Insurance question

[Millys Mum]

Yes its a pre existing condition, he has still ailed and been treated just the bill was paid by you not directline so they could easily quibble future claims if you were to swap.
Your vet has to declare if hes shown the same symptoms before or similar and also when so unless they will commit fraud for you then axa would find out 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

This is the reason that you insure your rescue cat asap before they have clocked up a history 

The insurance companies want our money , and the majority of cats come from a rescue environment now, or one of those sales etc that we dont talk about and therefore premiums are adjusted across the pet insurance market to allow for a percentage of high risk claims.

As more and more pet owners are taking out insurance very sensibly, the market grows and so does the pot of money to pay out claims. If you are insured by a company like AXA without any bothersome underwriters they are free to make business decisons based on actual facts as they have the stats, also on what their competitors are doing. They got burned by M&S a couple of years or so back and chucked them out, as many of us now with AXA know. Initially it took a while for premiums to calm down again after that but certainly this year they seem to have.

Every thing in insurance is a calculated risk both for those who give insuarance and those who purchase it.

However the message is to insure your cat because come the day you seriously need it, the years that you havent claimed are all suddenly justified and the cost probably still wouldnt pay the bill if you had saved it.

[clarenmax]

I guess if they are rescue cats, owners can only declare what they know from the tests usually carried out by the rescue centres?

[Kay and Penny]

I don't really see how this works with rescue cats, as they could come to us with all sorts of past  problems that we know nothing of, and AXA can't check with previous vets if we don't know who they are

to be honest, I was quite surprised to find  that insurance companies are willing to insure pets whose age is only guesswork, and whose previous medical history is often unknown

they don't even enquire whether age and previous are in fact guesswork

[clarenmax]

However one needs to weigh up how much its costing for that condition and the future prognosis for it......I believe that Max was FIV when he was insured with them?..............against all the things that could go wrong like kidneys, thyroid, cancer etc that have np relation to that existing condition.

Yes he was indeed Gilly, and I'm incredibly thankful that my vets vouched for his illnesses being age related, as originally I was worried that with the FIV they would try and attritute absolutely everything to that.  I've declared the same with Poot, on the email form it didn't give an option, so I phoned it all through when I cancelled Max's policy, declaring the FIV, and of course that will already be on my vets system as well as a continuing condition 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I have been with AXA for 3 yrs I think....and when I insured mine. I did have to declare existing stuff which was just that Ducha had 3 legs when he came to me.

However one needs to weigh up how much its costing for that condition and the future prognosis for it......I believe that Max was FIV when he was insured with them?..............against all the things that could go wrong like kidneys, thyroid, cancer etc that have np relation to that existing condition.

Also you need to consider the better cover that AXA give and should he need lots of xrays or to see a specialist then you are into 3 figures very very quickly and with AXA they will pay out up to £7000 in a year, each and every year.

Sometimes, especially if a cat is very young, the benefit of moving outweighs the potential loss of not moving.

[clarenmax]

Not sure, I'd always be nervous  just in case they ever delved any deeper 

But then again if it was just a check up with eye drops issued or something, would they have to declare it as a 'condition'?

Interesting one!

[Leanne]

Oh really Clare thats interesting I wonder then if I could move Jess to Axa then too

[clarenmax]

I would say you probably would have to declare it, depending on what details you have to give to a new company.

With AXA you don't have the option to declare any pre-existing conditions, you can say there are some, like with Poot and his FIV, but they do not log it.  Apparently each time you try to claim, they contact the vets directly to ascertain if any treatment for that condition has taken place, so I guess its vets discretion?

[Leanne]

I've never claimed though Direct Line for Milo's eyes problem (possibly feline herpes). Mind you its not been that expensive proably around £100ish in total.

If I moved him from Direct Line to Axa would I have to declare it as a pre existing condition even though I've never claimed?