Two more common terms with pet insurance companies are congenital and hereditary disorders. If you’re looking into pet insurance you might be reading through one of the pet insurance policies, and it just might tell you that congenital and hereditary disorders are not covered. “What does that mean?” you might think to yourself, and more importantly, “What would that mean to my bank account?”

Let’s see if I can make this simple. A congenital disorder is one that is present at birth, whether or not signs are showing. Essentially, something happens during development to cause such an abnormality, but the pet may not show signs of this particular disorder until much later in life. A hereditary disorder is one that a certain breed is prone to. An example of a hereditary disorder would be intervertebral disk disease (back problems) with Dachshunds because of their long backs or Brachycephalic syndrome (breathing problems) in Pugs because of their short snouts. Of course these two examples are more commonly known problems, and more than likely, pet owners about to get a pug or dachshund are probably aware that they are a possible threat. There are plenty of hereditary or congenital disorders that are not commonly known, or easy to understand.

Hip dysplasia, for one, which is a common condition among some smaller, heavier dogs such as bulldogs, can be either a hereditary or congenital disorder. Confusing? Well, I think so. Oh, did I mention that these disorders can be extremely expensive. Hip dysplasia surgery can run around $8,000! And you’re telling me that this might not be covered?! How is a pet owner supposed to know if their pet has a hereditary or congenital disorder and why wouldn’t it be covered!?

What experiences have you had with this type of coverage? Would you be willing to pay extra to make sure that they’re covered or would you just assume that they should be covered?

In a nutshell, I’d like to sum up a story I heard from a friend of mine who were so proud of themselves for getting pet insurance and the optional wellness coverage.

“Ok, I was smart enough to get insurance and smart enough to get the additional wellness, now I’m in the clear. Or not? When I purchase the wellness add on I assumed that all of the basic routine care would be covered for my dog. I found out that this wasn’t the case when I got my dog’s teeth cleaned. The vet charged me $220, which I hear is about the going rate these days, and I submitted the claim expecting about $220 back. I was shocked when I only got $60!”

Of course this forced me to look into the issue (me working in the pet insurance industry, and all) and what I found was actually quite shocking! This particular company (whom shal remain nameless) has a fee schedule, that is a list of what they will reimburse you for and for how much, for routine visits. Now my friend, and I won’t dare question his intelligence, was unaware of this schedule at the time he purchased the insurance. I had a pretty easy time finding this particular payout schedule, then again researching other pet insurance companies has been my job for the past year or so;) I guess I’m curious at this point if this has happened to anyone else.

When comparing pet health insurance to our own human health care, you would expect to maybe pay the $10-50 copay for the dentist and the rest would be taken care of by the insurance company. Let’s just say, my friend was quite upset that he still had to fork out the $160 difference. Let me know what you’ve found with your wellness options. I’m hoping the rest of you have had a better experience…

Oh yes, and the picture is of my smiling Goldie, she’s got some pretty nice chompers, eh?

I think when most people purchase pet insurance they trust whatever the company has to say. If the company says that accidents and illnesses are covered, they expect that when their pet gets sick or injured that it will be covered. Why then are there so many confused and angry pet insured pet owners?

If pet insurance is that easy, why is it so hard to find out what is and isn’t covered? I like doing research and staying on top of what other pet insurance copmanies are doing. The other day while reading through a policy I had to look up every other word in the dictionary. When I called to ask about what is and isn’t covered the customer service person seemed to dance around the issue. Even when I asked specifically “If my dog got cancer would it be covered?” It was followed by a string of questions. Why are so many pet insurance policies so difficult to understand?

If you’re interested in learning more about pet insurance policy definitionsplease visithere.

When it comes to pet insurance, one of the words that is heard the most is “pre-existing condition” and that they aren’t covered.

What is a pre-existing condition? In the simplest terms, it’s a condition that occurs before you get insurance on your pet. So, if your pet was diagnosed with diabetes before you got insurance, they wouldn’t be covered for any treatment for diabetes. Now, it’s my belief that many pet insurance companies may tend to take the ‘pre-existing’ clause a little too far. As I’ve heard many upset pet owners who don’t have a condition covered because the company deemed it pre-existing.

All to often I hear or read a story online about an angry pet owner who had paid into a pet insurance policy for, say, 5 years to have their pup fall ill and to not have the illness covered because the insurance company linked the illness to some small symptom that the dog showed as a 10 month old puppy.

Has something like this ever happened to you?

Since pet health insurance is a fairly unfamiliar concept in North America, most people don’t find out about it until it’s too late. More than likely, the pet has a large injury or serious illness costing the pet owner a couple hundred to a thousand dollars, forcing them to look into pet insurance for future incidents. As one would hopefully pick up on, you can’t buy insurance for your burning house and hope that it’s covered, just like you can’t get insurance on your injured pet and hope that it’s covered. What’s worse is that whatever incidents that have occurred in the pet’s life up to the point of insurance will most likely become pre-existing conditions, creating more exclusions in the pet’s policy.

With most pet insurance companies, they will limit the age of enrollment. The age limit is typically around 13 to 14 years old, but can be as low as 9 or 10 years old. Do you think this is fair? Do you think that it’s in your best interest? If you’re willing to pay the money, why won’t they take it?

If you were, dare I say, fortunate enough to start paying on an insurance policy when your pet was young, and needed the insurance to pay out when the pet was nearing seniority, did you get what you were expecting? What we’ve found in many cases was that many people stick with their existing company as the pet ages because they have the, sometimes misleading, notion that all of that money they have put in will pay off. When the truth of the matter is that the exclusions to each policy renewal grow with ‘pre-existing’ conditions from the policy term before. Has this happened to you? Did your poor pet, for example, get diabetes when he was 4 and you thought “way to go self, you were smart enough to get insurance when Dilbert was 2” but in the end found out that the diabetes were only covered for a year and then became ‘pre-existing’? We want to hear your stories of pet insurance with older pets, suggestions, comments, etc.