Insurance claim question

lisajane8482

Our youngest kitty went to the vets yesterday afternoon as he has been unwell since Friday. He has lost his appetite and has had sloppy poops.

The vet checked him over and has ruled out food poisoning and infection as he seems quite well in himself and doesn’t have a temperature. The only thing she could find wrong was a lump in his stomach area which is .

He was given an Dexadreson injection and Pro-Kolin to be given twice a day and said to take him back tomorrow if he hasn’t improved.


Last night he ate around 75g of white fish but hasn’t eaten since. The only toileting he has done so far is a couple of wee’s so he’s booked back in for 6pm tomorrow if things don’t improve. Our biggest concern is that he’s not eating properly, which is very unusual for him. He’s not even interested in his favourite treats. If he is bunged up he won’t be want to be eating I guess.

The bill for yesterday cost £42 and tomorrows will cost at least another £20, we have insurance with an excess of £65. As the visits are all related once we hit the £65 mark will the insurance then cover the rest? (We’d obviously only claim if it was worth it, I wouldn’t claim if it was only £20 or so).

If they do cover the rest do I let them know once we hit the £65 mark, once we’ve hit the limit that we will be happy to pay our selves or should I let them know now?

TIA

madmish00

Hope your kitty is feeling better today and it isn't anything serious

It depends on your individual insurance but usually any follow up treatment for the same condition is covered under the one excess so once you are over the £65 your insurance should kick in.

My kitty had kidney disease and I had to pay the excess for that condition for the first claim in each policy year and then after that they paid out on all further treatment for that condition until policy renewal

krlyr

Insurance payouts tend to work in two ways - direct claims are where your vet claims directly from the insurers, or the other way is that you settle the bill with your vet and then claim the money back from your insurance.

The former is obviously preferable for most, but not all vets do direct claims, and if they do, some may put restrictions on which insurance companies they deal with. For example, most are happy to deal with Petplan due to their good reputation, whereas they may avoid some companies like the plague (I know E&L are one known to be terrible at paying out)

I would speak to your vet, and see if they accept direct claims. If so, they will require a claims for which they'll send off to get their money. They'll claim for everything, including the £65 you've paid them, but the insurance company will deduct £65 from the payment they make to the vets. If you make the claim yourself, send it off with the bills for the £65 you've paid too, so they're aware you've paid your excess already.

One thing to bear in mind with claims like this is that some insurers put time limits on when you need to make claims - they may say it needs to be claimed within 30 days of first symptoms, for example. Read your policy, it should all be explained there.

lisajane8482

Thank you both for your replies. Seems he is on the mend and our vet didn’t charge for his visit yesterday. She had a feel of his stomach and said that the lump she had felt on Tuesday had become smaller and that she suspected that he had been suffering from an upset stomach and constipation. She said she was happy that there was nothing seriously wrong with him and to continue giving him the rest of the Pro-Kolin and that if he did become ill again to take him back. We did find a rather large deposit yesterday morning but couldn’t be 100% sure it was Gizmo’s. Last night he was kind enough to leave us a rather large and stinky deposit and is now eating a lot better and is playing and bck to his chirppy self again.

I guess my hubby is right that I do worry too much. I have now read the insurance policy and will know what to do in the future.

Thank you both again