9. Do I understand exactly what the policy covers?

This is to reiterate the importance of understanding what you’re getting! Too many pet owners get into pet insurance without fully understanding, then get angry for not understanding! Now, true, there are some companies that try to take advantage of the unknowing consumer, but if you don’t do you research thoroughly, you can’t blame anyone but yourself!

10. How much coverage does this policy provide for chronic, hereditary, or pre-existing conditions?

This is a really important question to ask and be made aware of, especially if you own a breed that is prone to certain conditions. Most companies will not cover any pre-existing conditions, so if your pet has had a medical history make sure to ask how that will affect future coverage.

Chronic conditions is also a really important topic. Please read all the fine print. Many companies start a brand new policy upon renewal, making anything in the previous policy term pre-existing and NOT covered. For example, if your cat were to get diabetes and treatment was covered, then you renewed your policy 3 months later, there is the possibility that treatment would no longer be covered. This is a BIG one, so please, please ask the provider how they handle chronic conditions!

That brings me to my next question…

11. How does this provider handle renewals?

As mentioned above, some policies are annual policies, and therefore have to be renewed each year. Make sure to find out how renewal will affect your coverage. The last thing you’d want is to be paying into insurance for 4 years to have your dog develop skin allergies in the 4th year, only have them covered in that 4th year, but then being stuck with that insurance company because you’ve already put so much money into it and his skin allergies would be pre-existing anywhere else. Talk about frustration.

NOTE: There are companies that have continuous policies or that offer additional coverage for chronic or recurring ailments.

12. Are there certain types of accidents or health problems that aren’t covered?

Again, this goes back to making sure you know what is and isn’t covered. Specifically ask what incidents would be excluded for coverage. For example, most companies don’t cover accidents to working dogs (guard dogs, police dogs, etc.) or any complications from breeding or pregnancies. Since intact pets are more prone to certain cancers and other ailments, there are often exclusions if your pet isn’t spayed or neutered, so make sure to also inquire about that.

I would love to hear additional feedback: comments, suggestions, further questions, etc. Until next time…

Accidents to pets of all ages can happen at any time.

I recently received an email from a pet owner who was hitting herself in the forehead (actually, the forehead of her husband) for not getting pet insurance sooner. The day after she got the insurance (and still under waiting periods, unfortunately) her 4 month old lab, CoCo, fell into a hole a broke her leg! Of course she had been telling her husband about pet insurance for months, but didn’t happen to get it until right when something bad happened! (Isn’t that how it always works?) So, $1500 later she tells me she was telling her husband off for not listening the first time around. Now husbands, let this be a lesson: us women are always right .

Kidding aside, she (even if unknowingly) holds a good point. Accidents can happen any time! And even expensive ones! If she had gotten the insurance a month ago (or even 6 days prior) the broken leg would have been covered.

This brings me to my next point. At what age should you consider pet insurance? Of course I would argue the younger the better, and this pet owner (and CoCo) are proof of that. Not to mention, and I’ll go back to CoCo’s story, anything related to this leg break would now be pre-existing, which as many of you would know (or could read about in my post about pre-existing conditions and pet insurance) are not covered under the majority of pet insurance policies. Statistically, it’s possible that most health conditions won’t occur until later in a pet’s life, but then aren’t you playing roulette? If you keep waiting and something happens tomorrow, it’s already too late because that condition or incident wouldn’t be covered and it would become pre-existing.

But, what do you think?

The over-encompassing term amongst pet insurance providers states that they will not cover conditions which existed before the policy term. Ok. I can live with that. Or can I? Sure, if my cat gets diabetes tomorrow and then I got to get insurance the next day, I wouldn’t expect them to cover any of the medications. However, if she’s covered when she develops the diabetes, then my policy renews in 6 months from now and suddenly they won’t cover the diabetes anymore, that’s not cool!

Let me pull out my common sense really quick and say that that doesn’t make sense! If there was no lapse in coverage, and the condition was covered, how the heck could it *magically* become pre-existing?! Now, don’t be fooled by the companies who will claim to give you the option to have these things covered. Oh, I hear my common sense again, “They should be covered in the first place! Why would I want to pay more to have something covered that should already be covered?”

As fellow pet owners, I would love to hear your take on the situation and share your stories. How do you think pre-existing conditions should be define? Keep in mind here, pet insurance companies have to place limits somewhere or they’d have to charge ridiculous premiums or go out of business.