AXA pulling out of pet insurance

Elimum

krlyr wrote: »

As above, the dental clause isn't exclusive to this policy either - infact, many don't cover dental work at all. My vet would likely do a quick visual exam of the teeth at the time of any other consult and deem it an exam without charging me, so check with your own on that.

If the pet has the regular yearly vac booster and heath check, a dental check should be included. If you have this kind of issue with the insurance, just make sure to remember to your vet to add a few words commenting on the dental status on the clinical notes.
And before deciding for an insurance company, remember to check well the exclusions from the policy, as some people found their insurance don't cover for "skin diseases" which is a pretty huge category.

krlyr

bestyman wrote: »

I was looking at dog insurance only a few days ago and was trying to understand the advantages of a lifelong policy.


I said to the wife that if our pet gets a bad disease and costs the insurer a lot of money, of course they will renew but at what premium? I said to the wife whats to stop them saying " Ok, we will insure pre existing, the premium is £2,100 with £2,000 of cover".


Looks like the recent MSE article answered my question.


So in future I think I will just get the cheapest policy? Does this make sense? Thanks

I don't have the exact figures to hand, but one of mine has an on-going condition requiring daily medication, and several blood tests a year to monitor her condition (this should lessen over time, but she's not been stable for longer than 6 months so far, and each adjustment needs at least 2 blood tests - one to check her levels need changing, one to check if they've stabilised on the new dose).

In her first year of diagnosis, I claimed just under £600 in blood tests, about £120 in medication, yet only paid £250 in premiums.

Year two, premiums increased by about £5 a month, I still claimed £120 (slightly more actually, as her dose needed upping a bit) in meds, and probably around £350 in blood tests as her meds needed tweaking again. So that's £500 claims vs £300 in premiums.

Last year, she developed a shoulder problem. So on top of all the thyroid medication and blood tests, she had x-rays at £450 (several exposures, and sedation for a large breed) and anti-inflammatories, and then a few follow up consults and a referall for physio. We used up the full £250 of our complementary therapy too, so that was £700 plus her thyroid stuff - probably around £350 - for under £400 of annual premiums.

We were with AXA, so this April we moved to NCI. With all her history and two pre-existing conditions, I was expecting the premiums to rocket in an attempt to get rid of us. I was pleasantly surprised for the renewal to come through at £60 a month. OK, it was a bit of a jump from what we were paying, but at £700 for the year, I'll likely be claiming at least half of that back for her thyroid stuff, and potentially more (she's on restricted exercise at the mo - her shoulder issue potentially flaring up again, so that could be another £700 on x-rays to confirm, physio, etc. all over again - and potentially a couple of thousand on surgery if needed!)

So from my experience, they definately haven't just whacked up premiums to counteract my claims. It'll be balanced out by those paying out each month without claiming back - which is how insurance works.

Dea332

I had both my Saint Bernards insured with AXA since pups, they are now 6yrs and nearly 8yrs old.
Both have complex ongoing medical conditions requiring regular medications, hospital visits so I had no choice but to accept NCI as the new insurer due to this.
My monthly insurance went up nearly £300 a month overnight, the excess went up and they will now take a percentage from each claim too.
You are also signing an actual loan agreement with them.
With us, they went from the previous year with AXA, what was used out of the annual balance, then decided we needed that amount plus some on top.
I am now paying a mortgage payment each month for them.
Complaining gets you absolutely nowhere with them, I went down that route as we changed to them in November 2014.
They also couldn't give me straight answers to questions regarding the charges on top of the monthly premium, they didn't seem to know what they were doing or talking about at all.
I definitely wouldn't recommend NCI as a first time insurer, avoid them like the plague with their charges on top of your monthly insurance payment.
Yes, I am glad AXA did find me a company that would carry on the policy due to the ongoing medical conditions but I never expected the cost to increase so dramatically, I am struggling because of it.

rising_from_the_ashes

I still think the markets will implode at some point

At the end of the day, the insurers are there to make a profit (whether we like it or not!)

In the past, those that had to claim would've been counter-balanced by those that didn't need to - premiums were kept manageable and cover was able to be provided

However, with the huge steps forward in vet treatment in the past few years, I would suspect this balance is now way off - which is probably one of the reasons Axa withdrew - it's just not that profitable and as their policies were excellent, and a great price, the options were likely to be withdraw or hike premiums hugely.

I've seen many people (not just with the Axa change over but generally) complain their premiums have risen hugely BUT they're claiming a substantial amount (and even all!) of their annual policy limit every year - that's £7k+ each year

That money has to be recovered somehow and the insurer isn't going to foot it year after year (unless you're really lucky) without increasing premiums - who else is going to pay for it?

It's certainly not fair for everyone else to have a sum added to their policies ......

We need to look at the costs of vet treatment - it is HUGELY cheaper on the continent (eg a MRI for a dog can be around £300-£400 - you'd add an extra 0 on the end here) .... why?

Hardly anyone there has pet insurance as treatment is affordable when required - we need to look at what they are doing and see what we can implement here

Otherwise, in 5 or 10 years time, no-one will be able to afford insurance and/or vet treatment

Mars_Bar

An insurance premium shouldn't be put up based on past claims unless there's a valid reason to believe that that condition will make other conditions more likely. The whole point of insurance is that you spread the individual cost of the unlucky across the whole population, otherwise it's not really insurance, is it?

An ongoing claim is a continuation of a past claim, so it is completely unreasonable for insurers to increase your premium purely because of it.

If insurers can't sustain their business model then they need to kick back against the frankly extortionate charges that are currently being added by vets, backed up by idiotic government legislation.

Prime example: one of our dogs needs medication that (on the open market) costs about 33p per day; the government says I can't just buy that medication (it's a simple HRT drug), I have to get a prescription from a vet to get it. Not only that, but the vet has to see the animal once every three months for a "medication checkup" (which consists of 5 minutes looking her over and asking me if she's ok). She's been on this medication for the last 5 years, so the chances of her suddenly developing a reaction to it is slim.

The vet charges just under £1 a day for the same medication, with a 3-monthly "checkup" cost of £30 on top, bringing the cost in at about £1.30 per day for 33p/day medication. I can get the vet to write a scrip and buy the medication online, but they will charge me about £25 for the prescription and still charge me for the checkup, so it makes very little difference (and isn't worth the extra hassle and loss of goodwill, given that I claim it back from the insurance anyway).

Not really a surprise that costs are going up, is it?

Mars_Bar

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

It's certainly not fair for everyone else to have a sum added to their policies ......

Yes, it absolutely is. As I wrote before, that's entirely the point of insurance.

krlyr

Dea332 wrote: »

You are also signing an actual loan agreement with them.

Not to diminish your other issues, but they do allow you to pay upfront if you don't want to take up the finance option, I did this as I didn't like the idea of a third party/finance agreement.

sheramber

Some companies are kicking back , as you say, by restricitng how much they will pay out for items.

One policy I read stated the maximum amount they would pay for a consultation, the maximum they would pay for OOH treatment. Both amounts were less than I have read of being charged.

However, the person who suffers is not the vet but the pet owner who still has to pay the vet's fees toget the treatment.

Not everyone has a choice of vet to use. My nearest vet is 20 miles away and the next nearest is 80 miles away.

Many practices no longer provide thier own OOH cover but have passed it to out of hours providers who charge large payments before you get in the door.

Again, if that is the only service available to you you have little choice.

Another poster said insurance will become a luxury. No, keeping a pet will continue to be a luxury for many.

sallyj17

The Telegraph have picked up the MSE press release and are asking for AXA policyholders who have had premium hikes from NCI to email them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/pet/11598970/AXA-pet-insurance-customers-face-price-hike-of-up-to-2000.html

PhiltheBear

Sadly, it appears that, from a number of cases where complaints have been made about these very high premium increases, the Financial Ombudsman does - absolutely nothing. Why? Because they say they have no power over premium increases. Getting publicity to embarrass them may well be a dissatisfied customer's only hope. This isn't the first time something similar has happened.