Would you insure with these exclusions? (also posted Tack Room)

[DorothyJ]

Hi, I am in two minds about whether I continue to insure my mare or just put some money aside to cover vets bills instead. Would welcome any thoughts!

My mare was investigated for back soreness and has slight lumbar impingement at L2/L3 (loin area). She has had a corticosteroid injection and is doing well. I am building her up as much as possible and all is going well. She seems very happy in her work and the vet is pleased that the inflammation and pain has gone. Hopefully she will be back better than ever and we will be back out competing soon.

Insurance has covered back x-rays and a bone scan and accepted the claim. Of course now though they have placed exclusions on her policy, which I have questioned the extent of, but they are unable/unwilling to restrict at all.

As she has had some back treatment, all of her back, spine and pelvis is now excluded (not just lumbar as I requested)

My mare has a small splint so now all 8 splint bones are excluded. (I queried this and suggested just the leg with the splint, but again no go)

As the bone scan showed mild IRU (radiopharmaceutical uptake) in both front pedal bones, all 4 hooves are now excluded.

So basically her hooves, splint bones and entirety of her spine now not insured. Insurance was costing me £420 per year (standard insurance, not loss of use) but I suspect the premium will go up now I have made a claim. Would you continue to insure or self-insure instead? If I continue to insure she remains covered for colic surgery and any ligament/tendon injuries.

Any thoughts most welcome! If I shop around to look for a policy with less extensive exclusions, would I need to have her 5 stage vetted again? How does swapping insurers work?

Many thanks

 

[mightymammoth]

I cancelled mine after they exempted his front legs but I save money every month in a separate account and have a credit card in an emergency.

 

[Buddy'sMum]

Maybe worth arguing the exclusions on all splint bones and hooves - seems excessive - but if they won't budge, then I'd cancel. If you change insurers you'lll have to declare all pre-existing conditions and they'll ask for full history from your vets so you'll probably have the same exclusions.

My gelding had a problem with his back in his early teens - which was sorted with physio and gave him no further problems - but his spine and pelvis were excluded, which I thought was ridiculous. I did continue to insure him fully until his late teens but when the cover was reduced to cover just accidental injury I cancelled it. I do have publc liability though.

 

[sueonmull]

Have a word with the treating vet, if they think the exclusions are extreme they may be prepared to contact your insurer and agree something more reasonable.

 

[deb_l222]

Hmmm I can't comment on the spinal issues as I have no experience but my lad had keratoma surgery on one of his hooves last year but my insurance company haven't excluded further surgery (of the same) in the other three - just the original one. It does seem a little extreme, in your case, that they would exclude all four hooves.

I'm with Pet Plan and they were fabulous - they paid out £3000 for the surgery and then nearly £1000 to me and my premium has only gone up by 4 quid a month, which it may have done anyway even without the claim.

 

[dalidaydream]

Have a word with the treating vet, if they think the exclusions are extreme they may be prepared to contact your insurer and agree something more reasonable.

but be careful. They will require a vet's report and full vet history if they're willing to budge at all. My vet came out a few years ago to do a report for Petplan in order to lift some exclusions which they did accept but on seeing the vet history they added a whole host of other exclusions (my vet had noted when he came out to do pony's vaccs a few months earlier that he was a bit sore due to over-exurberance when turned out after several weeks of being in due to heavy snow). Incidently, if they don't put the exclusions on the policy they will still check the previous 3 years (I think - it was a while ago) of vet history and won't pay out if there is anything on there.

I stopped insuring at this point and I have to say the relief of being able to talk to my vet about my pony's care without worrying about exclusions is enormous. The other huge bonus is that when making decisions about my pony's care it's not governed by a ticking clock from the insurance company and we can do what's best for the pony (and in the case of a previous vet not the vet's bank balance).

Just make sure you do put enough money aside in a separate bank account so you have a fund should anything happen.

 

[sueonmull]

Take your point DDD but I wasn’t suggesting getting a full vet history, just that the vet treating the latest back problem could question whether an exclusion of ‘all of the back, spine and pelvis’ was reasonable considering the injury. I had a problem where my insurance company wanted to exclude anything related directly or indirectly related to soft tissue lumbar trauma and my vet successfully got this modified to be more specific.

 

[lannerch]

I cancelled my insurance when they excluded all 4 legs ( he has had psd in both hinds and a collateral ligament injury in one of his front ) , anything associated with his wind ( he has had a hobday and tie back ) and any sarcoids ( he had these but they have cleared up ) .
They still wanted to charge me over £700 (included lower level eventing which amazingly he can still do )
I figured all that was left was colic which as he has had a minor bout when the grass came through last year, inwhich vet was called so shows on his history , this probably when push came to shove would not be covered anyway!
I to have a credit card for emergencies .

( insurers with all those exclusions were seib )

 

[monstermunch]

Literally just had the same debate myself. Have 2 mares. 1 of them has had no end of issues but premium never went up. However this year my 2nd mare had a claim and they put her premium by 80%. it menas I am paying £150 a month with following exclusions:
mare 1:
both front legs excluded, abseccess excluded, anaphacactic shock excluded, sarcoids excluded.
Mare2:
1 remaining eye excluded, hocks excluded, spine excluded, pelvis excluded.

Mare 1 I have cancelled her insurance already. I re insured her for death and theft and public liability and put away the spare money for vets bills. Mare 2 has an open claim that ends in April and at this point I will also un insure her. They excluded her spine and pelvis following a bone scan for her hocks that showed some heat uptake. Nothing wrong with them but they now won't ensure.
In my opinion this is a ridiculous sum of money for so many exclusions and so I have taken the well digested decision to un insure.
However I base this decision on being able to afford vets bills should they arise. If you cannot afford vets bills then personally I don't think it is worth the gamble although in your case so much is excluded anyway I would probably un insure

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Hi, I am in two minds about whether I continue to insure my mare or just put some money aside to cover vets bills instead. Would welcome any thoughts!

Many thanks

The latter part o0f your question