Pet Insurance

[Red Fox]

What bank are you with Jacqui? What is the interest rate and is the money locked in as with a term deposit? It sounds good

[Guest lavendergirl]

I decided to go with petplan.

In my experience (working at vets) and hearing from others experience, they are SLOW to pay up, but they usually eventually do. They are also the only company that will pay direct to the vet.

I pay $32.95 a month (with a $500 excess) on the lowest level of cover but it still covers up to $10 000 worth of accident and illness.

I chose this with the fact that I would probably be able to cover up to $7000 a year in emergencies myself and I always have $500 avail for Mindy's emergencies.

I've seen HBCs and tick cases where the bill has been in the 15-20 thousands, so I got pet insurance to cover me for this.

Obviously I only got it for emergency/accident coverage, I;m not sure how it would compare if you got it for regular vet visits etc.

In my experience, the highest level of cover is not really worth it, very time consuming to fill in all the forms for a vet visit that may have only been $70-80, also a lot of companies make a fuss about paying even this small amount.

If you're faced with a $7000 dollar bill the fuss is worth it a lot more I would imgaine!

Don't most policies have a limit on the amount paid for tick treatment per year? I seem to recall most only paid $1,000. I don't have insurance as yet but when i looked at a few there were a lot of exclusions in the PDS so decided it wasn't really worth it.

[aussielover]

Hi guys, thought some might be interested in my story. When my old cat was about 8 years old, she either fell out of a tree or was hit by a car (the vets could never tell) but either way she broke her jaw badly. My mum took us to the vets immediately, and they explained that she could definitely be saved, but that it would cost us $3500. I begged my mother and she loaned me the money and I was paying her back for years afterward. Aside from that though, my cat never cost me anything above the usual initial vaccinations, flea treatment etc which insurance wouldn't cover anyway. I made a decision though after that incident that I never wanted to be in a position where I had to choose between the life of my pet and money. So I thought pet insurance was definitely for me.

But you read over the policies, and none are all inclusive. The last thing you would want was for your pet to need vet treatment, you've paid $1000's over the years to insurance companies and yet they won't help you. So I started saving $50/month for potential vet bills and put it in a high interest savings account. Today I have close to $5000 saved - and my dog is not even 2 years old. He made need it one day and if he does I'll be able to help him and I know I have the money for the treatment and whatever the treatment happens to be, my savings will cover it (unlike insurance with all their exclusions). But should he get to 13-15 years old (like his family) and never have needed anything serious, well I'll have a healthy savings account.

It's not for everyone, and it takes a while to accrue a decent balance, but I think in the longterm and with current pet insurance options being what they are it's worth considering.

I was in a similar situation until recently.

If your dog needs specialist or intensive care and surgery, its going to set you back more than $5000. So this is a good plan if your dog doesn't have any accidents or illness for the first few years of its life.

You might save up to $15000 by the time it needs a hip replacement or whatever lol.

That was my plan...

I had $5000 around the time of Mindy's illness (specifically set aside for her), but I still had to borrow off my parents. It would have been around $10 000 for all Mindy's treatments had I not received significant discounts.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

commonwealth bank is currently offering something called a 'goal saver' - at the moment if you deposit $200 per month and make only one withdrawal (for me that's the tax withheld from the interest payment) - anyway essentially no withdrawals - it's 6% if you do make an extra withdrawal its still 3%. 6% is better than my Net bank saver with CBA so not really impressed with that - I'm going to stick all the money out of that into the goal saver with the "emergency fund" in the NBS instead. Sigh.

Anyway it currently pays more than their term deposits too. A couple of other banks are offering up to about 6.5% but not sure I want to bank with bank west or city bank or anz.

I don't know who pays for info choice but they do make finding the best interest rates easy.

http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/savings-account/online-savings.aspx

I'm wondering if the medibank 9 year limit - is for joining - not for claiming. The PDS says it's for joining and they will pay out so long as cover has been continous since the dog turned 9. But the website suggests it's a cover limit. There's a few places where websites and PDS don't match. I think I will phone and ask and post here what I find out - but might not be till Monday.

[Red Fox]

commonwealth bank is currently offering something called a 'goal saver' - at the moment if you deposit $200 per month and make only one withdrawal (for me that's the tax withheld from the interest payment) - anyway essentially no withdrawals - it's 6% if you do make an extra withdrawal its still 3%. 6% is better than my Net bank saver with CBA so not really impressed with that - I'm going to stick all the money out of that into the goal saver with the "emergency fund" in the NBS instead. Sigh.

Anyway it currently pays more than their term deposits too. A couple of other banks are offering up to about 6.5% but not sure I want to bank with bank west or city bank or anz.

I don't know who pays for info choice but they do make finding the best interest rates easy.

http://www.infochoic...ne-savings.aspx

I'm wondering if the medibank 9 year limit - is for joining - not for claiming. The PDS says it's for joining and they will pay out so long as cover has been continous since the dog turned 9. But the website suggests it's a cover limit. There's a few places where websites and PDS don't match. I think I will phone and ask and post here what I find out - but might not be till Monday.

If you do ring I would be interested in their answer.

[cointreau]

I decided to go with petplan.

In my experience (working at vets) and hearing from others experience, they are SLOW to pay up, but they usually eventually do. They are also the only company that will pay direct to the vet.

I'm with Petplan and in my experience they have not been any slower than other companies when they generally send me a letter letting me know they have my claim and last time it was paid very promptly. My only concern now is my girl is a giant breed and over 7 so there has been a bit of a change in the % I can claim back.

[aussielover]

I decided to go with petplan.

In my experience (working at vets) and hearing from others experience, they are SLOW to pay up, but they usually eventually do. They are also the only company that will pay direct to the vet.

I'm with Petplan and in my experience they have not been any slower than other companies when they generally send me a letter letting me know they have my claim and last time it was paid very promptly. My only concern now is my girl is a giant breed and over 7 so there has been a bit of a change in the % I can claim back.

That's good to hear

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Update

Bad news and good news.

Bad news - medibank insurance more expensive for less cover

Good news - the age limit - is an entry age limit.

I think I must have been having a fit of discalcula or something - ie medibank pet insurance when I run the quote thingy is now $380 - a hundred more than I thought - oops. That's full price, for members it's 342 (per annum) and the cover is 12,000 max pa, and excess $200.

And all the other stuff is pretty much the same for all pet insurance backed by Hollards.

The age limit of 9 years - is an entry limit so if your dog is older than 9 years they won't offer insurance for it but if it's 8 years old - they will and as long as cover is continous when the dog turns 9 etc it will still be covered.

Ie its an entry limit. I suspect all the Hollards are the same on that one. I did point out the discrepancy on the website - ie the cover option page just says age limit but the quote page says age entry limit. Nice indian call centre girl said she'd pass that message on. But she couldn't match my PIA offer.

So I'm going to stick with Pet Insurance Australia - which is offering me $317.48 (for a year), $200 excees with a max $15,000 cover and will slug my credit card unless they get a written letter from me telling them not to. I hate that but I think they're all the same.

I also wrote to Choice magazine and pointed out the changes in pet insurance. ie suddenly it's only 80%. sigh. They said they'd pass that on too, not sure if anything useful will happen.

Dealing with this stuff is very frustrating.

[Guest lavendergirl]

Update

Bad news and good news.

Bad news - medibank insurance more expensive for less cover

Good news - the age limit - is an entry age limit.

I think I must have been having a fit of discalcula or something - ie medibank pet insurance when I run the quote thingy is now $380 - a hundred more than I thought - oops. That's full price, for members it's 342 (per annum) and the cover is 12,000 max pa, and excess $200.

And all the other stuff is pretty much the same for all pet insurance backed by Hollards.

The age limit of 9 years - is an entry limit so if your dog is older than 9 years they won't offer insurance for it but if it's 8 years old - they will and as long as cover is continous when the dog turns 9 etc it will still be covered.

Ie its an entry limit. I suspect all the Hollards are the same on that one. I did point out the discrepancy on the website - ie the cover option page just says age limit but the quote page says age entry limit. Nice indian call centre girl said she'd pass that message on. But she couldn't match my PIA offer.

So I'm going to stick with Pet Insurance Australia - which is offering me $317.48 (for a year), $200 excees with a max $15,000 cover and will slug my credit card unless they get a written letter from me telling them not to. I hate that but I think they're all the same.

I also wrote to Choice magazine and pointed out the changes in pet insurance. ie suddenly it's only 80%. sigh. They said they'd pass that on too, not sure if anything useful will happen.

Dealing with this stuff is very frustrating.

Do you mean that they don't send out the bill in the mail like ordinary insurance? I would not be happy with that arrangement. Also do you know if there is an annual limit on tick treatment with most of these policies?

[shelby-001]

I am with medibank private.

$103 per month for my two amstaff's. I have had the insurance since Sept 2010 and have so far been paid out $11,300! We have had TTO surgery on 3 legs so far. I had 100% paid back and only a $100 excess. The last payment was received 2 weeks ago!

My premium went up on renewal by $9 per month across the two dogs.

I will have to investigate the 80% verse 100% pay out as I haven't seen anything indicating the polidy has changed. I am about to claim for their follow up xrays so I will see how I go then.

ETA: Have just checked with medibank pvt and at this stage if you were an existing policy holder you still receive 100% payout, if you take out a new policy since the change you are under th 80% payout cover. This is with medibank,

Edited November 9, 2011 by shelby-001

[Red Fox]

Same goes with existing PIA policies. However they are all being changed on renewal so I'm guessing the same would happen with medibank?

[Kaffy Magee]

I'd like to know that too. My boy is with Medibank, we signed up when it was %100 cover. Its about to run out so would like to know if I stay with them will it stay at %100 cover or not. If it doesnt I'll go to pet plan, more expensive but atleast %100 cover which is what I want.

Edited November 9, 2011 by Kaffy Magee

[laeral]

Are Pet Plan keeping the 100%?

It's bloody cheeky, uping premiums and lowering your cover!

[Kaffy Magee]

Laeral, from what I have read Pet Plan are still %100 cover. I hope it doesnt change.

[OSoSwift]

I just renewed my PetPlan and it was still 100%

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Pet Plan are with Allianz and if they still offer 100% then nothing changes there.

Most of the others are with Hollards - and Hollards have changed their offering to retailers to 80% cover so I guess Medibank Pet Insurance renewals will be for 80%. Definitely check that. On my renewal reminder it was buried in the text of the letter while the auto renew bit was in big print at the top.

I've signed up for two things online - one was my Pet Insurance Australia and the other was choice magazine online. Both of them automatically deduct from my credit card - though I don't recollect giving either of them permission to do that once the first time span had expired.

PIA send me a notice to say they're going to make the deduction and how much - which is nice - so long as I'm paying attention to my mail but I'd much rather they sent an invoice and I paid it. I wonder if I can get that changed.

Choice - just take some money off my account. I don't get an email or letter from them. I really should check about that. It would be nice to get a reminder email when they're going to do it. It's possible they have been sending one and my spam filter has been eating it.

[shelby-001]

Mine just renewed at the end of september and it didn't change. The guy advised at this stage existing policies are not changing, but that doesn't mean they won't at some point in the future.

[Rebanne]

I'm with Medibank, 2 dogs under the 100% cover after $100 excess and one under 80% cover and no excess. I'm happy with that and unless the bill runs into thousands the 80% no excess is actually a better deal. Recently has a vet bill for $110, would have got back $10 if I had bothered to send it in ( 100% cover, $100 excess). Under the 80% would have got back $88. I've had a few like that in the past few years that I haven't bothered to claim but I will on the one with the 80% cover.

[Kaffy Magee]

Just wanted to say I got my boys renewal policy in the mail today and rang medibank and confirmed that as an existing policy holder he is still covered for 100% of vet bills( minus 500 excess). However he said that he can't guarantee that will last in following years. The 80% coverage is for new customers or current customers who want to change their policy.

ETA oh and it went up about $4. which better than what Pet Insurance Australia did when I was with them, they almost doubled my premium and I hadn't even claimed anything! Hence why I am not with them anymore.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Kaffy Magee

[shelby-001]

Just wanted to say I got my boys renewal policy in the mail today and rang medibank and confirmed that as an existing policy holder he is still covered for 100% of vet bills( minus 500 excess). However he said that he can't guarantee that will last in following years. The 80% coverage is for new customers or current customers who want to change their policy.

ETA oh and it went up about $4. which better than what Pet Insurance Australia did when I was with them, they almost doubled my premium and I hadn't even claimed anything! Hence why I am not with them anymore.

Ours went up $9, for the 2 dogs per month. So you got the same story as me! At least they are consistent in their info. Glad we were on 100%, with 3 knees requiring TTO surgery for cruciate injuries it was a god send.