Following on from Insurance Claim for vet bill

[AmyMay]

Following on from Spiders post about her potential insurance claim, I wondered under what circumstances people would usually make a claim.

I have only made two claims on Amymay - both of which were for serious problems - resulting in overall vets fees of a couple of grand. I don't consider the insurance to cover 'routine' problems - ie veterinary treatment for antibiotic treatment for a cut or the like.

But what do other people do??

 

[LauraBR]

I have set myself a £500 rule- I won't claim for anything under £500 even though my excess is less than that.

Things get excluded so quickly after you claim, I'd rather save the insurance for the potential operation costing £1000s...

 

[samp]

If I think if I thought it may be a long term claim etc then I would. If it was a one off and not going to break the bank then def not

 

[juliehannah58]

Ah but my vet told me that it's becoming routine for insurance companies to ring and check with your vets before renewing insurance to see if you have had any problems that have not been claimed for. I was told my insurance company were doing this all the time so I decided to claim for my Mares check ligament injury (currently about £300), even though I'd already decided she would have a foal, so i can claim for future scans etc.

It my case I was worried about the 'damned if you do damned if you don't' situation.

 

[ihatework]

I for one of my horses have a voluntary excess of £250, as a) this keeps the premiums down and b) and minor ailments I would normally pay for myself to prevent exclusions being slapped on willy nilly. I just like the security of insurance being there in case a larger bill lands on my doorstep!

 

[aran]

you have to inform your insurance company of any vet treatment your horse has had whether or not you claim the money back. if you don't your in breech of your contract and so if you need to claim they may not pay out.

 

[ihatework]

I always do

 

[aran]

sorry i didnt mean it to reply to you - it was a general statement
i still cant cope with this quick reply thing!

 

[BethH]

If you have treatment and don't notify the insurers then they can slap an exclusion on anyway and if the problem flares up again they will be unlikely to pay if you didn't tell them in the first place.

Also you generally get a year from the date of first informing them of a possible claim to get it resolved. I always tell them if I have a vet out for lameness and make even more sure I call to tell them when he is sound again after treatment so they can't exclude unnecessarily. The good quality insurers are very reasonable, it's the cheap premium ones you have to really watch!

 

[Faithkat]

[ QUOTE ]
Ah but my vet told me that it's becoming routine for insurance companies to ring and check with your vets before renewing insurance to see if you have had any problems that have not been claimed for.

[/ QUOTE ]

But how would your insurance company know who your vet was? Or if you had ever consulted one? My horse is insured through NFU and they've never asked who my vet is.

 

[star]

every year at renewal time my insurance compnay send me a form which i have to sign and declare every time my horse has seen a vet that year and what for. so i claim for anything that goes above the excess because they'll whack exclusions on your policy anyway even if you dont claim so you might as well get your money. in reality i've only ever claimed fro 2 things, both about £2500, but i would just as quickly claim for something that was £150. most people seem to have the impression that they can get away with having the vet out and if they dont claim they wont get an exclusion, but if the insurance compnay find out you witheld info from them about the horse's health they might refuse to pay out when you really need them.

 

[Faithkat]

Blimey, that's a bit steep, who are you insured with? Mind you, apart from having the vet out to my horse that was kicked (and had to be pts) last year, I've never had a vet out for anything other than vaccs and microchip.

 

[star]

[ QUOTE ]
Blimey, that's a bit steep, who are you insured with? Mind you, apart from having the vet out to my horse that was kicked (and had to be pts) last year, I've never had a vet out for anything other than vaccs and microchip.

[/ QUOTE ]

KBIS, but it's not just them. Even if your insurance compnay dont send you a form each year asking you, if you read your small print carefully it will definitely say you have to inform them of any veterinary treatment your horse receives apart from routine vacc. this is what most people dont realise - my insurance company just make sure you do by sending yuo a form to fill in. the others are quite content to let you think you dont have to inform them of anything then when you do have a claim they ask your vet for your horse's history and can then refuse to pay if the vet has seen your horse and you haven't told them.

 

[ihatework]

I would beg to differ on that star, my horse has had the odd knock, scrape etc.
puss in foot / eye infections etc. and I have always called my insurer to let them know and they have never slapped exclusions on for these minor routine things.
That is why I'd recommend NFU to anyone. I have my other horse insured with KBIS and they were much more liberal with slapping exclusions on the young horse I bought.

 

[star]

ah well, perhaps KBIS are a bit exclusion happy - luckily i dont have a horse who gets minor things wrong with him - he believes in testing the vets to the limit every time he goes wrong. he had heel mites this year and they excluded me for that and all he had was 2 injections of panomec for it. still, they've paid out so promptly on my huge claims i wouldn't change company now.

still doesn't change the fact that most people think they dont need to inform their insurance company when their horse sees the vet, however minor and that the insurance company then has the right to ask for a full vet history when a claim is made and can then refuse to pay.

 

[BethH]

I think star has a good point, I work for an Insurance Underwriters (non-equine) so I know how important it is to read the small print.

Insurers won't worry about tiny things but if you have something like a minor lameness concern call the vet and find it's as simple as a bruised sole then your insurers will be fine about it when the horse comes sound I doubt you would get an exclusion, but if as in my case kissing spines was eventually diagnosed, I am very glad I told my insurers, as I got £4k towards the bill and it took nearly a year to sort out. If I hadn't advised them, they could easily have not paid once we had a diagnosis and in fact nearly didn't anyway as they didn't believe it was a life threatening condition. Another of their conditions was that they would only payout for putting a horse under general anaesthetic/surgery if it was life preserving - i.e., emergency surgery for colic being a prime example, luckily I managed to convince them it was the case for my horse (which it was!) but that condition was not obvious when I took the policy out I had to have a good read through the policy document and wordings document to find it, so it pays to be careful.

Insurers usually have a very good help/advice line that you can ask these sorts of questions too - when I called I was advised to claim where possible on the basis they could exclude something in any case so you may as well get some payment.

 

[Stella]

I had a horse with mud fever that became infected. I had it treated a couple of times and didn't notify the insurrance company (although I knew that I really should!). By this stage the bills were slightly more than the excess. Then she had a third bout. I decided that it was becoming expensive and rang my insurers. I rather sheepishly told them that the condition developed several months before, but I hadn't told them because I had decided to cover it myself at that point (playing the role of a fool who doesn't read policies). I hoped they would be kind cover the third bout. Their response was to reasure me, telling me not to worry and pay for the lot (minus the usual excess)!! Lets hear it for NFU

 

[TOMPOES]

star you are lucky being a vet you can self treat your horse and dont have to tell any one lol

 

[burtie]

I'm also with NFU and after a almost £4k claim for a chipped patella operation and other costs they have not put an exculsion on the plan.

Can't recommend them enough.