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Pet Insurance can be one of the most valuable things you can do for your pet in the long term, but looking at the options and picking a policy that suits you can be a daunting task. There is a lot of insurance jargon, fine print, and conditions to read through, which makes trying to get started difficult.
When starting your insurance research, here are some things worth noting:
- Each company markets their policy differently; however, the majority of companies actually have the same underwriter and very similar PD’s.
- As a rule of thumb, the sooner insurance is taken out the more likely you are to have full coverage with no exclusions on your policy due to a lack of pre-existing conditions.
- I haven’t heard of an insurance policy yet that doesn’t have some sort of waiting period that needs to be served before claiming, so bear this in mind before taking out insurance.
- Your pet’s specific circumstances need to be considered when you are deciding what the best insurance fit is. This includes age, breed, and pre-existing conditions (ie has your pet been to the vet for allergies? Gastro-intestinal upset? Limping?
Once you have narrowed down some options, there will be some questions you need to ask yourself when considering the cover, such as:
- What is the yearly coverage allowances on the policys and will it be sufficient? (e.g. $10,000 or $15,000 per policy year)
- What are the applicable excesses, if any? How are these excesses applied? On every claim, or per condition per policy year?
- Are there any restrictions on amount of surgery type you can claim? (e.g. 1 claim per life of policy for foreign body surgery may not be sufficient if you have a chewer!)
- Are there long waiting periods for issues such as cruciate disease that your pet’s breed may be prone to?
- Are there monetary limits to some claimable procedures? (are your pets surgery costs likely to exceed what the policy is willing to cover? Important to consider for some larger breed dogs)
- Is there anything that the policy will not cover, such as parvovirus treatment?
- Is there liability cover in the even that your pet causes harm to another person or pet?
- Does your pet have any pre-existing issues that may be excluded from future cover?
- Considering the breed of your pet, what are common health concerns that you would expect to be covered? Will they be covered?
- Are there breed or age restrictions that may apply to your pet?
- Does the policy allow for specialist treatment, or remedial/alternative treatment such as massage and acupuncture? Are you likely to use these services?
All of these factors differ between each insurance company (as does the cost!) so it is important to consider your potential needs and expectations of insurance prior to picking the cover that best suits you and your pet. Insurance may not be for you at all, so make preparations for unexpected events by creating a savings fund to help offset these costs.
As always, we’re here to help! Talk to us today about a free 30 day offer we have available.
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