Pet insurance - adding an exclusion ??

Medic999

We've got 4 cats, which are all insured with the same insurance company, and for which we've been paying for nearly 5 years now.

Saturday 2 weeks ago we noticed one cat was limping, worried he might have been hit by a car we took him to Medivet.

They diagnosed an abscess, which had had drained, and a few ours later we could pick our cat up again.

The bills for the consult, anesthetics, drainage, and a weeks course of abx came to nearly £ 500, so we put in a claim (our first ever claim) with the pet insurance company.

But even before they've dealt with the claim (we're still waiting, and haven't been paid back the £ 500, we had to pay up front) they send a letter stating :

We have recently undertaken a review of your above policy for any increased insurance risks that maybe present.

Following the assessment of information recently submitted to our Claims Department, we will be placing an exclusion on your policy:

With effect from 23/03/2013 cover for the skin.


Can they just do that ?? So they've not even paid out this claim yet, but are already telling us that next time we'll have to pay for it all ourselves.

Also, despite adding this exclusion, they haven't dropped their price, so we are now getting a lesser product, but are still paying the same money for it. Surely that can't be right ??!

Any tips/advice on how to fight this greatly appreciated.

chris_n_tj

Which company is it please x

InsideInsurance

You need to check the policy itself. A policy cannot be changed mid term however, unlike Home or Motor, a fair percentage of Pet policies are actually a monthly policy with an annual review. They still cannot change anything mid term but with a policy technically only being a month long then they can change it the renewal (ie monthly)

All that, not happy? Log a complaint

questionss

Has your cat suffered from skin complaints that you haven't claimed for? They will request complete histories from vets and if a skin complaint has been noted even if not claimed for it can be excluded after the first year...

The abscess wouldn't usually be linked to a skin complaint so if there is no history of skin issues it may be worth asking your vet to write a letter to help challenge the exclusion. Your vet may make a nominal charge for this service, you won't be able to claim this.

sallyj17

Would be interesting to know which company this is? Have you asked them why they have excluded skin conditions? As mentioned above it may be that you have previously consulted the vet about a skin condition for this pet. If this was prior to taking out the policy it would certainly explain the exclusion.

wannabe_credit_free

Check your policy. It could be, your policy only covers, any one condition, per year and then it becomes a pre existing condition.

Buellguy

I'm assuming the date should read 2014 not 2013, if so it sounds like they'll pay out for this one but not any further ones. If it is 2013 I'd be getting in touch with them......

*Scarlett

As stated before, check the policy. Does it cover "lifetime" conditions?

JournalGirl

Take the money you pay for the four cats (£40ish a month?) and put it in a savings account that you only touch for cat medical emergencies.