How to get the right pet health insurance policy?

It is widely known that pet health insurance policies and plans are abundantly available for your beloved and loving pets. The key to getting the right policy is time consuming. Getting a Birdseye view of your options helps you narrow down your options and make the final decision that pays off.

Primarily, insurance plans can be categorized into four, traditional, customizable, accident only, and discount. Traditional policies are standard pet health insurance plans that offer design options that cover illnesses, accidents, and preventative care for pets. Depending on the plan chosen, your insurance company will pay all or part of your veterinary bills up to a predetermined amount. The customizable set of insurance plans is just like traditional policies, except it offers more freedom in terms of mixing and matching the necessary provisions, such as deductibles, coinsurance percentage, maximum annual coverage amount, and copays. The third group is accidents only, where coverage is only for accidents and not for illness or preventive care. The fourth set is the discount plans, where you can take the pet to any veterinarian or hospital within the hospital network that the insurance company chooses. You will receive a discount on the services obtained.

The type of pet insurance you would choose depends on your budget, the age of your pet, which includes verification of any pre-existing conditions, the breed of the pet, and your veterinarian. Common exclusions in pet insurance are:

– Hereditary conditions that depend on the policy and if it is covered, it will be covered at a lower level.

– Congenital conditions are not covered by their pre-existence. They include patellar dislocation, entropion, ectropion, hepatic shunt, etc.

– Fleas and parasites are included in some insurance policies and come in the form of parasite preventative medications that may not include parasite eradication.

– Preventable diseases and elective procedures, such as getting vaccinated to prevent disease, are generally not covered.

– Dental care is provided in case of accidents, but preventive dental care, such as teeth cleaning, is generally not covered.

– Pre-existing conditions are as common to see in the exclusion category in pet insurance as it is for human insurance. Any pre-existing conditions your pet has before the policy start date is not covered by the insurance. This includes conditions that may not have been diagnosed to date and just because you have not identified such pre-conditions by taking him to the vet and are unaware of the condition, the plan does not guarantee that you will get coverage for the particular condition.

Some companies will allow you to cover these potential problems with an additional payment. In some cases, the local vet will be able to advise you of any exclusions. Getting the right pet health insurance just requires a careful review of the plans that fit your pet and your budget.