Insurance - after you reach the limit...

[hazza_s]

Hiya, I've never had a horse insured before and have a self-harming 3 year old so would appreciate any advice from you wise souls (sorry for the ramble thats about to follow)! I bought my baby (the first horse I've shopped for myself) when she was 2 and as I've not got the financial security to manage really large vet bills easily, thought it was safest to insure her, even though the rest of our family owned horses are not kept insured. Thank goodness I did, because she struck into herself getting up in the stable in the early summer and has caused a small arthritic reaction in her left hock. Just my luck but hey ho. It took us a few vet visits to get to the bottom of - then scans etc, then an injection into the joint. And long story short I think I'm coming rapidly up to the maximum on the claim. My insurance company told me when I first made the claim that as it was an ongoing issue, they leave the claim open for 12 months, or to the point that you reach the maximum, whichever comes first. In the meantime, a year has passed since I bought her so i renewed the policy - which now understandably has the left hock as an exclusion, so no more claims there.

Pony is now sound and looking good, but I know in 9 months or so I'm going to need to re-scan to check, and potential further injections later in life, keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that she'll still have some sort of athletic career. This must be a problem lots of people have with serious longer term injuries, where there is an expensive treatment and then ongoing checks later. I'm assuming this is just a case of just "grit your teeth and find the pennies for the later care" yourself, or are there insurance companies/policies where old injuries are not necessarily an outright exclusion (for a higher premium of course ) and you can find some way of spreading the cost of those ongoing treatments?

 

[whiteflower]

Not much help, I've not come across it in horse policies but for dogs you can get different types of life cover whereby you can either had a monetary limit with no time restriction, or a yearly claim limit for all conditions each year but it starts at zero at renewal so you can claim for ongoing issues. I'm not aware of this for horses and imagine if it was available the premiums would be sky high !
But the real answer to your question I think is likely to be once your year is up ongoing treatment is going to be down to you

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I don't think that there are lifetime cover policies for horses. Even if they were and you took one out tomorrow, they wouldn't cover a pre existing condition. So you are right, it's a case of paying for any further scans or treatment related to the original injury yourself.

 

[SEL]

I had a £1.5k bill this year for a pre-existing condition. Ouch. I've also got her hocks excluded from 1 Nov this year, so I imagine she'll show up lane around 3rd

 

[milliepops]

I don't think that there are lifetime cover policies for horses. Even if they were and you took one out tomorrow, they wouldn't cover a pre existing condition. So you are right, it's a case of paying for any further scans or treatment related to the original injury yourself.

^^ this.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have lifetime cover!?

My oldie is over the time limit on all her (many) claims so we had a zillion exclusions.. I no longer insure her as I'd be footing the bill for any further care anyway.

In terms of spreading the costs, some vet practices will let clients pay by installments - I read a post by someone else on here who paid a monthly sum to their vets in advance so they were always in credit... that sounds like a good idea if you know you're going to need them though you might be better sticking it in a savings account

 

[hazza_s]

Thank you all - good to know where I stand! At least I can see it coming, so will start shimmying pennies into a savings account in earnest. There's sure to be something else in the meantime :O

SEL - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Their timing is always reliable

 

[chestnut cob]

In my experience, you might be surprised just how little hock injections and x-rays cost when you aren't insured....

 

[FfionWinnie]

^^ also, it’s already diagnosed so treatment shouldn’t be as expensive.

 

[SEL]

In my experience, you might be surprised just how little hock injections and x-rays cost when you aren't insured....

I think you're right...... a much more 'basic' approach was taken by the same vet with horse #2 when I wanted his known dodgy leg re x-rayed to see what was going on....

 

[Goldenstar]

In my experience, you might be surprised just how little hock injections and x-rays cost when you aren't insured....

I think this is a fair point .