Pet Insurance - Medibank Or Petplan?

[OSoSwift]

x 4 PIA - I initially took out insurance for my Lab pup with with Petplan, but after reading their Product Disclosure booklet and found that they have reduced coverage (65%) when dogs reach 10 years of age (or 7 years of age for Selected Breeds), I cancelled the policy and took out a policy with PIA instead as they have 100% coverage for dogs 9 years and over

YEs. But if your dog is diagnosed when it is 10 and it lives to be 15 (possible in the small breed that I have) you will only be covered for the one year of treatment? With PetPlan, you'll be covered for life (at 65% - which would land up paying out a lot more).

That is my understanding of it as well.

[~JoLu~]

We went with PetPlan - mainly because of the "life coverage" and also for the Third Party Liability.

ETA. Only just signed up, so can't comment on administration / ease of claim.

Edited February 5, 2010 by ~JoLu~

[teekay]

Hi

I've also been looking at pet insurance in quite a lot of detail as we'll be getting our new puppy 2 weeks on Sunday! (Can't wait!). It looks to me like the main differences are that Petplan cover your pet for a condition for life whereas the others (Medibank, PIA and all the others underwritten by Hollard) will only cover it in the policy year that it is diagnosed. However, it looks like Petplan only covers 65% of the vet bill (less excess, obviously) once your pet reaches 10 years of age whereas Medibank et al still cover at 100% (less excess) for the life of your pet.

So I think you need to weigh up the risks of your dog getting an chronic problem like diabetes or a heart condition needing ongoing care vs needing 100% cover when he/she is a 'senior'.. In my opinion, I'm more likely (obviously one never knows, but more likely) to need more cover when my dog is older so I've chosen to go with Medibank.. (mainly over PIA cos it has $1000 tick paralysis benefit vs $500). I've also heard bad reviews for Petplan regarding their administration and customer service..

Just my thoughts on the subject..

Love Jax

This was my reason for choosing Petplan. Have claimed a total of approx $3000 dollars on my Lab who sadly died early last year. Did take a while to process claims but other than that, no problems.

[labsrule]

I am with Petplan, had no problems so far.

One question

If your dog has an old age related problem and some companies only pay it in the policy year it occurs and not afterwards, wouldn't you end up worse off than a policy where they pay a lesser percentage but the problem is covered for potentially many years?

My old dog has been on heart medications for nearly 3 years. If he was insured with the first provider I would only have been covered for anything to do with his heart for one policy year. If I was with a company that paid a smaller percentage I would have recieved less per claim, but be covered for 3 years?

I am right in my thinking of way off the mark?

x 4 PIA - I initially took out insurance for my Lab pup with with Petplan, but after reading their Product Disclosure booklet and found that they have reduced coverage (65%) when dogs reach 10 years of age (or 7 years of age for Selected Breeds), I cancelled the policy and took out a policy with PIA instead as they have 100% coverage for dogs 9 years and over :p

YEs. But if your dog is diagnosed when it is 10 and it lives to be 15 (possible in the small breed that I have) you will only be covered for the one year of treatment? With PetPlan, you'll be covered for life (at 65% - which would land up paying out a lot more).

That is my understanding of it as well.

Yesterday after reading Rommi n Lewis question above yesterday, I actually had a look at my Certificate of Insurance & Rates and Benefits Schedule and then rang PIA yesterday to clarify this situation as well as clarification on the "chronic conditions" (which I must admit I hadn't noticed before ) and what I found out is this:

• Senior Dogs - If an insured dog is over 9 years they are restricted to the maximum annual benefit amount of the policy, which in my case is $15,000. However, if the annual benefit is not claimed in full during the current policy year, then the remaining amount can be rolled over to the next year and subsequent years e.g. say at 10 years of age my dog requires treatment say to the value of $7000 during that policy year, then they the remaining benefit amount of $8000 can be used up over subsequent years until the full amount is claimed. The dog is insured for life, so even after the first partial claim after they are over 9 years of age, the policy can be renewed and the remaining benefit claimed if required in subsequent years, until the full benefit amount is fully claimed.
  

• Chronic Conditions - irrespective of age, if a dog is diagnosed with a chronic condition, i.e. a Condition which, once developed, is deemed incurable or is likely to continue for the remainder of the dog's life, then they are only entitled to the maximum annual benefit during their lifetime . i.e. if say my dog at 3 years of age, is diagnosed with a chronic condition that requires treatment to the value of say $5,000 in one year, then the remaining $10,000 can be claimed over subsequent years until this amount is fully used and then no more claims can be made for that condition.
  

Hope that all makes sense .

I will need to give some more thought to this when the policy comes up for renewal next year as the "chronic conditions" restriction concerns me more, as this applies to a dog irrespective of age and whilst a condition may be "chronic" it may be able to be managed with a good quality of life for the dog over a number of years, but there is a cap of one year of full benefit, even though if not fully claimed in one year can be rolled over to subsequent years. I am not overly concerned about the benefit for a dog over 9 being capped to the maximum of one year's full benefit, as unused amounts can also be rolled over to subsequent years and irrespective of whether I had insurance or not, I would not prolong the suffering of an older dog with a major illness or injury over a number of years anyway. Hopefully, my pup won't incur any injuries and I don't need to make any claims that will affect my pup's insurance history and hopefully Petplan will sort out their new computer system and processing of claims and in the meantime between now and my renewal date (jan 2011 so I have a lot of time ;) ) I can do some further research. :D

[Lally]

The bottom line for me, as I suppose that it is for everyone, is that my dogs are special and that nothing is too good for them. Also, like most, I assume that paying for health insurance for them is a financial burden but one that is willingly accepted to ensure that the very best treatment can be given them, irrespective of cost, when and if the need arises. I would be happy enough to never need to claim on this insurance and for the company to make a profit; nevertheless, I expect the insurer to live up to its claims when one of my dogs becomes ill.

Currently, my now seriously ill 8 year old Cavalier girl's medication is costing over $200 per month (Vetmedin; Fortekor; Frudix) which represents approximately double the annual re-imbursement available under the terms of the policy. However, in my opinion, the insurer (Hollard) has already indicated that it's prepared to allegedly manipulate my claims to reduce its obligation. This is not what insurance is supposed to be about, at all.

I remain a supporter of vet insurance, despite my problems. However, I'm backed, fully, by our vet, who will support me in any or all conflicts with the insurer, which is a great first step. My recommendation is that you discuss any policy which you're contemplating with your vet first if you have a good relationship with him/her. Whereas few will comment on the commercial aspects of a policy, most vets will give an 'ad hoc' assessment of any policy relevant to your dog's future, probable needs.

Finally, any policy worth its money should include cover for your dog's life.

[FionaC]

We have Petplan for the older GSP (19mths old) and were looking at all the others when looking at adding the pup to our policy (currently 10 weeks old) - I liked PIA but when I called them I was almost immediately put off by their customer service - on my week off I rang their number every day, 3-4x a day and each and everytime I got a voice answering system saying they were busy and to wait in a cue - after waiting for a while you leave your number for them to call back - I did this several times, some of the times someone called me back (about 50% of the time) and when I wasn't able to answer straight away they left me the general call number to call back on - and thus the cycle repeated itself ... I finally emailed them with my questions and got quite a blunt email back - whilst it answered the questions it didn't address in anyway my issues of the difficulties I had in getting through to speak to someone and it actually left me feeling like an idiot by the way they answered my questions.... I rang Petplan at the same time and when I rang I got straight through, lovely person on the phone, answered my questions, when I said I was considering changing to another company she suggested I make sure that on top of the usual questions I also ask some specific questions about coverage being reduced which she had expereinced herself on a personal level with her dog - she didn't push me to stay at Petplan just suggested I also ask these questions as well when shopping around..... After the experience with the poor customer service from PIA I called Petplan back and again got straight through to a lovely (but different) woman who emailed me the necessary documentation instantly and sorted everything out for me right away ...

In saying this, I've not yet made a claim (fingers crossed I never do) but I really felt that if PIA was that difficult to speak to when just inquiring about a product then I didn't really think I wanted to go any further with them at this stage ......