Pet pre-existing injury Insurance

Miss_Top_Dog

I currently own a Springer Spaniel who broke his elbow in the first year of his life which had to go to a specialist Vet to have his elbow pinned, My insurance were fab although doubled my my insurance for the next year from £6 per month to £12 which i had expected and quite happily paid with the recent years increasing my insurance to £14.95 pm, However the pins came loose and he went lame again and had to be re- operated on three-four years later this time haveing to have the pin replaced a screw put in and a bone graft from his shoulder put into his elbow to act almost as scafolding to prevent this from happening again. Again my insurance company was fab, fast payout etc etc. However i have just received my renewal notice uping my dog insurance to £40.00 per month. so i am now in a bit of a predicament as i cant afford such a steap increase. My Insurance has however paid out around £3000 in vets bills. My questions are as follows....

Is the insurance company even allowed to increase the premium by this huge percentage?

If i want to change my insurance do any companies cover pre- existing conditions should the pins come loose again? If so, who?

My worries are that i will have to cancel my current insurance and change to one that does not cover this ongoing condition, to lower my payments however should this reoccur again i can not afford to pay £1500, and would only have the option of putting my dog down, which would be totaly inhumane as he is a completely healthy dog and i love him so dearly!

Many thanks a very conserned dog owner!!

bouncydog1

You probably don't have any choice in the matter if you want cover to continue as any new insurer will exclude pre-existing conditions. Your insurers are able to put the price up to pretty much whatever level they like on the basis that if you don't accept their offer of premium for cover, then you can go elsewhere.

Whilst the hike may seem a lot, compared to what you would have had to pay if you hadn't had the cover it's not really a lot. Your dog is also quite a bit older than when you first bought the cover so premium increases anyway as the animals age. Is your policy a "for life policy" or will cover cease when he reaches age 9 as some of them do as this may be a consideration for moving rather than just focusing on the pre-existing condition.

The choice is yours ultimately - if you move insurers anything that may be related to the original condition will be excluded, so it might not only be issues relating to this injury if the vet report mentions anything else.