Insurance

[Tiggy]

I know there's been several posts on Insurance already but my post is kind of different ;) . I'm looking to get accident/illness cover with no routine healthcare cover. I'm happy to pay $500 excess to bring the Insurance down as the bills I want help with are the big ones eg $1000+. I think Pet Insurance Australia looks good but before I sign up I wanted to check with you guys as I've never had Pet Insurance before.

[Daxilly]

Hi,

Choice has just done a comparison of 63 pet insurance policies.

If you don't subscribe you can buy the report for $13.95.

I found it interesting, and may be worth buying the article to get what you need.

www.choice.com.au

ETA : Choice go for Bow Wow Meow as the cheapest Budget Cover but it appears while Pet Insurance premium is $35.00 more, Pet Insurance benefits are higher.

Edited July 6, 2009 by Daxilly

[Serket]

I'm also looking at pet insurance at the moment as we are getting a new puppy shortly, and I'm happy to pay the day to day vet costs, but would like cover for any big issues that come up for peace of mind.

I personally didn't find the Choice report to be all that enlightening beyond showing the different companies who offered the insurance, they really didn't look at which conditions were included under 'illness' or 'injury' and what was excluded. Choice lists all the products they recommended as 'best buys' as offering 100% coverage after paying the excess, but the things that are covered under each policy are certainly not the same.

This may all have been covered in previous threads on insurance, and if so, sorry for the redundancy (I have read a few here myself in my research, but a lot of them were about whether they paid claims etc from memory, and not so much the policy details)

So far I've only looked at two - PetPlan and PetInsuranceAustralia (PIA), but some differences that stood out to me were:

ILLNESS

PetPlan will cover parvo, kennel cough, etc as long as the dog is vaccinated, although they will not pay if you do not keep your pet vaccinated (what that means is not 100% clear, e.g. annual vacs only or titre testing accepted, and was discussed on another recent thread)

PIA policy states that:

3.2 We will not pay any Vet Expenses attributable to or resulting from:

1. a Pre-existing Condition or a Condition arising within the

Waiting Period

2. an Illness caused by endoparasites (such as worms) or ectoparasites

(such as ticks, fleas, skin mites) unless covered under the Paralysis Tick

Benefit defined under section 4.3.

3. Treatment of the following:

a. for dogs: infectious canine hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvovirus,

canine distemper , canine adenovirus and all forms of bordetella

(kennel cough)

So, although those illnesses are largely prevantable via vaccination, vaccinations are not always 100% so there is still a risk of contracting those diseases but PIA won't cover them at all even if your dog should have been protected through vaccinations.

If you know your dog is immune to those diseases via titre testing, then it's not really an issue that PIA won't cover it.

AGE & BREED

PetPlan has policies with unlimited claims, whereas PIA has a limit per condition for the lifetime of the animal, but given that after a certain age PetPlan will only pay 65% of the claim, it means that if older dogs tend to require more frequent/expensive treatment, the unlimited claim policy means nothing as you must pay 35% of costs.

For the dog breeds listed below, the 65% benefit restriction kicks in at 7 years, for all other dogs it is 10 years

Those breeds are: Beauceron, Bernese Mountain Dog, Bulldog, American Bulldog, Australian Bulldog, Bull Arab, Deerhound, Dogue de Bordeaux, Estrela Mountain Dog, Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound, Leonberger, All Mastiff breeds, Newfoundland, Old English Sheep Dog, Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Rottweiler, Shar Pei, St Bernard or any crosses of these breeds.

PetPlan will also not cover the dogs below at all (not sure on PIA):

6. Any breed of dog that is banned by any Australian Government, Public or Local

Authority, or that is crossed with any banned breed or Pit Bull Terrier or Dingo or

crosses of these breeds.

7. Any dog declared as a dangerous dog by a Government authority.

8. Any dog that must be registered under the Dangerous Dog Act.

PIA policy is not good if you have a younger dog which could develop a serious health problem at a younger age and use up it's lifetime limit early, but if your younger dog is generally healthy, then you save that benefit for use in their old age as PIA will cover all dogs over 9 years old as long as the dog has been covered with them prior to that point, in which case it's much better than PetPlan

Personally I'm still undecided and still looking - I like the unlimited claims for PetPlan and the coverage of diseases just in case the vaccinations aren't 100% effective, but I also worry that an older dog is likely to need more care.

Serqet

[poodle proud]

We are now with bow wow meow as we have 2 dogs and they give discounted cover for additional pets.

I looked and looked at all of them and for the money found they couldnt be beat.

I was originally with petcover and did make a claim this year which was paid with no real issues. The good thing about petcover was that they didnt need need a medical history before paying the claim which I dread having to do in the future with my 5 yr old boy.

But in terms of coverage petcover werent as good as BWM as they rarely covered breed specific genetic problems and I wanted this as I have poodles and want to be covered for possible things relating to the breed if they arise in the future.

I pay 54.25 per month for 2 dogs. It covers me for $6000 or $6500 per year. I know that is not as much as others which are 12000 but I figure if in the unlikely event it cost over this amount for treatment we would at least have that much already paid and not be burdened with the full cost.

I also do not have routine care.

I think though BWM have just an accident and illness plan but dont know much about it.

[megan_]

I pay 54.25 per month for 2 dogs.

the accident and illness plan from BWM is much cheaper - $135 per dog per year

[Tiggy]

I pay 54.25 per month for 2 dogs.

the accident and illness plan from BWM is much cheaper - $135 per dog per year

That's the one I'm looking at.

[felix]

I pay 54.25 per month for 2 dogs.

the accident and illness plan from BWM is much cheaper - $135 per dog per year

These are different policies. First one is at $100 excess and the other one is $500 excess. They both are covered for up to $8000 per year.

Here is the link, BWM

[Tiggy]

I'd be getting the one with the $500 excess.

[lucylotto]

I know there's been several posts on Insurance already but my post is kind of different . I'm looking to get accident/illness cover with no routine healthcare cover. I'm happy to pay $500 excess to bring the Insurance down as the bills I want help with are the big ones eg $1000+. I think Pet Insurance Australia looks good but before I sign up I wanted to check with you guys as I've never had Pet Insurance before.

the previous thread on this pretty much PIA was well thought of from those who had had experience with thwm.. I looked at choice who have recently examined them all and done a comparison. PIA came up well in this too. Go on to choice and have a look.

[yellowgirl]

I pay 54.25 per month for 2 dogs.

the accident and illness plan from BWM is much cheaper - $135 per dog per year

That's for the Major Medical plan with the $500 excess . The other two options are the Comprehensive or the Accident plans with $100 or $250 excess.

I'm really interested in getting the Major Medical, the only drawback is that Sarge is 9 and that's their cut off point for the Comprehensive and Major Medical. Madeline is 3 so there's no problem getting her covered. I'll ring them on Monday and see what they say, since I have one dog that fits their requirements, they might allow an older one as well if it means selling a policy. I hope so, after trolling through dozens of companies and policies, the Major Medical is just what I've been looking for... affordable too.

ETA - Tiggy, how does the PIA policy look in comparison to the BWM major medical?

Edited July 10, 2009 by yellowgirl