Submitting a Pet Insurance Claim
One of the questions I hear frequently from pet owners is how exactly does submitting a pet insurance claim work? When you’re at your own doctor, they seem to do all the work for you leaving most pet owners in the dark as to what really goes on behind the scenes.
Well, it’s quite simple actually (at least in most cases). Most companies have a claim form where you’re asked to fill out your contact information, the amount of the claim, what it’s for and then your veterinarian is usually asked to fill out a portion and sign the form as well. Typically the insurance company will ask you to fax or mail in the form along with the invoice from your veterinarian. The company may or may not ask for medical records, depending on the situation. For example, if your dog or cat fell from the deck and hurt his or her paw, they wouldn’t need medical records because there is nothing in the pet’s history that would relate to this claim.
Why then, can a claim take so long? I often wonder that myself. If the pet insurance company does need further medical records, they will often ask your veterinarian directly and if there is a delay in that process, well it adds time. In fact, I would imagine that getting complete medical records is one of the biggest reasons why there would be a delay in the process. Fortunately, in the past many companies might have taken weeks to get your reimbursement, but now that competition is stiffening, it’s not rare to receive payment within a few days to a week.
I have heard horror stories as mentioned in my post about It’s going to take how long to receive reimbursement?! where people are having to wait longer than a month with some companies. But, like I mentioned, I think you can expect to see this waiting time diminish.
