Daft KBIS exclusion - is it possible to argue & get reinstated

[popsdosh]

insuring animals against vets fees is approaching being a loss leader for the insurance companies. so far in 12yrs and 3 different horses I've claimed about 10k. I reckon I've paid out about 3k in premiums. I guess this cant apply to everyone or they would be out of business but with advances in vet medicine premiums are only like to go up further and the only way to keep them slightly in check is to place exclusions.

It is not approaching a loss leader they have all been making huge losses on Vet fees for many years and this is about to change as they cannot do it.Insurance companies are in business to make a profit and not to subsidise peoples hobbies.Your claim history will have a huge influence on how an insurance company deals with exclusions.
THe NFU have made huge underwriting losses on horses in the last few years and this is the reason their premiums are going up.My agent for the farm expects they will soon only offer equine insurance to members and their families as the losses are so great.Like I said I stopped insuring my horses about 4yrs ago and I must admit have not regretted it ,my horses get all the treatment needed ,but the vets manage investigations differently in a more cost efficient way.

 

[Wilbur_Force]

When KBIS see my vets history they'll probably refuse to insure for vets fees if they are that petty. I'll ask for a refund and forget about it, cos I've paid the whole premium!

 

[Puffin]

Fwiw I@ve had a great experience with KBIS, claimed LoU twice (values in the region of 4-5k) with no issues at all, I've had 6 horses insured with them over the years and the exclusions have all be specific.

I had one for 'anything arrising from the cut to the foreleg' - horse got kicked, cut was in a nasty place and was hard to get to heal inc proud flesh, they paid £1k vets bills and now you can't see the scar so I'm not bothered.
Had an exclusion for 'gravel' but only in the foot that had it.

I agree that they often won't lift them completely but they were quite reasonable in narrowing down the limitation.

All that said I haven't had to do it really recently and maybe they've changed underwriters, if they have it looks like that will cost them bussiness rather than save on payouts that might never happen so it was a bad decision.

 

[BeckyD]

As this thread has been resurrected, I thought I'd update with what KBIS agreed to do. They changed their exclusion to be less all-encompassing regarding his front legs, and have said that as long as there is no recurrence to his check ligament incident, or any other tendon/ligament issues within this policy year, then I can ask my vet to write to them to lift the exclusion. This seems fair enough really. I'm still paying £120/month for a lot of the rest of him to be insured and *touch wood* his leg won't go wrong again this year.

 

[Merlin11]

I have just managed to get petplan to remove an exclusion with just a letter from my vet. It was a very minor injury though and they had excluded all lameness! Was ready to cancel if they didn't remove it. Will see how it goes at renewal time next year. It is all a bit of a nightmare. Even if they remove exclusions they can still get you on pre-existing conditions. It seems that once a horse has had a problem they become almost uninsurable or you run the risk of them not paying out. I moved from NFU because of the high premiums and their clauses on not covering anything which had occured before in any part of the body. So if the horse has had a tendon injury in one leg they will not cover tendon injuries in any leg. Makes it all a bit worthless really.

 

[DunDally]

^^ this. My horse had a tendon injury in a front leg and NFU will now not cover for for any leg - ridiculous, its not bl**dy contagious! Seriously considering self-insuring

 

[loopylucifer]

When KBIS see my vets history they'll probably refuse to insure for vets fees if they are that petty. I'll ask for a refund and forget about it, cos I've paid the whole premium!

Your be fine my other horse all insurance companys i had phoned had refused to take her on (she had 9 exclutions) Kbis were the only ones that would not only fully insure her (rather than just acidental injury) but it was also cheaper and they lifted 2 of the excltions with a letter from the vet. So i have no issue with them and exclutions most isurance companys are the same.
It is not uncommon for a horse with a tendon or lig problem in one leg to have it excluded from both of those legs or all four. as they will commonly happen bilateraly or put exta strain on the non affected leg. Many isurance companys will lift /review exclutions after a period of time as long as no reocurance or problem still present.
I deal with many insurance companys in my job and KBIS are by no means the worst with exclutions they are at least quite spercific as long as you have a proper diagnosis to a spacifc problem.