Pet Insurance and Pre-existing Conditions
Pre-existing Conditions, a Fact of Pet Insurance
Don't get us wrong; we want to look after your pet as much as possible. If we could cover every single condition your cat, dog or rabbit was ever to suffer; we would in a heartbeat. But this is where we have to say we can't and trust us; many other insurance providers would say the same thing: the reason is pre-existing conditions. It’s a fact of pet insurance.
It's not the best news, we know. To make sure you’re armed with all the knowledge you need, we're going to delve into everything you need to know about pet insurance and pre-existing conditions.
Dr Anna Talks: Pre-Existing Conditions
What is a Pre-existing Condition?
At Everypaw, we define a pre-existing condition as:
A pre-existing condition is an illness, injury or symptom your pet has ever suffered from or is suffering from before you buy a policy. This includes one-off or ongoing symptoms, conditions and accidental injuries, plus anything you've spoken to a vet or other professional about their health or behaviour. Even if it was nothing to worry about and it cleared up quickly.
That is exactly what you'll read when you get a quote. It's a bit insurance, but it’s what we work to and stand by because we don't offer pet insurance for pre-existing conditions. To help make it clearer, here’s a breakdown for you.
Pre-existing Conditions Definitions
Illness or injury will tend to be the most obvious. The likelihood is if your pet's been poorly or injured, you would have visited your vet and these visits will be on your pet's medical records. So if your pet has suffered from any illness or injury before you take out your policy, we would consider these to be pre-existing conditions.
Why symptoms? A symptom may seem harmless. A sneeze, an extended stretch or a little limp. Nothing, right? But these could be the initial symptoms of a serious condition. That limp could well be a sign of hip dysplasia. That's why we look at symptoms to determine if it really was nothing to worry about.
Discussions with a vet or another professional may sound like a grey area. How does a chat with my vet turn into a pre-existing condition? That chat, as innocent as it may seem, if it’s related to a condition or a potential future condition, your vet may note it in your pet’s medical records.
Why You Should Consider Pre-existing Conditions
It's hard enough to deal with a poorly pet. It's a whole different matter to contend with if your claim's declined because of a pre-existing condition despite having plenty left in your level of cover. Especially if you would never consider it a pre-existing condition in the first place.
If you know your pet's been poorly in the past, be it minor or major, visited a vet or another professional about their behaviour, it's best to prepare. That way if your pet has a reoccurrence of a previous condition, you can prepare for potentially covering the cost.
Telling Us About Your Pet’s Pre-existing Conditions
When you get an Everypaw Pet Insurance quote, we’ll ask the question “If your pet has ever shown signs of illness or injury?”
You’ll either select yes or no. If your answer is yes, and our system needs more information, we’ll ask for all of your pet’s pre-existing conditions. We then touch base with your vets for the medical records, and we’ll look at underwriting from the start. This is only available to some pets and some breeds, we can’t do this for every customer.
If we don't underwrite your policy upfront, we'll review your pet's medical records if you come to make a claim. If we can’t cover your claim due to a pre-existing condition, we’ll let you know.
Frequently Asked Questions
Suppose we're asking for your pet's pre-existing conditions upfront. In that case, once we have their medical records from your vet (this can take time, depending on the vet), we'll know about any pre-existing conditions from the start.
If we don't ask for extra info, and even if you answer no to the pre-ex question, we’ll review your pet's medical records if you make a claim. So we'll discover any pre-existing conditions then.
It's super important to be completely honest with us and yourself, even if you think the condition may never come back. You never know. And the last thing you want is to rely on a claim only for it to be declined because of something that happened before your policy started.
We determine pre-existing conditions by reviewing your pet's medical records. If we need to, we’ll do this when you take out a policy. If not, we’ll do this if you make a claim.
Our team gets in touch with your vet for the records, and then we go through them to determine if there’s anything we consider a pre-existing medical condition. As we've been through before, it will be when you first take out your policy or make a claim.
- An illness your pet has suffered from before you take out a policy
- An injury your pet has suffered from before you take out a policy
- A symptom your pet has suffered from before you take out a policy
- Discussions with your vet or other professionals about their health or behaviour
Even if treatment wasn't needed or you were told it was nothing to worry about, these are the terms on which we determine pre-existing conditions.
However, just because your pet has pre-existing conditions doesn't necessarily mean the condition will be permanently excluded. When we review their records, we may find that it was such a long time, 2 years, for example, that we might be able to cover it. Or we might only have to place a temporary exclusion to the condition.
We can't say yes or no whether pet insurance will cover a pre-existing condition. It will come down to the condition itself. Reviewing your pet's medical records, we may find it's been a sufficient period since the last flare-up and be able to cover it.
It might be a case that we only apply a temporary exclusion on a condition until a sufficient period has passed. There's no guarantee; it depends on the condition. For instance, if it's a serious condition, the likelihood is it won't be covered and result in a permanent exclusion.
If you decide to cancel your policy, you run the risk of any conditions your pet has suffered from in the past not being covered by your new provider. Though some providers say they offer insurance for pre-existing conditions, you may find that they'll only cover them if your pet hasn't suffered from it for a certain period, or only offer a small vet fee limit. You could jump ship and find you don’t have sufficient cover, or worse, not covered after all.
Once Everypaw covers you, if your pet suffers from a new illness or injury that isn't related to a pre-existing condition, there's a good chance it'll be covered. And if you renew every year without a gap in cover, you can be confident if we've covered the vet bills in the past, we'll cover it again in the future. Even if it develops into a chronic condition that requires regular treatment.
Though you do need to bear in mind for Max Benefit and Time Limited policies, your pet’s conditions is only be covered up to the vet fee limit or until the time limit expires.
If you do decide for whatever reason to cancel, you’ll also lose out on all the additional benefits that come with an Everypaw policy.
The first 3 or 14 day periods of a new policy are what we call a waiting period. If your pet has an accident or they're poisoned, these won't be covered. And if your pets suffers a condition in the first 14 days, that wouldn't be covered either, and would be considered a pre-existing condition.
But, if you switch to Everypaw, we can cover your pet immediately without the worry of any waiting periods. Just make sure your previous cover was in place for at least 14 days, runs up to your new cover start date and that there's no gap in the cover. If you make a claim, we'll ask for proof.
Cover for Your Pet from Everypaw
We get pre-existing conditions doesn't really make for good reading. It can make any pet owner nervous, whether you're experienced or a new paw-parent. That's why here at Everypaw, we want you to know everything you need to know, so you can be as prepared as you possibly can be.
Everypaw's Pet Insurance comes with 24/7 unlimited access to vets and vet nurses to help your pet's health, care, nutrition and behaviour. So you can rest assured that they'll be well looked after, whoever your new family member is!
