What to Look at When Getting Pet Insurance

Medical advancements in the area of pet health have come ahead in leaps and bounds over the last 10 years. Vets are able to perform life saving surgery today that a number of years ago was just not possible. However, along with the medical advancements, the costs have also raised considerably. When you think of it, vets are required to have expensive equipment to perform the surgery, access expensive drugs for the operations, and cover all the other costs to run the practice.

What to consider when getting Pet Insurance

So you can now get start of the art medical attention for your pet, but due to the high costs, many people are turning to Pet Health Insurance cover, just like personal health insurance, car insurance or house insurance. It is smart to cover your risks.

There are a number of important factors to consider when getting health insurance for your pets.

Payment of Excess to reduce your Premium

It is standard for insurance providers to ask you to select an excess level. The excess level is the amount that you pay toward the vet bill, which helps spread the risk, and also results in you paying a lower premium. The higher the excess you pay if you need to make a claim, the lower your premium payments will be. If you believe you will be making a number of claims, a lower excess will probably be the way to go.

Pet Age Limits

Check that you can cover you pet based on its age. Some policies restrict how early you can get coverage and if your pet is too old, you may not be able to get coverage. The typical restriction is under 8 weeks old and over 9 years old. Also, most policies will guarantee coverage if you have your pet insured with them before a certain age and continue your cover with no breaks after the cut off age.

Pet Insurance Exclusions

With most types of insurance policies, there will be exclusions. Check these out in the policy document. Typical exclusions include pre existing conditions that had clinical signs before you took out the policy, pregnancy and elective procedures.

Waiting period

Check the waiting period before you can make a claim. Most policies will allow you to make a claim the next day after approval for most conditions, except for illness related conditions. Also some policies require a 6 month waiting period for cruciate ligament type conditions.

Pet Insurance Routine Cover

Some pet insurance policies offer routine cover which allows you to claim up to an annual benefit limit for things like prescription diets, worming treatment, de-sexing, tick treatment and a number of preventative medications.

Cooling Off Period

Does the pet insurance cover offer a cooling off period, so if you later realize you have made a mistake you can cancel and get your money back? A majority of policies I have reviewed offer a 14 day cooling off period. Again, check the policy document for conditions.

Conclusion

A lot of people are getting pet health insurance cover to cover both routine health costs and emergency surgery if required. When choosing pet insurance, look at the level of cover you need combined with the amount you want to spend in premiums. Also, compare the different benefits that each offer, as there is so much competition and a huge variety of benefits within each pet health insurance policy on offer.

If you are looking for the best cheap pet health insurance and want to easily review differences in benefits of some of the top policies check out this pet health insurance comparison. Good luck in your search.