Multiple claims for one condition

adonis10

We have had a couple of vet bills over the past couple of days for our cat and our vet informed us that they can be submitted as one claim, presumably only incurring one excess. The first one was an out of hours emergency vet and the second was our regular vet - we have two invoices and claim forms because the vet needs to fill out part of the form, hence the need for two. They relate to the same condition but given that there are two I would assume that they would be classed as two claims. We are with PetPlan. Does anyone have experience of such and know whether it would be one or two claims?

sheramber

If you have cover for life then Petplan will automatically link the two claims. You only pay one excess per condition within one policy year.

If you two claims land on either side of your renewal date than you will pay two excesses- one for each policy year.

e.g your renewal is due 15th of July

Your first claim is for treatment on 14th July and the second claim is for 17 th July. Each claim falls in a different policy year so two excesses.
If your two claims were for treatment on 10th July and then 14 th July then both are within the same policy year so only one excess.

RuthnJasper

I used to work at an emergency out of hours vet, so saw this a lot.


If the emergency out of hours vet is a separate organisation to your regular vet then it would need to be two separate claim forms, but you would mark the second as a continuation of the first (the ' new claim' or 'continuation claim' tick boxes at the top of the claim form).


This is because a vet needs to sign each form confirming the work that (s)he has done and the regular day vet cannot sign for work that the out of hours vet has carried out and vice-versa.


You should only have to pay one excess per condition though, hence why you mark one of the forms as a continuation claim.


Hope this helps, and hope your cat will be OK.

krlyr

Claims and conditions are two different things.

Pet insurance usually has one excess per condition per policy year. E.g. cat breaks a leg, cat has x-ray (one vet bill), cat has surgery (another bill), cat has follow-up physiotherapy (another bill). You could put in 3 claims at various stages, you could save them up to put in 1 claim (but check T&Cs as some have a time limit, e.g. 3 months from bill), but the excess is per condition (so broken leg) so only one excess is deducted regardless of it being 1, 2, 3, etc. claims. If cat has problem with the same leg next policy year, although it's the same condition, it's a new year, so another excess.

If cat then gets, say, an ear infection, that's another condition so another excess.

krlyr

Another thing to consider is admin fees on your vets end, which are unrelated to the insurer. Some do charge, though many will waiver for Pet Plan as they're generally good at paying out and presumably the admin is more straight forward. My vet charges about £10 per claim, so I tend to save them up (my girl has an ongoing condition - and my insurers have no time limit on claims except being within the policy year) and file one claim for multiple invoices so I only incur the one admin fee.

ElusiveLucy

There is a box on the claim form for "new condition" or "continuation". This links them together.


I pay all my bills myself to my vets and they submit the forms for me. I then get the money paid direct into my account. Our vet charges an admin fee if you want them to get payment direct from the insurer.