Another insurance question

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

I see and thats interesting. I was under the impression it was you who had to get your own private medical insurance due to the fact there is no nhs..so slightly off topic but what about all those that dont work or say housewives and the kids ?

The folks that don't work would either have to go through the government to get medical insurance or pay for it themselves. Also, most will let you include kids and I believe spouse's.

I took out a loan to help our cat Little Girl it wasn't £4,000 thankfully but still it was £60 per trip to the vet (just for the vet to see the cat, no work included) in the US and there were a few weeks she went in every other day. Hard to believe that was only 2 and half months ago.

[CurlyCatz]

yes choice is great but then becomes a laborous task sifting through them all and deciding which one to go for.  I reckon what will happen is the bigger companies will buy out some of the littler ones iykwim.  I am suprised though that petplan is still one of the better ones albeit not necessarily the cheapest.

PS..i cant complain about direct line home or car insurance ROFL !!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Pet insurance here has taken off big time in the last 15 years, even 10 years ago there was very few had insurance but thankfully its alot more common now and makes it so much better for all concerned when a pet is ill as normally there is no need to even think about costs 

When I got Jaffa nearly 10 years ago there were only 2 or 3 companies that offered pet insurance which certainly made it easy to choose a policy!  I think it was starting to become more widely publicised and was being mentioned in cat magazines so thankfully it was one of those things that I did almost as soon as I got him and Magpie.  In the past few years so many companies have got into the pet insurance market that I do wonder whether the market can sustain them all and whether we'll see over the next 10 years or so some of them getting out.

[CurlyCatz]

I see and thats interesting. I was under the impression it was you who had to get your own private medical insurance due to the fact there is no nhs..so slightly off topic but what about all those that dont work or say housewives and the kids ?

Pet insurance here has taken off big time in the last 15 years, even 10 years ago there was very few had insurance but thankfully its alot more common now and makes it so much better for all concerned when a pet is ill as normally there is no need to even think about costs 

One of the most intense cases i can recall that required heroic surgery and gruelling hours of 24 round clock  nursing (even when we didnt / couldnt offer such a service) and LOTS of special medication was a weimeraner with the worst ever gastric torsion had it not been for those involved(me and my boss ) and abit extra thrown in from god himself that dog would not have survived..he shouldnt have survived !! but he did and thank god for insurance coz that first week of treatment was about £4000.00 !!! (the owner would have taken a bank loan etc had she not had insurance)
PS..his name was Hamlet 

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

Auferstehen your from the states arent you, out of interest do most pet owners over there have insurance ? I would have thought since you need your own medical insurance pet owners would be alot better having a cover plan than they are here ?

Medical insurance is normally something that your place of work handles so folks don't think about it.

I didn't actually know till I came to the UK that there was pet insurance. So it might be badly advertised or I was utterly blind. Still, every vet I've gone to over there were really good about settling the bill, as long as you had paid them previously they'd normally wait until pay day or take payments etc.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Auferstehen your from the states arent you, out of interest do most pet owners over there have insurance ? I would have thought since you need your own medical insurance pet owners would be alot better having a cover plan than they are here ?

On another forum I use (mainly US forum) most people seem to think that insurance isn't worth having and I get the impression that it's not as good as over here. 

[CurlyCatz]

Auferstehen your from the states arent you, out of interest do most pet owners over there have insurance ? I would have thought since you need your own medical insurance pet owners would be alot better having a cover plan than they are here ?

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

Definitely get them insured!!! I paid over £1000 in total for Pebbles last year, and Sainsbury's paid out every single claim (4 different claims I think) - there was only one query, and that was cos she had seen two vets, and the claim was from teh second. They can be a bit slow, but they do pay out, so I use the credit card to pay for anything expensive, knowing I will only have to find a small percentage of it.

Paid near that on my cat Little girl, not that it saved her but I tried.

So the other three are signed up with M&S, well once I get the paperwork etc That'll be one less thing that'll have me breaking out in stress hives.

[Marie]

Yes we used M&S for 2 different vets and the specialist and have claimed and received it all back.  We pay just under £6 a month each for Maisy and Tommy with M&S, they are both now just coming up 1 year old.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Definitely get them insured!!! I paid over £1000 in total for Pebbles last year, and Sainsbury's paid out every single claim (4 different claims I think) - there was only one query, and that was cos she had seen two vets, and the claim was from teh second. They can be a bit slow, but they do pay out, so I use the credit card to pay for anything expensive, knowing I will only have to find a small percentage of it.

[Millys Mum]

M&S are very good. I have had one claim through them and have just sent them a dental claim 

If you do Jasmine now and then the kit when its old enough, if your doing it online you'll need her ref number. No excess is an extra few pounds a year so worth doing.

Lynn, M&S wont cover anything to do with breeding, probably the same with everywhere else.

[karenjet]

I've been looking, M&S does seem good, and I got a leaflet about Petplan the other day at the vets so I'll look further into that one. I can't insure the kitten until it's 8 weeks old though.

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Yep, I cant say I blame them. 

[CurlyCatz]

yep susanne is right, vets have had a gutful of not getting their money from clients.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

which company pays the vet direct?does anyone know?

Many will pay the vet direct but it's not up to them - it's up to the vets whether they will accept payments made this way.  And most won't.

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Both of ours give you the choice.  I think a number of them do.

[forever_missing_my_boys(Lisa)]

which company pays the vet direct?does anyone know?

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Definitely worth getting insurance.  I use Healthipets for Paddy - premiums are very reasonable and had pay-outs made with no fuss.  I use Petplan for Tess, and same comments apply.  Make sure you get the best you can afford and check small print - as has been said, some don't cover dental treatment, or pets whose vaccs have lapsed.

[CurlyCatz]

i'd look into them all and see what you feel is the best for you. but i would take them out as soon as you can because you dont know if something will happen then the insurance would exclude pre existing condions.

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

That's fine, I wasn't sure to get the insurance asap or have a bit of a look as we're getting our Smoke spayed next month

[CurlyCatz]

No there isnt any pet insurance that will cover neuterings (as far as i am aware)  and im not sure about the paying out if your animal wasnt spayed then developed a pyometra say ?? I presume they might only cover for that if you said you were breeding or something i am uncertain.  I do know that some insurances will be void if you do not keep up yearly checks and vaccs etc

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

I was looking into M&S insurance for our three cats (it's under £20 a month for all of them) but the complimentry stuff for the vets, anyone know if that covers getting a cat spayed?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Well it's a lot easier to borrow from a family member or friend (or arrange a temporary overdraft at the bank) when you know you're getting the money back than it is if you aren't able to claim it back.  At the moment I'd be a bit stuck if I needed to pay for more than a routine vet visit but if necessary I'd swallow my pride and ask either my sister or a friend to lend me the money until the insurance payment came through.  I wouldn't feel able to ask either if I didn't have insurance as I would struggle to pay it back.

A few vets will deal with the insurer direct but most will ask you to pay then claim it back.  That's reasonable enough to me - it's my insurance not theirs and it's not fair to expect them to wait for their money.

I'm with petplan and have made 2 claims - got the money no problem in both instances.  One was a large amount (nearly £2000) and the other was for about £300 (for a dental).  Money came through quickly on both occasions.

I wouldnt' say insurers try to get out of paying, but any pre existing conditions will be excluded.  So if your cat's been treated for something previously anything relating to that will be excluded in any future claims.  Mine were both insured as kittens so didn't have any pre existing conditions.

M&S are popular on here and they have a no excess option.  I'm happy with petplan in every way except for the high excess on older cats.  I may look into changing Jaffa over to M&S when his policy is up for renewal if it's possible.

[CurlyCatz]

karen pet insurance is extremely worthwhile.  There are so many these days and its the case of looking into each one and making sure they offer "life cover" and will no exclude a condition IE diabetes after the first year of illness is up coz then you'd have many more years to pay for out of your own pocket.  also most companies offer different levels of cover ie silver/gold etc

Petplan is one of the the first dedicated pet insurance companies and ive always found and heard them to be good, also through here i have heard good things about m & s insurance and apparently with them you can have a no excess option so you dont have to pay the initial 60 quid etc.

For cody on a higher petplan cover i am around 9.50 per month but i am going to look into the m & s one just before renewal time.

of course there are countless more and some WILL pay the vet direct but that is also alot to do with the vets choice if they allow you to do that or not.

[forever_missing_my_boys(Lisa)]

the thing ive never liked about insurance companys is u have to find the money to pay the vet first then its refunded
say u havent got the money first in the first place ??????

[karenjet]

Is it worth getting? A few people have told me that the insurance companies always find a way so they don't have to pay out for whatever it is.
I was approached in Sainsburys last Thursday trying to get me to buy some, and I do think it all sounds very good. He quoted me £11.36 (Ithink) a month for Jasmine and one of the kittens, that will change when the kit gets older.

Which would you say is the best insurance company to go with? And who would you avoid?