What is animal Insurance
Animal insurance is an extension of property insurance whereby a policy is subscribed to and will pay for the treatment of the animal to the extent specified or applicable as per animal insurance policy. Some policies pay partly and some in total which all depends on the policies and qualification criteria. The need for animal insurance is ever increasing as more and more vet services are advancing in treatment techniques and drugs. This has caused the bill for the vet services to ever increase year after year. Furthermore the animal care campaigns have been doing their work and more and more pet owner are keen to provide their pets with higher standards of living and health care.
How does Animal Insurance Work
While it is popular belief that animal insurance is an extension of human health insurance, it is actually more of a property insurance. In such a case you will find that you first have to incur the cost of the vet on your own and then submit a claim with your insurance company as opposed to filling a claim form before the pet is treated. Wikipedia gives an example of the UK policies stating that:
"UK policies may pay 100% of vets' fees as part of animal insurance, but this is not always the case. It is common for UK pet insurance companies to discount their policies by offering customers the chance to pay an "excess", just as with motor insurance. Excess fees can range from £40 to £100."
Comparing that information with statistics in America you will find that in the USA and in Canada policies often pay a percentage of the cost(usually upto 90%) after reaching the deductible which depends on the company which the individual is insured with and also the policy they signed up for. So as mentioned above the owner will have to pay for the vet costs then submit a claim form with the company they insured with. In me cases you find that there are certain policies here in America whereby the insurance company will pay the vet directly on behalf of customers however most cases usually require the customer to fill out a claim form for the fees they would have incurred.
Over the years animal insurance didn't cover preventative care and this includes treatment to prevent diseases like vaccinations and other related procedures for example neutering. Recent development have seen quite a number of companies in Canada and the United States as well as the UK offer what is termed comprehensive coverage. Things like dental care and alternative treatments( which includes special treatment like acupuncture) are actually covered by some policies provided by certain insurance companies.
Lifetime and Non-Lifetime
Non-Lifetime: This is one of the two categories you find in animal insurance. In this case the owner can insure their pet and claim on condition that the pet suffers in the year which the policy is valid, however if the policy is renewed it is not possible to claim the same condition again and hence the owner will have to bear the extra costs as a result.
Lifetime: On the other hand lifetime is a category of animal insurance whereby the condition can be claimed for subsequent years throughout the pet's lifetime. The major limitation with this kind of animal insurance is that it has some kind of limit imposed on it which my include limits like: per condition, per condition/year, and per year. So as a pet owner it is always advisable to do some extensive research on the kind of pet insurance which tallies with your financial standing as well as the needs of your pet.
In order to fight fraud some policies have a 'waiting period' in which the pet owner is not able to claim and usually the period is a fortnight, more or less. This policy is a way to avoid providing cover for a pet which got ill before coverage but whose symptoms only started showing after cover was bought. Some extensions of animal insurance is third party liability insarance and this is animal insurance aimed at covering any potential damages a pet may cause e.g a dog causes a road accident.
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