What is covered in this guide:
- General pet insurance information
- ‘Must know’ pet insurance facts
- Types of pet insurance policy
- Indirect vs direct claims
- How we submit your claim and what we need from you
General Pet Insurance Information
Pet insurance provides cover for the costs incurred at your vet when your pet is treated for an injury or illness. The medical advancement of modern veterinary medicine has meant that, alongside an improvement in the standard of care, fees for treatments and procedures have increased. An insurance policy can provide peace of mind that your pet will have access to the best available treatment, either through your own vet, or through referral to a specialist centre.
The popularity in pet insurance has risen steadily over the last decade with almost 4 million pets in the UK covered by a policy. There has been a commensurate increase in the number of insurance providers, with a wide variety of cover options on offer.
It should be noted that pet insurance does not cover preventative health care treatments such as vaccinations, flea, tick and worm prevention, and will often exclude routine dental cleaning treatments too. Most insurance companies will insist the vaccinations are kept up to date in order to remain covered.
We highly recommend taking out an insurance policy for your pet, however like all vets in the UK, we are legally restricted from giving recommendations with regards to specific insurance providers.
‘Must Know’ Pet Insurance Facts
It is standard for pet insurance policies to deduct an excess from any claim and every policy year a claim is made.
Some policies will ask owners to contribute a percentage of the veterinary fees on top of the excess e.g. the owner will pay the first £100 of each claim, and 20% of the remaining amount. This extra percentage payment may sometimes be introduced as the pet gets older, or the percentage contribution may increase as the pet ages, so always clarify any future policy adjustments with the insurer before you sign up.
If your pet has been diagnosed with a condition before taking out a policy, this condition will be termed ‘pre-existing’ and will not be covered. Please note, this also applies if you change insurers, those conditions treated under the first policy will typically be excluded with the second insurer, meaning they will not be claimable.
Most policies have an ‘exclusion period’ (typically around 14 days), which is the time between the start date of the policy and the date from which you’ll be able to make a claim
Some insurers will simply not cover certain breeds of dog, or will exclude some breed-specific conditions.
Pregnancy, birth or breeding related claims are usually not covered by pet insurance. You may need a Breeder policy. Check with the insurance company.
Some policies provide other benefits such as cover for third party liability, loss from straying or theft, advertisement costs and reward provision for missing pets, boarding kennel fees if the owner has to be admitted to hospital, and even holiday cancellation cover if the illness of your pet means having to cancel a trip!
Most policies will require you to start a claim within a specified period from the start of the condition. Failure to do this may invalidate your claim. READ THE SMALL PRINT!
Types of pet insurance policies
‘Time Limited’ Policies
These policies will cover fees for a specific condition for a set period of time from the onset of the condition, usually 12 months, and may also have a limit to how much will be paid out per condition. After either the time limit or the cover limit has been reached, the policy will no longer pay for veterinary fees relating to that condition.
‘Maximum Benefit’ Policies
With this policy type, there tends to be a maximum claim amount per condition, but without a limit on timescale. After the maximum benefit has been reached, the policy will no longer pay for veterinary fees relating to that condition.
‘Lifetime Cover’ Policies
Lifetime cover policies are usually more expensive as they provide a set amount of cover for a condition which will typically refresh yearly for the lifetime of the pet. They are particularly helpful when covering fees for treatment of chronic conditions such as skin disease or arthritis which can often require long term medications for many years.
Policy types and cover included vary between insurance companies. Again, please read the terms & conditions for each policy with care.
‘Indirect’ vs ‘Direct’ Claims
‘Indirect’ Claims
This is when the policy holder pays the veterinary fees to the vet at the time of treatment, as normal, then claims back the amount from the insurer. This is the standard claim type, and how almost all claims are processed at ARMAC Vets.
‘Direct’ claims
This is when we, as the vet, collect any fees due directly from the insurer, rather than the policyholder paying the vet at the time of treatment and then reclaiming from the insurer. It should be noted that the decision to pursue a direct claim is at the discretion of the ARMAC Vets, not the insurer. We do not process direct claims except in cases where there has been a prearrangement made between the policyholder and the attending vet. In cases where this has been agreed, Your Policy excess must be paid at the time of agreement. If you are unsure, check your policy terms and conditions.
Please remember, claims that are declined remain the responsibility of the policyholder, not the vet, the policy is your contract with the insurance company: no contract exists between any pet insurance company and the vet. Consequently, payment of any declined claims to the vet remain the responsibility of the policyholder.
As a service to our clients, we process pet health insurance claims on your behalf in order to simplify what can be a tricky process to navigate. Our aim is to submit all claims promptly, along with any necessary documentation such as invoices and patient clinical notes, so that you don’t have to.
How we submit your claim, and what we need from you
All invoices to be paid in full before a claim is processed
A valid claim form for each condition being claimed for, which has all sections marked ‘to be completed by policyholder’ filled in, and has been signed by the policyholder at the designated points.
Many insurers are now moving to online claims rather than traditional paper claim forms. In this case, the policyholder should initiate a claim via your insurer’s website. We will normally be notified of the claim in the form of an email from the insurer, and will liaise with them directly to supply the necessary documentation.
If a ‘continuation claim’ is being made for ongoing treatment beyond the initial claim, we require a fresh completed form on each occasion.
Direct claims are granted at the discretion of ARMAC Vets only. Only The final decision on whether to grant a direct claim or not lies solely with ARMAC Vets and is not at the discretion of the insurer.
We ask that in cases where multiple ongoing small value claims are being made, for example for repeat prescriptions of a medication, that the associated fees are claimed in ‘batches’, rather than with every prescription in order to minimise number of overall claims, and hence the burden on our administrative staff.
At the moment, we do not charge an administration fee to process insurance claims.