Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

Job Opening: 8 month Internship at Embrace Pet Insurance

Seems like we always have a job opening of one sort or another at Embrace and here's our latest position here in Beachwood OH, posted on Craigslist:

The Embrace Pet Insurance claims group is growing fast and we have need for a smart, adaptable intern who is up for learning something new and loves a challenge. You will be helping the Claims Administation group manage the incoming claims queue, help the adjusters gather medical histories for Embraced cats and dogs, and maybe even process a few claims along the way too - it depends on how adventurous and good at learning you are.

Claims at Embrace is where the rubber hits the road at Embrace and how we get our 9+/10 customer ratings so we're looking for a detail-oriented and tech-savvy individual who wants to work in a non-traditional work environment (casual dress, yoga, and dogs and cats in the office, amongst other things). You must also be tech savvy, have exceptional communication skills (both verbal and written), and flexible. We will teach you the rest.

An ongoing or complete college degree with 3.4+ GPA and/or experience as a veterinary technician in diverse clinical environments is highly desirable. A positive attitude also goes a long way around here.

This position runs from January to August 2012 and pays $8/hr. To apply, send your resume and cover letter, plus your thoughts on how you see pet insurance benefiting pet owners to Laura Bennett via Craigslist email (include the words "Claims Intern" in title)

Know anyone on the east side of Cleveland looking for a great resume builder? Send them my way!

Big Dog Claim Example: Neopolitan Mastiff's torn cruciate ligament

Young Neapolitan Mastiff Bane was on vacation, loving life and playing with another family dog when his vacation took a turn.  After a game of chase Bane began limping. With big dogs, come big problems: Bane’s poor mum had to drive 2 hours to find a veterinary hospital that could fit all 160 lbs of cuddlebug into their x-ray machine! 

The results: a torn ACL.  Bane’s knee would need to be surgically repaired.

One $3,125.41 knee surgery later and Bane is on the mend.  We’re certainly glad we could help pay for his costs and get this handsome guy back into the game.

Bane’s Claim:

Total invoices: $3,125.41

Covered amount: $3,050.29* -$200 deductible = $2,850.29

80% reimbursement: $2,280.23

Bane’s plan has $7,719.77 remaining in this policy term, on the off chance that he has another accident.  This is good news, as ACL issues are much more common once a dog has injured one ACL.  A second repair in this term would not have an additional deductible.

*prescriptions were not included in Bane’s policy, so pain relievers were exempted from the reimbursement

A note from Bane’s Mom:

As stressful as it was (driving two hours to a hospital that could fit him into an x-ray machine, and getting the surgery that he needed) Embrace was there every step of the way and made the process very fast and easy. The claim form is a breeze to fill out and send back, and within a few days, I received my reimbursement. They also reimbursed me for Bane's follow-up x-ray. No questions asked! I even got a personal email from them checking up on Bane during his recovery. Thank you Embrace for making Bane's surgery possible! We are all very happy with the outcome and will be lifetime customers!

Related Posts:
December is Extremes Month - Big & Little Dogs & Cats
Life with a Great Dane
Big Dog Claim Example: Neopolitan Mastiff's torn cruciate ligament
Life with a Maine Coon, or three
Guest Post: very big dog versus very small dog
Small Dog Claim Example: Pug has breathing issues

Life with a Great Dane

Continuing December's theme of dog and cat extremes, we asked Great Dane Embracer, Jahmila B. of Fort Collins, CO, to “tell us about life with your big boy, Ludo”.

As far as life with a giant breed dog....It's great! I decided to get a Great Dane because I have always loved giant breeds like Mastiffs, Danes and Irish Wolf Hounds. They have the perfect energy level for me and my life style and I think that is the most important thing to consider when getting a dog. I know I do not have the time or energy to exercise my dog for hours each day. With Ludo we go for a walk around the neighborhood and he usually lasts about twenty minutes before he wants to go home. He is very content with laying in his chair all day even though he has the opportunity to come to work with me at doggy daycare. Everyone thinks that to have a giant breed dog you need a big back yard for them to run and that is completely not true. They are great apartment dogs, as Ludo spent the first 2 years of his life in an apartment and did fine.

I got Ludo from a breeder because I did want to have a puppy and all the local rescues would not let a puppy live in a house without a fenced in yard.  Despite not being able to adopt a Dane, Ludo and I still spent about a year and a half volunteering with the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue helping to raise money for his fellow Danes that were looking for homes.

The one thing that worried me with giant breed dogs like Danes was bloat. I have known friends who's dogs have bloated and I never wanted to deal with that so I made the decision to get his stomach tacked when he got neutered as a pup. With that worry out of my head all I have to worry about now is his clumsiness. He is a silly big dog that thinks he is a lot smaller than he is. But I love my giant breed dog. My French Bulldog mix, Herman, is probably the only small dog I will ever own. When the time comes to get another dog it will be another Dane or possibly a Neapolitan Mastiff! I have always wanted one of them too! 

Would you like to read more about some of Jahmila’s favorite breeds?

Great Dane

Mastiff

Neapolitan Mastiff

Irish Wolfhound

And not to exclude Herman the Frenchie mix

Related Posts:
December is Extremes Month - Big & Little Dogs & Cats
Life with a Great Dane
Big Dog Claim Example: Neopolitan Mastiff's torn cruciate ligament
Life with a Maine Coon, or three
Guest Post: very big dog versus very small dog
Small Dog Claim Example: Pug has breathing issues

New Feature: View your Embrace claim status online

Excellent news! You can now view your Embrace Pet Insurance claim status online. It's about time!

Go to our website, click on the "after you enroll" tab and right at the bottom, click the "view your claims".

Or you can click directly this view your claims and bookmark it for future use.

It's a good start and I'm sure you'll have suggestions on improvements so email us at hello@embracepetinsurance.com and let us know what your thoughts are.

It goes hand in hand with the claims form download feature - another nifty tool to access your personalized claim form and orthopedic report card for all your pets in one location.

Onwards and upwards... 

 

Pet Insurance 101: a wellness/illness split claim

It's been a very long time since I've written about the nuts and bolts of pet insurance. Since this is a pet insurance blog, let's blog about pet insurance!

Question: what happens to Embrace Pet Insurance claims where there are wellness and accident/illness items on the same invoice?

Answer: we create two claims - one for the wellness items and one for the illness items.

This way, we can keep track of the wellness costs separately, taking them out of your Wellness Rewards pot of money, while the accident/illness costs are taken out of your insurance benefits. We'll let you know that we've split the claim up when we send you your claim acknowledgement.

To maximize your payout, we'll assume that your office visit for the split claim applies to the Wellness Rewards coverage (we don't split it in half); however, if you are close to your annual Wellness Rewards limit (either $200 or $400, depending on what you picked), we will set the office visit to be taken care of in your accident/illness claim if that would give you more money back.

The exception to where the office visit applies is if your wellness charges were parasite control items only, such as flea/tick medication. Then the office visit will be taken care of on your accident/illness coverage since it is likely that you just picked up your flea/tick meds when you were in the office for an accident/illness split. Clear as mud?!

You may notice your Wellness claims are often processed faster than your accident/illness claims (not always but the majority of the time), which is because they are often more straightforward than the insurance claim and can be dealt with more quickly. We'll remind you about your outstanding accident/illness claim when we send you your wellness claim Explanation of Benefits. 

Questions or comments?

Background on Wellness Rewards:

Many of you know that we have the best pet wellness product on the market. If you need a quick reminder of exactly why it's the best (no deductible, no category sublimits, no copay), check out our Wellness Rewards page on our website.

One of the nice things about wellness is that Wellness Rewards is not insurance - yay! That's because there's nothing uncertain about it, nothing unknown, which is a requirement to be insurance.

The Embrace Wellness Rewards product is more like a health spending account where you get a pot of money to spend on wellness items such as spay/neuter surgeries, prescription diet food, and toe nail clipping.

Happy Fifth Birthday to Embrace Pet Insurance!

Happy Birthday to Embrace! This day five years ago, we sold our first policy to me and my cat Lily.

I distinctly remember when we got the go-ahead from our underwriters at the time, Lloyd's of London, and since I was out of the office on that day, I phoned in to purchase our first policy.

We'd been training our first 2 Embracers, Chris and Lea, on the phones by having people (including my mom) randomly call in to pretend to buy a policy so I didn't tell Lea, who happened to answer the phone this time around, that this was a "live" purchase until the end of the call. It was a giddy feeling for all of us when I told her to put through my real credit card info and really buy the policy.

A lot has changed since we sold that first policy but we remember our humble start fondly. We now have 24 Embracers, plus we're about to hire another 2. We broke even in June of this year and have insured thousands of cats and dogs and paid out millions in claim reimbursement. It feels really good to get to where we are now.

Here are some photos of the last 5 years at Embrace - do you have any fond memories of Embrace over the years you'd like to share? 

 

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October is Orthopedic Month at Embrace Pet Insurance

The Embrace Pet Insurance Top 10 veterinary claims for cats and dogs are as follows:

By number of claims:

1	gastrointestinal	22%
2	skin	21%
3	orthopedic	12%
4	ear	8%
5	urological	6%
6	accident	5%
7	eye	5%
8	respiratory	4%
9	cancer	3%
10	infectious disease	3%

By amount of claims:

1	gastrointestinal	24%
2	orthopedic	19%
3	skin	16%
4	accident	5%
5	cancer	5%
6	respiratory	5%
7	ear	5%
8	urological	4%
9	eye	4%
10	infectious disease	3%

The gastro claims includes foreign body ingestion so if you removed those and put them in accidents, orthopedic claims would top the charts for claims by amount.

That's pretty scary and pretty expensive. The list of orthopedic conditions, many of which are considered hereditary, includes:

• luxating patella
• cruciate ligament ruptures (average claim is just over $2,000, which includes rechecks - surgery is way way more)
• hip dysplasia
• intervertebral disc disease (IVDD)
• degenerative joint disease (DJD)
• plain old limping (undiagnosed claims average $780 per claim)
• and so on

We'll be talking more about many of these conditions later on this month. Anything else you'd like to talk about too?

Related Posts:
October is Orthopedic Month at Embrace Pet Insurance
Claim Example: Old English Bulldogge with multiple medical conditions
Guest Post: Pixie the Chihuahua Mix - a remarkable story of love and dedication
The Lowdown on Dog and Cat Orthopedics
Guest Post: Rupture of the Cranial Cruciate Ligament

Embrace wins NorthCoast99 Award second year in a row

The reason why we get such great customer reviews is because of our Embracers.

Yes, we have a great product. Yes, we have a great website. Yes, we are open and honest. But really, the Embrace Experience is not just a concept, it's the people that make all of that happen.

The way you are treated when you call in. The way we admit to mistakes and how we fix them. The way we love your pets too. All of which come from the Embrace Core Values and the Embracers that live them.

Which is why we work hard to hire great people with inquisitive and sharp minds to be Embracers. We can't do it any other way.

So, when someone else, not our mothers, says we have a great place to work, we love the recognition that others get what we are doing too. Yay!

Just in case you aren't from around here, a NorthCoast 99 Award recognizes the ability to maintain great workplaces that support the attraction, retention, and motivation of Top Performers. We won for the second year in a row and don't plan to stop winning any time soon.

Some interesting facts about the 99 companies that won a NorthCoast 99 award this year.

• 65% have onsite fitness classes, activities or programs (we have yoga on Mondays)
• 91% provide new hires with a welcome lunch (each new hire has lunch with their assigned Embrace buddy)
• 14,599 new employees hired in 2010 (wow, we did a rather modest part of that)
• 53% of non-management top performers participated in the creation or implementation of a new workplace policy, program or product/service in 2010 (everyone gets to chip in at Embrace)

Claim Example: hyperadrenocorticism or Cushings Disease in 9 year old dog

I was doing a quick survey of costly conditions in older dogs (older cat conditions coming soon) and Peggy, a 9 year old mixed breed dog living in Portland, OR, caught my eye.

Peggy has hyperadrenocorticism, also known as Cushings Disease, which is more common in middle-aged and senior dogs. Cushings is a disease where the adrenal gland produces too much cortisol, most often caused by a tumor in the pituitary or adrenal glands. It is suspected to be somewhat genetic as certain breeds such as Miniature Poodles, Dachshunds, Boxers, Boston Terriers, and Beagles are more susceptible to the condition.

The most common clinical signs for Cushings are polydipsia (PD increased thirst), polyuria (PU increased urination), polyphagia (eating too much), heat intolerance, lethargy, potbelly, panting, obesity, muscle weakness, and recurrent urinary tract infections. Have you seen your dog suffering from one of those symptoms?

Peggy has “pituitary dependent” hyperadrenocorticism, and so she is being treated by medication. Her claims since she has started her treatment are as follows:

Vet Visit	Diagnosis	Claim Amount	Covered Amount	Paid Amount
2/12/2011	Hyperadrenocorticism, PU/PD	$1,246.47	$1,246.47	$597.18
3/25/2011	Hyperadrenocorticism	$396.00	$396.00	$316.80
3/15/2011	Ultrasound Abdomen	$305.00	$305.00	$244.00
3/28/2011	Drug: Prednisone & Vetoryl	$76.20	$76.20	$60.96
4/20/2011	Hyperadrenocorticism	$296.00	$296.00	$236.80
4/27/2011	Drug: Vetoryl	$72.85	$72.85	$58.28
5/13/2011	Hyperadrenocorticism	$407.48	$378.50	$302.80
7/16/2011	Drug: Vetoryl	$88.49	$70.50	$56.40
7/29/2011	Hyperadrenocorticism	$363.00	$363.00	$290.40
	Total	$3,251.49	$3,204.52	$2,163.62

Peggy's policy has a $500 annual deductible, an 80% reimbursement rate, a $10,000 annual maximum and includes the prescription drug coverage. Her policy costs $28.73 a month.

For more details, check out our detail on hyperadrenocorticism (Cushings Disease) in the Embrace Pet Health Center.

Are you coping with a Cushing's dog?

Related Posts:
September is Senior Pet Month at Embrace Pet Insurance
Guest Post: Top 5 good things about old dogs
Guest Post: Senior Pet Health Tips
Claim Example: hyperadrenocorticism or Cushings Disease in 9 year old dog
Guest Post: Letting Her Lead by Christine Gillow

(picture is of another Embraced dog, Lexington - what a cutie!) 

Pet Insurance and Divorce

At Embrace Pet Insurance, a number of divorce or separation situations have come up and the following scenarios and solutions untangle the complexity so you can get what you need for you and your pets with minimal anxiety.

Scenario 1: you have sole custody of the pets and you have always owned the pet insurance policy yourself

Call into the pet insurance company to check your policy details for the following:

• Who is listed as the insureds on the policy? You can have two or more insureds on a pet insurance policy, all of whom can all make decisions about the policy, including cancellation and billing decisions. Make sure your policy is limited to the people you want to be making those changes.
• How is the policy paid for and by whom? Make sure you confirm the billing is your own credit card or bank account as soon as possible. You don’t want your ex cancelling the premium payments and lapsing the coverage. Make sure that if the payments come out of a bank account, the account is going to remain active going forward.
• Which addresses are listed on the policy? Several considerations here:
  • Your premium may change upon a change of address - not much you can do about this but don’t be surprised by an unexpected change when your next premium is billed
  • You don’t want your claim check going to your ex so confirm they are all going to your current location. Even better, have the claim reimbursement deposited into your own bank account so there’s no way for the money to go elsewhere by mistake
  • Make sure the email address on record is your current one. You don’t your email going to a defunct address or worse, your ex’s

Scenario 2: you have sole custody of the pets but your spouse owned the pet insurance policy before your split

If you are taking over the policy from your spouse, you’ll have to transfer it into your name as soon as possible. Call the pet insurance company to find out their procedure for transferring the policy as most will allow you to do it. You do not want to have to restart the policy as this might trigger new pre-existing conditions, which you do not want to happen. If you do not know which insurance company the policy is with, there's a handy list over at www.petinsurancereview.com (for the US and Canada). Call them all, starting with VPI (it's the largest at the moment) until you find the right one.

If the policy has lapsed because of non-payment, ask the pet insurer if the policy can be reinstated without restarting the policy. If it is just a week or so from lapsing, it’s a good bet they’ll reinstate your policy as long as you pay the unpaid premium. If it’s longer than that and the company says no, plead your case to the underwriter who issued the policy for some leniency (often different from the company you deal with on a day to day basis_. You will still have to pay unpaid premiums if the insurer agrees.

Once you have control of the policy, check the policy details in scenario 1.

Scenario 3: you are sharing custody and the finances of the pets

If you are sharing custody of the pets on the policy and want to share the cost of the policy and have the reimbursements go to the appropriate person, this gets tricky. Most pet insurance companies cannot handle multiple bank accounts or addresses for premium payments and claims reimbursement depending on who paid for the vet bill so you will need to coordinate the financials with your ex. You should include how you are going to handle this in your divorce settlement.

Note that if you just want to pay for your own policy to cover any vet bills you might have when you have the pets, your spouse does not need to get involved in your policy. It’s totally up to you.

Scenario 4: the pets on the policy go to different homes

Some insurers have multiple pets on a policy so it becomes complicated when some of the pets stay on the old policy and some go to a new home. The pets that are going to a new home will be split off from the old policy onto a new one, possibly trigger new pre-existing conditions for those pets. Ask the pet insurer if a special dispensation could be made so that the new policy does not trigger new pre-existing conditions. Most pet insurers will have no difficulty accommodating this request.

Finally...

Under all these scenarios, if something goes wrong with the policy and you do not get the solution you are looking for from your pet insurer, be sure to write to the insurance company that issued your pet insurance policy for a compassionate review. You can often get a positive response if you go right to the source.

Are you going through a divorce right now and are having to handle this situation? Let us know in the comments and I might be able to help.