Why do pet insurance policies have so many limits?
As with any insurance company, pet health insurance has to place some sort of limit onto what they pay out, otherwise their risk is too great, blablabla. Ok, we get that. Some include a great list of incident exclusions, some put dollar limits on a per incident, per year or per lifetime basis. What I can’t pull myself to understand is how companies place limits on a condition basis, when the pet owner more than likely doesn’t understand how much a given incident might cost.
Companies may boast about “we pay out up to $30,000 a year!” and then in the fine print or in fast paced radio voice “each incident only pays $1000”. So, what you’re telling me is that my pet would have to have 30 separate incidents for me to receive the full ‘benefit’?! Wait a minute, something doesn’t add up. Not to mention, what most pet owners aren’t aware of ahead of the incident, is that cancer treatments and knee and hip surgeries, for example, can cost an upwards of $10,000. How many of you have been tricked by limits? What do you suggest to others looking for insurance?
You can learn more about pet insurance limits by visiting here.
Hmmmm, I think the insurance company we deal with has always been upfront about their limits. It’s advertised and once you sign up, they send you documents that explain the limits/exclusions. For example, they have a limit on patellar luxation up to one year after the policy starts. After that, it’s fully covered.
I think it’s so important for a consumer to read the entire policy. Ours states clearly that it will not cover epilepsy or glaucoma because it’s considered a hereditary condition. Hip and Elbow dsyplasia are not covered for any breed. Cancer is covered.
If someone is researching insurance companies, ask them specifically what exclusions your breed has. Ask if there are hereditary conditions that exclude any illness regardless of breed.
Thank you Melissa…I have enjoyed reading the blog
“I think it’s so important for a consumer to read the entire policy.” Sarah posted a comment on January 21st, 2009 at 5:19 am
yes, YES and YES! I couldn’t agree more! Even ask to see it, if it’s not readily available on a company’s website, before getting the insurance. And if you don’t understand a part of it, ask questions!
Fortunately for pet owners, pet insurance companies today are being forced to simplify things and are moving in the way of consumers, since there is so much competition.
And thank you for following along Sarah, I’ve enjoyed having you!
When mom learned I had Asthma she was happy the VIP helped on the diagnosis and medication. I need treatments in the future but that won’t be covered. I think that is not right and you might as well just have a C.C. devoted to emergencies. If you go to the Animal E.R. you need to pay upfront anyway. She doesn’t think it is viable to keep paying for it if I need to get sick with all different dx’s to make it pay for itself. We’ll see.
Hi Rue Rue,
Thank you for joining in and sharing your stories, although I’m sad to hear your bouts of asthma. I am curious why VPI covered the diagnosis and medication of your asthma but will not cover them in the future? that doesn’t seem to go along with what I know of them. If a condition was covered, it should always be covered, because they don’t create “pre-existing” conditions when a policy is renewed.
What is the best pet insurance to have?
Does anyone know of a good one?
Thanks Melissa, I will call Monday and make sure I didn’t misread the letter. I remember they had 3 reasons posted and I might have took them all into account. I hope I did misread because if I could get her inhaler that cost $275.(Flovent) and get money back some day I would buy it. For now I just use Albuterol (35.00) and I never sent them the prescription. Dah! I will let you all know!
Ours is playing paperwork games which drives mommy crazy!!! This time they said they didn’t get the invoices-grrr mommy sent them!
Hi Debbie,
I would suggest you visiting this website for reviewing pet insurance companies, where you can read what customers of each company have to say. To further help in research, I would also suggest visiting this site for comparing pet insurance copmanies.
Rue Rue,
Good luck with the phone call!
Darlene,
sheesh, I don’t even know what to tell you! You’ll have to fill us all in as soon as you get things taken care of!
My insurance adds a pre-existing clause for every claim I submit. My Kira is having surgery tomorrow that will cost $1600 on top of the $500 worth of tests she had last week. So far they have denied all the previous visits claiming that her illness began prior to the 10/1/08 effective date of the policy. I got a letter yesterday adding 3 more diagnoses to the exclusions for her policy. One more denial and I will cancel all 5 of my cat’s policies and just start a special savings account for vet care. I have enough stress worrying about Kira without them adding to it. I advise anybody considering pet insurance to read all of the fine print. There are several conditions that are excluded for my breed and I had no idea. Along with many other general exclusions that I didn’t notice until I submitted claims for them. I have not had a claim paid in over a year because my kitties are picking the wrong illnesses to have.
Hi Sandy,
I just wanted to clarify a few things – these pre-existing conditions that your company keeps adding, were you aware of the conditions for Kira beforehand? Or are these a surprise to you? I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess that you are with VPI, per the comment about breed-specific exclusions, as they are the only company that I’m aware of that has such a list.
“…my kitties are picking the wrong illnesses…” Sandy posted a comment on January 27th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Does this mean that all exclusions have been because of the breed-specific list? Yikes!
One more question, out of curiosity, how old were your kitties when you enrolled them?
Hi Melissa, I enrolled each cat by the time she was 12 weeks old. (Kira is now 7 months old) But VPI starts your policy on the first of the following month. So I called in early September but the policy became effective 10/1. Kira had an eye infection on 9/24 which they are saying was the beginning of treatment for a condition that has now been diagnosed as a polyp in her inner ear. (surgery scheduled for tomorrow) The additional “pre-existing conditions” that they have added now are conjunctivitis, URI and nasal polyp because she was treated for conjunctivitis prior to the 10/1 date and they are considering every vet visit related to her eyes, ears, nose and throat to be related to that. My cats also got ear mites which I assume came from Kira’s breeder and ALL of them have been treated for that and denied. That is also NOT a covered condition. (internal/external parasites) I work for a human medical insurance company. You would think that I would be capable of understanding an insurance policy but I apparently am not.
Sandy – they are ripping you off and they know it. If this was a person they would be sued. Honestly, that is disgusting.
Sandy,
I thought you were going to tell me that your cats were all 8-10 years old, and that really they all had these problems before the policy but maybe you weren’t aware of them, or didnt quite understand them. Well boy was I wrong!
I also wasn’t aware that VPI had breed specific exclusions for cats! I’ve seen the exhaustive list for dogs, but not cats. I hate to say it, but I just might have to agree with Roxy;)
Melissa and Roxy- I agree 100% that I am etting ripped off. I’m just waiting to see if they cover anything on yesterday’s bill for Kira which is over $2000 and then I am cancelling all the poilicies. And yes, there are 9 cat breeds with specific exclusions and then some more exclusions for all cats including mixed breeds. Persians are not covered for Cardiomyopathy and Chediak-Higashi Syndrome. I did not know those things were an issue for Persians but now at least I know what to watch out for as my girls age. My oldest is currently just under 2 years old.
Well Sandy, your story has me so intrigured that I had to write a post about it. So we’ll see what others have to say and if anyone else shares your same story…
Best of luck – I hope you at least get something back!