.

Hope im making sense- good luck.

You should have a look at clause 7 in the list of exclusions on the Petcover insurance policy. It states that they DO NOT pay for hereditary conditions.

[birgulparis]

You should have a look at clause 7 in the list of exclusions on the Petcover insurance policy. It states that they DO NOT pay for hereditary conditions.

I'll look through all my paper work now - but the lady I dealt with clearly stated that it was included.

Ill find out and get back to you.

[neos4life]

I guess i'm hesitant because I've heard many mixed reports.

My SIL raves about it - she is with petcover and has top cover for her bordeax.

I never had it previously, but as i have 2 pups coming very shortly am contemplating it just in case

[birgulparis]

Im back

this is what I found

11. My pet's breed is known to suffer certain illnesses and conditions. Are these covered?

Certain breeds of cats and dogs suffer from a high incidence of particular illnesses, and most pet insurers find that they cannot offer cover for them. Petcover does not include cover if your pet's breed is commonly known to suffer from Cardiovascular diseases, Ocular Diseases or Neurological Diseases, or the conditions of Hemophilia, Spina Bifida, Wobblers or Swimmer Puppies. You should research your breed's history to discover which of these illnesses and conditions may not be covered.

Before I became a member I asked if the pallete(however its spelt) was covered and they said YES- Just what is mentioned isnt covered if its known through your breed.

Petcover is good- but if unsure just ask as many questions as you can.

Again good luck.

Edited October 19, 2006 by birgulparis

[jaybeece]

research carefully.Many have so many clauses either breed specific or dont cover certain things that it can be a waste of money

This is very important. It means they don't need to cover anything they believe is caused by genetics which to me feels like a sneaky way of getting out of covering for a large variety of illnesses. Nearly every company I looked into would not cover my dog for hip dysplacia, which is one of the biggest reasons I wanted to get insurance.

I'm with PetPlan for the dog and cats and they give a 10% discount for 3 or more animals. They will cover for any accident/illness up the policy amount (regardless of genetic issues) and so far have been really nice to deal with over the phone. I haven't made a claim though so can't comment on that side of things.

[neos4life]

Thanks everyone.....I might phone them and ask lots of questions!!!!

[panda]

I took up a cover with Petplan on May 12th this year. I'm in the 2nd process of making a complaint at the moment. I was advised by the Insurance Ombudsman Service to contact Petplan insurer regarding an unresolved matter with Pet Plan Insurance. . I believe that Pet Plan is being unfair and hasn’t looked in to this thoroughly from the beginning. The team leader of Petplan, who did not even speak to my vet, declined the claim. I sent a letter requesting to reconsider my claim to the director of Pet Plan. Five weeks after I sent the letter, I still didn’t hear a word from Pet Plan. I decided to call the director of Petplan, and finally I got hold of him. I told him briefly on the phone about my letter to him, he didn’t seem to recall much, but he did say that someone did mention something like that to him. At the time, I felt that he hadn’t even read my letter. He said that they have a vet nurse there and he will ask her to contact my vet as soon as possible. Of course a vet nurse employed by Petplan will be biased toward a favourable outcome for the insurance company.

On the 16th Oct, I received a letter from the director of Petplan, dated 12-Oct-06 stating; “I therefore conclude with my staff members, that they correctly determined your claim”. In other words, he does not agree with my complaint.

I just sent another letter off to Farmer's Mutual Insurance explaining the whole situation about my dog's condition and Petplan declined the claim. If they come back no good, I'm going to take it to the Insurance Ombudsman.

[cavNrott]

Im back

this is what I found

11. My pet's breed is known to suffer certain illnesses and conditions. Are these covered?

Certain breeds of cats and dogs suffer from a high incidence of particular illnesses, and most pet insurers find that they cannot offer cover for them. Petcover does not include cover if your pet's breed is commonly known to suffer from Cardiovascular diseases, Ocular Diseases or Neurological Diseases, or the conditions of Hemophilia, Spina Bifida, Wobblers or Swimmer Puppies. You should research your breed's history to discover which of these illnesses and conditions may not be covered.

Before I became a member I asked if the pallete(however its spelt) was covered and they said YES- Just what is mentioned isnt covered if its known through your breed.

Petcover is good- but if unsure just ask as many questions as you can.

Again good luck.

You need to read what is written in the policy rather than what someone said to you. They will not be held liable for what someone told you.

Go to their website and have a look at clause 7 under the 'What we will not pay for' and you will see that congnital/hereditary problems are not covered and they won't pay out if there is a claim.

[wagsalot]

My personal opinion - I would be opening a bank account with ING (no bank fees) or somehwere similar and putting away a certain amount a week or month towards any vet bill emergencies.

I just think its a more reliable option.

[panda]

Not a happy client with Petplan here

First of all, I agree with cavNrott. You have to read everything carefully. People who answer the phone don't see it the same way as the insurance company, they can give you the opposite information to the policy. A lot of times are misleading. Here are my experience with Petplan, and still going further.

The claim I made which was denied by the Claims Team Leader. When I called to speak to her about it, she told me to contact the director of Petplan to reconsider the claim after I explained to her circumstances. As she has already denied the claim, she told me that she is unable to reverse the decision.

After I made the claim, she contacted my vet’s practice. Unfortunately, she did not speak to my vet directly, which led to a misunderstanding of my dog’s condition. The assistant only read out the basic case notes to her over the phone. I contacted my vet, Sally, and she confirmed that Petplan had not contacted her directly. The misunderstanding occurred because the claim team leader thought my dog; Panda had had the clinical signs or illness since we owned him. He has had a mark on the roof of his mouth since he was a puppy and it was very small. . I can’t remember exactly when I saw the red mark on his soft palate. All I knew was when he was still a puppy. He could have been around 3 months then because I used to brush his teeth when he was a puppy, and I saw a tiny red mark, but I thought it was a birth mark, and didn’t think anything of it, plus the vets never said anything about it when we took him in for vaccinations, check ups and desexing. He’s about 19 months old now. He never had any signs of illness or abnormal behaviour due to this until the 11th July 2006, I noticed that he had trouble swallowing his food and gagging like he was feeling uncomfortable inside his mouth. We love Panda with all our hearts. There’s no way that if we knew something was wrong with him and we would ever let him suffer for several months and take the risk of something worse could have happened before seeking advice.

However, on 11th July, I called the vet to tell her that Panda had started gagging and was having problems swallowing his food. I looked into panda’s mouth, and saw the mark had increased in size. I also ran the tip of my finger and felt the mass had risen up. He had the biopsy on July 13th and the result came back as being non-cancerous. It looks more like exuberant granulation tissue.

As Panda had not shown any “clinical signs” or "Illness" prior to joining Petplan, I wouldn't think this would be under Petplan Policy.

On Pet Plan booklet stated:

Definitions:

Clinical Signs means changes in the pet's normal healthy state, it's body function or behaviour

Illness Signs means sickness, disease and any changes to the pet's normal healthy state, including mental and emotional disorders

Section 1. “What we will not pay”

Item 2. Costs resulting from an injury or illness first occurring or showing clinical signs before your pet’s cover started.

Item 4. Costs resulting from an illness which is the same as an illness in any part of your pet's body that first showed clinical signs before or within 21 days of your pets cover starting.

In Panda’s case, it was NOT an injury or illness first occurring before the cover. PANDA DID NOT HAVE ANY ILLNESSES RELATED TO THIS SOFT PALATE BEFORE THE COVER.

I have spoken to a few girls at Petplan and explained the circumstances and to clarify the meaning of “Clinical Signs” and "Illness" and they both agreed that Panda should be covered in this case, because he had not shown any sign of illness before joining Petplan. I have also read the booklet thoroughly, and I also asked the vet about the meaning of “Clinical Signs.” She explained that clinical signs means a change of behaviour or showing sings of illness. Neither of these things happened to Panda before I took up the Petplan policy.

Well, as I mentioned above, the director of Petplan knocked us back again.

Edited October 20, 2006 by panda

[Ashka]

I'm with wagsalot, a fee free bank account for the dog, interest is a plus if you can get it.

An auto payment into it each payday, set up with the bank, is the easy way and the dollars add up quickly.

In 35+ years of owning dogs I've only ever had one year that I spent more than a yearly insurance premium would have cost. Most years the actual cost hasn't come anywhere near.

Best

[neos4life]

I think I'm going to go along the lines of a seperate bank a/c and take my chances without insurance.

I read the policies of 2 different companies and then phoned each with questions pertaining to their

policies. Very vague answers from both representatives. Though I must say that for accident and emergency it sounds ok.

OMG I'm Sooooooo confused lol

[panda]

I think I'm going to go along the lines of a seperate bank a/c and take my chances without insurance.

I read the policies of 2 different companies and then phoned each with questions pertaining to their

policies. Very vague answers from both representatives. Though I must say that for accident and emergency it sounds ok.

OMG I'm Sooooooo confused lol

The representitives will give you a better picture overall including mislead the terms and conditions. When it comes you already have a claim, they will tell you that they don't know anything, and it's not up to them to make a decision.

[neos4life]

Ashka I too have never had to spend excess amounts of money in the 20 odd years that i

have had pets. What made me sit up and think about this was when i lost my Neo

about 6 weeks ago. At first the vet and I discussed snake bite as a possibility for his sudden

illness (wasn't snake bite but that's another story). She mentioned in that conversation that

to treat him with anti-venom for a dog his size would be between $3000 - $5000 - with no guarantees.

For something that can amount to the thousands so quickly - it makes you

wonder if the insurance is warranted in these circumstances???

[neos4life]

I really appreciate you sharing your story Panda. Yours isn't the only outcome like this that i've heard of.

All too often you hear how these companies are quick to take your money, but its like pullin hens teeth to get anything back

[jaybeece]

She mentioned in that conversation that

to treat him with anti-venom for a dog his size would be between $3000 - $5000 - with no guarantees.

For something that can amount to the thousands so quickly - it makes you

wonder if the insurance is warranted in these circumstances???

This is the same reason I have for taking out insurance. HD treatments ain't cheap and I never want to be in the position where I have to consider putting my boy to sleep because I can't afford to treat him if he were to develop it. Same with the cats.

panda - so sorry to hear about your ordeal. I hope you have some luck taking this further and it's made me look at Petplan in a new light! They do seem like every other insurance company out there though, as neos4life said it's like pulling teeth. It's just a lot more unpleasant when you're dealing with a loved family member.