Choosing pet health insurance - what do I need to know?
If you’re new to the world of pet health insurance, you could find yourself confronted by a bewildering choice. And you do need to be VERY CAREFUL in choosing your policy.
Why? Because it is very difficult to change in mid-stream. Once your cat or dog is diagnosed with a particular condition, you will not be able to move as most providers exclude pre-existing conditions.
So think carefully about your choice. What do you need to know?
The main thing you need to be aware of is that pet health insurance policies fall into three main groups.
The first kind limits a claim per condition and per year – e.g. £4,000. So if your pet developed a condition such as a tumour, and this cost £4,500 in the first year, the policy would pay £4000, leaving you to pay the remaining £500. If the condition needed further treatment the following year, you would be on your own.
The second type limits the claim per condition, but does not limit the payout amount in any one year.
The third type limits the claim for a particular condition to a certain amount in any year, but will continue paying that amount for that condition every year for the lifetime of the pet.
If your pet were to be diagnosed with a chronic condition, such as diabetes, only the third type would enable you to cope with this financially. Even if the treatment went over the limit in one specific year, you would still be able to claim again the next year.
Of course, these three types of pet health insurance policy vary in cost – the first will always be the cheapest. If it’s all you can afford, it’s still better than having no insurance at all.
But remember, the other thing you have to look out for is the policy on excesses. Beware of pet health insurance policies that set an excess of a percentage of a claim – say, 10 per cent – rather than a fixed amount. If you had to make a large claim – say for a serious illness or an accident – a percentage excess could involve you in huge expense.
It’s all very confusing. But it’s well worth spending the time doing your homework beforehand. Choosing the wrong type of pet health insurance policy could be an expensive mistake to make.
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