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| Thursday, September 20, 2007 |
| Pet Insurance For Pre-Existing Conditions May Be Hard To Obtain |
As more pet owners look into covering their pet’s health with veterinarian insurance, companies are springing up to take advantage of the growing trend. While the sales of pet insurance policies are rising slowly, the increase is steady and many carry similar rules as insurance for the rest of the family. It can be difficult to find pet insurance for pre-existing conditions, just as if it is for humans, so buying insurance while the animal is still healthy can save a lot of money in the long run.
Typically, once an animal is diagnosed with a specific chronic problem, they will require care for it on a continuing basis. Changing veterinarians in the event of move is not usually a problem as far as the health coverage is concerned, but if the owner cancels the current policy and attempts to find new coverage, it is likely that everything can be covered except for problems caused by their past health. Pet insurance for pre-existing conditions is normally not available and if it is, there is usually an extended waiting period before the insurance coverage kicks in. The wait can two years or longer, which the insurance company watches the health of the pet.
Besides not being willing to offer pet insurance for pre-existing conditions some insurance companies also will not cover diseases that the pet may be genetically predisposed to contract, or others for which the pet’s parents have been treated. Some cancers and bone diseases, known to be a problem for certain breeds of animals are also usually not covered in many policies.
Proving Onset Of Disease Up To Owner
With many insurers, determining the initial onset, and when the owner became aware of it can be a contentious point between owners and insurance companies, which will typically claim the do not offer pet insurance for pre-existing conditions. Having the animal insured from its first few weeks of life can make this easier; however, there are some companies that will deny coverage claiming the animals hereditary is responsible for its current problems.
In cases of rare or expensive breeds some insurance companies may require a statement from the animal’s vet that it is free from certain ailments, and even then pet insurance for pre-existing conditions may not be paid if the company deems the condition was known by the owner and hidden from the vet for the purpose of obtaining health coverage before divulging its existence. |
posted by Patty @ 12:52 PM  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Thank you for your article on pet insurance. I have been looking at pet insurance
policies and found some surprising information,
I have a new kitten and wanted to be sure she was insured. I signed up for pet insurance
with VPI after talking with a vet at the pet emergency room. He said VPI seemed
to cover more things than others. Just after I bought the VPI pet insurance I spoke
with a vet at a veterinary office who told me that he had customers who were very
upset with VPI because they pay so slowly.
Slow payment is a big problem for pet owners because VPI does not actually pay the
vet bill. They reimburse the pet owner for a portion of the bill that the owner
ready paid. VPI requires the pet owner to send proof that the vet bill has been
paid before VPI will pay anything. That in itself could be a problem for a large
vet bill. They do, however publish an extensive list of exactly what they cover
and how much they pay for each service. That is a huge improvement over ASPCA pet
insurance.
I asked a VPI phone representative about the problems with slow payment today. The
man on the phone acknowledged the problems and said they have recently solved the
problem and are now paying promptly. He said the problem was caused because VPI
has grown a great deal in recently. I thought they were the biggest and oldest pet
insurance company in the country. If they are not new, I wonder why they would suddenly
grow so fast that they did not have the man power to process claims?
The vet who told me that VPI pays so slowly also told me that he has customers using
ASPCA insurance who seemed to be happy with their pet insurance. So I looked them
up on the web, did some reading and spoke with them on the phone. The ASPCA flat
out refuses to provide any documentation of what specifically is covered and how
much they pay for any given vet service. They only provide some very general language
about types of things they cover. They claim that they pay according to a national
schedule of reasonable vet fees that all of the veterinarians have. None of the
vets I spoke with have seen that schedule.
Another thing that worries me is that ASPCA says they cover spaying a cat but they
do not cover any complications that may occur as a result of the spaying. Their
justification for not covering complications is that they consider spaying to be
an optional procedure, jump from the concept that spaying is optional (but covered)
to complications for the optional procedure (spaying) to be not covered. They pay
for the spay but not for any ensuing infection or other complications. Does that
make any sense to you, because it make no sense to me at all. Any ensuing infections
or other follow on health problems are just as much an illness as if the cat went
outdoors (optional) and was injured or got a disease from another cat while optionally
outdoors.
I have been told that ASPCA also cancels pet insurance policies if an insured pet
gets any kind of chronic or ongoing illness or condition. Here's how I was told
it works: ASPCA treats each year as if they are issuing a new policy each year.
That gives them the right to call any illness occurring in one year a pre-existing
condition from an "expired" policy and refuse to write a "new"
policy for the next year. Any pet insured by ASPCA at the time of the onset of an
ongoing becomes uninsurable because ASPCA cancels them and when the owner applies
with other insurance companies the pet can't get coverage for the "pre-existing"
condition. I don't understand how the insurance commissioners allow them to
do that. What they are doing should be illegal.
It is turning out to be really difficult to figure out what insurance to buy. The
rules appear to be arbitrary and it is hard to trust companies that operate this
way. I want to insure my pet, and want to get more pets who will I will also want
to insure. How does one find a good pet insurance provider?
Pet lover seeking pet insurance solution
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Just about any family that has a pet, loves it dearly, and wants to treat it as well as they possibly can. Obviously we all know to feed, groom and bathe our pets, but how many of us have looked at taking out pet health insurance on our pets?
Pet insurance plans can be a real life saver, literally. If your pet dog or pet cat becomes very ill and needs sudden specialist hospital treatment to save his or her life, you are going to want to be able to say go ahead to the treatment and not worry about the costs.
best pet insurance
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Thank you for your article on pet insurance. I have been looking at pet insurance
policies and found some surprising information,
I have a new kitten and wanted to be sure she was insured. I signed up for pet insurance
with VPI after talking with a vet at the pet emergency room. He said VPI seemed
to cover more things than others. Just after I bought the VPI pet insurance I spoke
with a vet at a veterinary office who told me that he had customers who were very
upset with VPI because they pay so slowly.
Slow payment is a big problem for pet owners because VPI does not actually pay the
vet bill. They reimburse the pet owner for a portion of the bill that the owner
ready paid. VPI requires the pet owner to send proof that the vet bill has been
paid before VPI will pay anything. That in itself could be a problem for a large
vet bill. They do, however publish an extensive list of exactly what they cover
and how much they pay for each service. That is a huge improvement over ASPCA pet
insurance.
I asked a VPI phone representative about the problems with slow payment today. The
man on the phone acknowledged the problems and said they have recently solved the
problem and are now paying promptly. He said the problem was caused because VPI
has grown a great deal in recently. I thought they were the biggest and oldest pet
insurance company in the country. If they are not new, I wonder why they would suddenly
grow so fast that they did not have the man power to process claims?
The vet who told me that VPI pays so slowly also told me that he has customers using
ASPCA insurance who seemed to be happy with their pet insurance. So I looked them
up on the web, did some reading and spoke with them on the phone. The ASPCA flat
out refuses to provide any documentation of what specifically is covered and how
much they pay for any given vet service. They only provide some very general language
about types of things they cover. They claim that they pay according to a national
schedule of reasonable vet fees that all of the veterinarians have. None of the
vets I spoke with have seen that schedule.
Another thing that worries me is that ASPCA says they cover spaying a cat but they
do not cover any complications that may occur as a result of the spaying. Their
justification for not covering complications is that they consider spaying to be
an optional procedure, jump from the concept that spaying is optional (but covered)
to complications for the optional procedure (spaying) to be not covered. They pay
for the spay but not for any ensuing infection or other complications. Does that
make any sense to you, because it make no sense to me at all. Any ensuing infections
or other follow on health problems are just as much an illness as if the cat went
outdoors (optional) and was injured or got a disease from another cat while optionally
outdoors.
I have been told that ASPCA also cancels pet insurance policies if an insured pet
gets any kind of chronic or ongoing illness or condition. Here's how I was told
it works: ASPCA treats each year as if they are issuing a new policy each year.
That gives them the right to call any illness occurring in one year a pre-existing
condition from an "expired" policy and refuse to write a "new"
policy for the next year. Any pet insured by ASPCA at the time of the onset of an
ongoing becomes uninsurable because ASPCA cancels them and when the owner applies
with other insurance companies the pet can't get coverage for the "pre-existing"
condition. I don't understand how the insurance commissioners allow them to
do that. What they are doing should be illegal.
It is turning out to be really difficult to figure out what insurance to buy. The
rules appear to be arbitrary and it is hard to trust companies that operate this
way. I want to insure my pet, and want to get more pets who will I will also want
to insure. How does one find a good pet insurance provider?
Pet lover seeking pet insurance solution