Pre-existing Condition Part 2

There's More? Yes!

You need to consider what happens to the pre-existing conditions when your policy renewal comes up - do they reset to include illnesses and conditions that occurred during the year or not?

Veterinary Pet Insurance: Pre-existing conditions are not reset.

Petshealth Care Plan: Pre-existing conditions reset.

PetCare: Pre-existing conditions are not reset.

Pet Protect: Pre-existing conditions reset.

Pet Partners: Pre-existing conditions reset.

So, it looks like PetCare and VPI have the only products that allow coverage of a condition that lasts beyond your policy's renewal date. Having said that, PetCare's coverage limits are by body system (either $3,000 or $6,000) so that once you spend that amount of money on any condition, your pet has no more coverage for the rest of its life.

What else do I need to know?

Perhaps an example will help?

Assume you sign your Goldie up for pet insurance when it is a puppy. Because you have a healthy pet, there are no pre-existing conditions at the start. Suppose that your Goldie gets hip dysplasia when she is 5 years old. Your pet insurance covers it until your next policy renewal, which could be very soon or at most a year away. When the policy renews and the pre-existing conditions reset, your Goldie is not covered any more for any hip dysplasia-related claims. If they don't reset, you will continue to be covered until your policy maximums are reached.

This is THE most key aspect of pet insurance you need to ask about. Why? Because none of the pet insurance companies at the moment disclose this on their websites or on their policies (as far as I can tell - please point me in the right direction if I am wrong). You need to ask about this one so you aren't disappointed down the road. Believe me, it's a big disappointment if you aren't expecting to get cut off.

Make sure to check out Pre-existing Condition Part 1 as well.

Comments

[Desda]

Ok I have learned alot from your article i have been trying to get information for 2 days now on this issue. My dog just had 4 seizures on sat for a reason unknown they ran blood tests and found nothing. So now she is fine but they dont want to take her off the meds for awhile.. So she has no diagnosed condition but because of the seizures she did have. I cannot seem to get a straight answer from any of the insurance groups if they would cover her. I am starting to guess no because I have gotten no answers. I am in need of the insurance because I would like to get more test ran to see if there is something there that cant show in the blood tests.. ??? Who knows??

[Laura Bennett, Embrace Pet Insurance]

Desda, sadly, I doubt that any insurer you contact will be able to offer you coverage for the seizure tests. Since you already know you need to/want to do the tests, the costs are not unexpected and insurance is all about surprises.

The insurers should be able to offer you coverage for everything else though, and while that doesn't help you current predicament, unexpected other costs would be taken care of should they occur, as long as they weren't related to the seizures.

In the future, if your dog doesn't have the seizures from a certain period of time (depends on the insurer - could be up to a year), you may get coverage for future seizures should they occur but you would need to get that in writing if any insurer agreed to it before you buy your policy.

Laura

[Kate]

My Golden just turned 8 months old and after getting a baseline x-ray she was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia. If I were to get insurance, I know it won't cover this because it's pre-existing, but if I get it now, does anyone know if it will re-set like in January then cover it or would it be a year from date of purchase? Also, is there any organization that offers a way for me to get financial help with this appx. $5000 surgery? I'm totally devastated and the money stress is only making things worse. I hate to dwell on money, but I'm only 22, this is my first dog, she's not even a year old, she's purebread and beautiful. It's just so hard, all of this...

[melissa stevens]

do you cover valley fever?

[Laura Bennett, Chief Embracer, Embrace Pet Insurance]

Melissa,

Yes we do. That assumes your dog doesn't have any symptoms when you sign up for your policy, nor gets them in the first 2 week period of your policy.

Early symptoms of Valley Fever are dry, harsh cough, fever (anything over 102 is considered a fever), depression, and lack of appetite, which typically occur about 3 weeks after infection.

[linda]

my eskie just tore her ACL/PCL and is home from surgery today. we took out Care Credit to pay for the surgery (zero interest for 18 mo). it got me thinking about pet insurance. would this injury preclude her from coverage? what if the other knee became injured at a later date? not likely, but would it be denied?

[jacalyn]

I am struggling with the possibility of surgery for my little dog with a luxating patella, which I discovered prior to discovering pet insurance - making it a pre-existing condition. Had I known that there was such a thing I would have gotten it for all three of my dogs and possibly for my two cats as well, but instead I am now faced with a fairly prohibitive cost of surgery somewhere down the road...unless I find a company that will help me out!

[Larry Ropp]

are there any pet insurance companies that will cover pre-existing conditions? Lab was diagnosed with diabetes about 3 weeks ago