£12 Blood test - Insurance company say this is reasonable!

gettingready

I know of one person who's dog hurt his leg and animal friends put exclusion on all 4 legs after that - their version of "reasonable" is insane

andybonny

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

BUT .... and I'm sorry - that's the whole issue with taking a policy where terms like 'reasonable' are included in the policy wording

Unless you can then get something from them (in writing so that you can then prove it when needed), stating what limits are / what will / won't be covered, then I'm afraid it's pretty much always going to end up with the poor owner finding out that what they think is reasonable is wildly different from what the insurer thinks is reasonable

I'm not arguing that they include a clause about what reasonable. What I'm trying to find out is if it is 'reasonable' to set £12 fora blood test as a limit.

I don't think it's possible for anyone in a professional capacity to charge as litt as £12. What I would like is Animal Friends to let us know which vet practices charge such a low rates.

Does anyone think that blood tests are this low? A quick internet search shows people are paying between £35-£90. What I want to do is go back to Animal Friends with a little bit of back up research showing that £12 is way out of touch with the real world.

elsien

It would depend on the blood test and what's being checked. I know when my last dog went in for an op a few years back there were different prices depending on the level of test I chose. None were as low as £12.
With regards to the consultation fee - I paid £250 for an initial consultation with a specialist and that was a good 5 years ago (and not London prices.) So £200 does seem low.
Another vote for contacting the ombudsman - a cap is fine if you know it's there and have agreed to it. Not if they spring it on you when it's way too late when the rest of the policy says up to the maximum limit as specified in your schedule' That's the bit I'd focus on when taking out insurance, not to quibble over how the final total is made up.

rising_from_the_ashes

The only way to even begin to ascertain if the costs are 'reasonable' is to ask other vets practices what they would charge (for exactly the same consult / blood tests) and get that in writing - if you can get enough evidence to cast doubt that AF are applying an unreasonable cap then you might get somewhere with the FO

orlao

This really doesn't look fair. I suspect it's a bit like private medical insurance for people where you can either go to their 'preferred' hospital and the insurer will pay all the bill or if you wish to use another clinic they will only pay x amount towards the procedure. Car insurers do the same for body repairs but at least you know what x is in those cases.

Hopefully you can sort it out with AF when they call but if the claim is under the policy limit I can't imagine that they get to decide what is and isn't reasonable treatment if qualified vets are prepared to stand by their decisions and the fees that are part of that treatment. Have you spoken to your vets about this yet? They maybe able to give you some paperwork and/or support a claim to the ombudsman when you appeal this?

I'm sorry about Bonny, you really don't need this stress after losing her.

ETA The policy definition of reasonable
"Vet fees means reasonable, customary and essential fees typically charged by a vet in the provision of treatment"

Ask them what practices they use and their location to define typical - it sounds like they could be using non profits or low cost providers and cherry picking procedures ie £12 bloodtest so not including a fee for blood taking, reading the results, contacting the owner and so on.

rising_from_the_ashes

orlao wrote: »

ETA The policy definition of reasonable
"Vet fees means reasonable, customary and essential fees typically charged by a vet in the provision of treatment"

Oh lord - 'typical' is just as bad as reasonable

I have no idea how you even go about getting proof of that eg my vets charge £360 for a female dog spay (20-30kg) BUT a member on another forum I'm on, has just paid £120 (same sized dog) .... might not seem that strange until you consider that I'm in rural Scotland .... and she's in Southern England :eek:

A cat spay is £35 there .... and over £100 here .....ier booster (dog) is £20, mine is £45 and for a cat she pays £31.50 and I've just paid £58

So ... what is typical

UKTigerlily

So sorry to hear about you dog xx From what I remember a full cat blood test is just under £100 or the basic one was about £40 and for the dog I think it was £60 when she had her dental. I've never heard of one as low as £12! Seems they try to get away with all they can and at this time that's even worse. Maybe CAB would know?

orlao

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Oh lord - 'typical' is just as bad as reasonable

I have no idea how you even go about getting proof of that eg my vets charge £360 for a female dog spay (20-30kg) BUT a member on another forum I'm on, has just paid £120 (same sized dog) .... might not seem that strange until you consider that I'm in rural Scotland .... and she's in Southern England :eek:

A cat spay is £35 there .... and over £100 here .....ier booster (dog) is £20, mine is £45 and for a cat she pays £31.50 and I've just paid £58

So ... what is typical

It's amazing how much of a difference there is in prices depending on area - competition and volumes I expect!

I think typical might be better for the OP - AF would have to explain where they got the figures to get their definition. It's not like they can say that they think that no one should have to pay more than x amount for any service. By saying typical they will have to show that the figures/costs they quote should be available to a large proportion of their customers. With credit cards (not strictly relevant I know but insurance and financials are covered by the same ombudsman IIRC so the same rules?) typical means available to at least 51% of customers...

Even if they manage to wriggle out of definitions of both reasonable and typical somehow I think that the fact that they haven't published the price caps on procedures would mean that they are open to having a complaint upheld by the FO.

Blondygirl

Hi,

So sorry to hear of your loss. We had a blood test done for our dogs liver on Friday & it was £48! That was just at the normal vets & not a specialist. I think your insurance company are been very unreasonable & thats not what you need.

dionne_clark

Animal Friends are very poor when it comes to claims, I had my horse insured with them for 3 years and when he was diagnosed with Cushings I completed a claim form, excess is £450 which is steep but I paid it, then when he was getting further blood tests and medication etc it was the same, they limited the claim on vet call outs, blood tests, wont pay postage or prescription charges, so they have ended up paying out very little indeed, now they are saying its a new year so new excess? I complained and said I could understand it being per condition and for a year from claiming but if its per policy year then if I claimed in March and paid excess but my policy renewed in April then I would have to pay excess again as its my bad luck in the timing of my horse being ill - they said yes - that's how it works so pot luck when your animal is ill, you might be alright if it falls ill right at the start of your policy year! I cancelled immediately, what's the point in having it I would have to have another bill over £450 to claim again, and I would have to pay for all the medication in the mean time. I told them as well I was going to post on forums and put a notice up at our yards tea room where we have over 100 horses so no one else gets caught out - a complete con as far as I am concerned, when your animal is ill or dying the last thing you need is hassle with insurance.