Summary
Pet insurance has become the fastest growing form of insurance in the UK with over 220 policies on the market. Here are 10 key questions to ensure you get the right policy.
Pet Insurance - suss out the answers to 10 key questions
Author Michael Challiner
If your joints and bones are flexible and strong, they move
- Dental Insurance. The NHS in dental shambles
- Up to 16 million dental patients could find themselves without NHS care. This article explains.
- Dental Insurance. Millions forced to opt for private treatment
- Dentists are quitting the NHS in droves. This means that many of us will be forced to buy dental insurance. This article outlines your options.
- Options for Cheap Health Insurance
- A useful read if youre thinking about health or medical insurance.
- Health Insurance. Its important to know whats not insured!
- If you are considering buying Health Insurance read this article. Sorry youre not covered are the words policyholders dread. But it does happen. Do your homework and find out why. An understanding of the pitfalls may help you select the right policy.
- Medical Insurance. NHS Consultants go private!
- NHS Hospital Consultants support the case for private medical insurance. This article explains.
- Expensive health insurance? Ways to cut the cost.
- The cost of health insurance has risen sharply. Re-assess your needs and there may be healthy savings to be made.
Veterinary care has moved quickly over the last ten years and as pets get older they are increasingly liable to suffer illness that can be expensive and lengthy to treat. ( cheap mortgages ) Take diabetes for example. Diabetes is relatively common in dogs and whilst it can be successfully treated, the management of the condition is ongoing and expensive - one vet estimated that typically, treatment cost around £2,500 per year. Eczema is yet another of many conditions that require an extended period of treatment.
But as with humans, your pet can need emergency treatment at any time. According to research company Mintel, one in three pets make an unplanned visit to the vet every year. Boxers and Spaniels are susceptible to dodgy hearts, Labradors and Golden Retrievers are prone to progressive retinal atrophy, Setters' can get canine leucocyte adhesion deficiency and Alsations, hip dysplasia. And then there are always scrapes in which our pets are so likely to become involved. Your cat may have nine lives ( mortgages ) but you may well land yourself with nine vets' bills! With a series of x-rays costing £400 and an MRI scan putting you back £1,500 the case for insurance cover becomes convincing.
Against this backdrop, pet insurance is now the fastest growing form of insurance in the UK. Petwise, Petplan, Pet Protect, PDSA, E&L, Animal Friends, ( mortgage quotes ) and Marks and Spencer are all names in the market. Indeed, competition for your business is fierce with over 60 insurers offering over 220 different policies. With so much choice, the task of choosing a policy becomes somewhat complicated.
So lets try and keep things simple. Pet insurance falls into three basic groups. The first and usually the cheapest form, limits the claim to per condition per ( secured loans ) 12 months - suitable for one-off emergencies but not too good for diabetes! The second limits the total paid annually whilst the third limits the amount paid per condition.
Faced with all this choice what features do you need to look out for? Here are 10 key questions to ask:
• Are claims subject to a maximum annual limit or on a "per condition" basis?
• If the insurance is limited "per condition", what is the time limit?
• What is the excess per claim? Sometimes the excess will be a set sum, sometimes a percentage of the cost and more often, a combination of both.