Insurance companies and exclusions!

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cyearsley

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Hi, thought I'd posted this but seems to have vanished into the ether!

My horse has had a tendon injury on a hind leg and now has a potential problem with a foreleg (!) and I'm wondering what sort of exclusions I can expect to be placed on him when the 12 months is up.......?
What sort of injuries have you had and what exclusions have you had placed, if you prefer not to name the company, you could just give the initials though don't see why it would be a prob. Also have you swiitched companies following your existing company putting on an exclusion you thought was OTT? Have heard of whole legs being excluded for an injury to one area?
Also, have any of you successfully negotiated with any companies to reduce the exclusion or have it removed over a period of time (eg being injury free to that area for a year, for example?

I have heard all of the above is possible but wondered what real experiences people have had.

Thanks in advance !
 
As you know my horse has a DDFT tear in her left foreleg. She was also lame on the right fore when being nerve blocked, and the insurance were told. They have only excluded the entire left fore, I did actually expect them to exclude the right as well! Annoyingly when Maiden went into the vet's for her nerve blocks, she also was endoscoped for possible respiratory problems (she bled mildly from one or other nostril after hard work and sometimes after a bang on the head, never was diagnosed and it's not EIPH as it's only ever one nostril). Nerve blocks and endoscope came to us on the same bill and we knew we could cross off the 'scope before sending the bill to the insurance, as they knew about it but we weren't going to claim. Damned insurance didn't care and excluded both nostrils for "anything pertaining to EIPH or bleeding from the nostril(s)"
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Luckily it doesn't bother her if managed correctly (fed from floor level, wet hay, etc.) so it shouldn't be a problem as we now know she has nothing wrong with her airways after two 'scopes!
99% of the time though my insurance has been fab with both my horse and my first pony. I'm with Equestrian Direct.
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My horse cut a foreleg and it was put down as an exclusion the following year but was removed when I got a letter from the vet to say it was a cut and would not cause any other problems so is not excluded.

A year later neddy did DDFT in hind leg, that is still excluded but they did not exclude the other hind leg. This was Equestrian Direct and have found them ok.

I did try to switch to Petplan as they are insuring on full vet fees to age 25 just before my horse was 20 in Nov 07. They were a nightmare, wanted to exclude both front legs from the cut injury which has no exclusion with Eq Direct, and then both hind legs as well !! They were totally hopeless, typical call centre job.

Have stayed with Equestrian Direct, staff are friendly and you do get to talk to somebody.

Other horse is younger and is with NFU - have (touching wood) never had a claim for him so can't say but have always heard good reports from others.

Insurance companies really are a law unto themselves - I appreciate they look at risk but sometimes really take it too far !
 
ED are an ace company. Been with them for about 5 years and they have seen me through 1 pts and 1 enucleation (that's eye being removed!) Current boy's remaining eye is surprisingly NOT excluded but he is a veteran so is on a more limited cover.
 
I have my horse insured with NFU and they have been fab. Within about 6 weeks of me insuring him he was diagnosed with tendonitis in a fore leg. They have no intention of placing any exclusions on him next year providing there is no reoccurence this year of it so it's all looking pretty good!!
 
e and l have put exclusions on ligament and tendon in hind legs after ligament damage although he has made a complete recovery.The same horse has just had hock surgery so I would expect another exclusion next year and he had small tendon tear in front leg maybe there will be a additional exclusion for that.I think its normal but have heard of people moving companies to get their cover back again.Its a bit difficult when you cant seem to go 5 months without a injury to justify full cover.We literally wont have a leg to stand on the way he is going.All going well I will renegotiate next year to have some of the exclusions removed you can but try.
 
NFU have told me they have recently changed their policy and are now excluding permanently any illness/ injury previously suffered by your horse. Have yet to put this to the test but could be fun arguing whether a problem in the same leg but different from the injury previously suffered is related!!!
 
Generallly with minor conditions such as cuts or poor foot condition they will only put a temporary exclusion on until the vet ok's it again. Anything to do with tendons, internal organs, oe joints they will put a permanent exclusion on it. To be honest all insurance companies suck as they will all do the same thing, kind of defeats the object really. So if you have torn a tendon in your horses fron fore they will exclude that front fore permanently from insurance. Sorry!
 
Is this very recent? Do you mean if I had to claim for something to do with say the same leg previously claimed for they wouldnt pay out? My horse had a tooth removed with complications and fractured his leg. Both were max vet fees and no exclusions were added. Both my vet and I were suprised at this.
 
QR

Unfortunately, if you change insurance company the new company has to be informed of any previous illness/accident and may contact your vet. This will then possibly incur exclusions for the new company too.
 
Hi
With most insurance companies whether they put on exclusions or not some problems would be excluded as "pre existing" conditions at the start/renewal of a policy as very few policies are "rolling cover" so each year it's a new policy in effect with "pre existing conditions" but if you discuss it with them usually you can get something sorted but be prepared to get something supporting it in writing from your vet. I've used Shearwater and they were good enough to explain that Underwriters would review an exclusion but suggested that to save paying out a fortune for the vet to come out sometimes it's better to wait until you get them out for routine stuff (jabs, etc.) so it doesn't cost you so much as lets face it if the horse is OK technically an exclusion shouldn't be a problem. Also some companies will often cover accidental external visible injuries to the same area even if excluded following a claim (eg if the horse gets a cut where they previously had a strain it's unlikely to be connected) providing they have only excluded the injury and not, for example, the whole leg as sometimes happens if more than one problem as occurred with the same leg. As with the routine of excluding both legs lets face it if you hurt your leg don't you put more weight/strain on the other one while recovering so sometimes this is a sensible if frustrating exclusion and again as with the majority of exclusions they are reviewable Just ask & don't get upset if advised to wait for a period of a year or even two after recovery from an injury before they'll consider review as since you've normally got 12 months from first date of problem occurring that's a year gone already and the horse could still be receiving treatment, etc. If vets bills keep rising and so do the claims pretty soon we might find ourselves in a position where vet cover is too expensive to get or unavailable altogether. If people are sensible this might be avoided - sometimes Dr Green can work wonders (but them I'm biased as my mare's splint disappeared completely without any treatment at all except for cold hosing the first week it came up (tried to explain to her that jumping about on a road isn't ideal for a youngster even when spooked) when she got a year off at horse heaven as I was broke and had to turn her away !!).
You can always find good and bad experiences with all things, insurance, horse dealers, you name it's happened & the cheapest is not always the best value for money.
 
My boy did a hind suspensory - all insurance companies since then have excluded both hind legs for any injury relating to suspensory damage. I understand this is fairly common practice as once they've done one they're more likely to do the other (although fingers crossed it's been four years and he hasn't yet).
Left NFU as they put many many exclusions on my boy. Both hind legs, one front leg, colic, and 'the back and anything thereto connected'. I honestly have no idea what they thought they were covering him for! Now with KBIS who removed the colic (he only had mild spasmodic colic once not requiring any treatment other than pain relief), they have also removed the back exclusion and front leg. We're not quite sure why NFU put them on. He did once pull his dorsel ligament but we never claimed as he didn't need treatment (was already on rest for suspensory!) and a future scan revealed it had healed with no damage.
KBIS have been brilliant. Made a VERY large claim recently for treatment relating to a collateral ligament - bills in excess of £5,000 and they were great, paid for MRI etc. Now sadly it's excluded as it's been a year but they have been very helpful and quick to pay. Would recommend from ym experience.
 
I'm with NFU. A few years ago one of my horses cracked a tooth so the vet came out and removed the broken bit. I didn't claim as it didn't cost very much. Last year she had another problem with it which meant she needed x-rays and had it packed with some dental stuff. The bill was £600 so I tried to claim. They wouldn't pay because it was pre-existing. It never occurred to me that they would exclude that tooth because I hadn't claimed (doh!)

Recently though I had a big claim (£5k) for another one, and they paid out with no questions at all.
 
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