Vet costs up front?

adonis

John-K wrote: »

I genuinely cannot follow your logic there. It is like saying if you have an overdraft facility why work.

The money is used and then returned by the insurance company. How can you not understand that?

How can you not understand that some people may not be able to access the funds to pay the vet first that is why they take out insurance,
should they take out a payday loan or visit a loan shark?

mtbbuxton

The best advice I can give you is to ask your Vet Surgery if they will claim directly from your insurance company. My Vet states that all invoices must be settled in full at the time of treatment, however if you have a reputable Insurance Company, they will let you pay the excess and process a direct claim.
If your Vet doesn't do this, there may be another in the area who will.
I've also had dealings with a few different Referral Hospitals and without exception, they all wanted payment in full before you left.
The only variation to this was if my Insurance Company pre approved a claim, but this is generally used for planned diagnostics i.e. MRI scan as pre approval takes a few days to arrange.

M x

sheramber

adonis wrote: »

How can you not understand that some people may not be able to access the funds to pay the vet first that is why they take out insurance,
should they take out a payday loan or visit a loan shark?

Maybe they should think twice before getting a pet and consider how they would pay for unexpected expense.

adonis

sheramber wrote: »

Maybe they should think twice before getting a pet and consider how they would pay for unexpected expense.

Isn't that the point of taking out insurance?



https://www.pet-insurance.co.uk/

Soot2006

Equine vets will usually deal with insurance directly. As long as it's one of their "approved" insurance companies. I've only ever had to pay the excess direct to the vet and then let them deal with each other for paperwork and payment.

Small animal seems to be more common for owner to pay the vet and then reclaim from insurance. However, our vet clinic will "discuss" direct payment in certain situations (v large unexpected bills, known customer, etc). Sadly, in my experience people don't always fully understand what insurance cover they actually have and direct payment to the vet reduces the risk of vet not getting paid at all.

sheramber

adonis wrote: »

Isn't that the point of taking out insurance?



https://www.pet-insurance.co.uk/

They only say that they will cover costs.
They cannot dictate whether a vet will agree to charge direct.

There are companies who have arranges with vets so that a direct claim can be made.
Petplan are one that vets will claim direct from because Petplan run courses for vet nurses so that they know exactly what they will cover and what they will not.

Why should a vet not be paid for his work at the time, just like any other business.? He has expenses to pay and can't say to his staff I can't pay you until Joe Public's insurance payment comes through,

He has no guarantee that the insurance company will pay out. Unfortunately, some companies make a habit of wriggling out of payment and clients don't always read a policy properly to know what is and what is not covered.

Vets are a business , not a charity for pet owners.

If direct payment is important then you need to ask your vet if they will claim direct from the company you are considering.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Soot2006 wrote: »

Equine vets will usually deal with insurance directly. As long as it's one of their "approved" insurance companies. I've only ever had to pay the excess direct to the vet and then let them deal with each other for paperwork and payment.

Small animal seems to be more common for owner to pay the vet and then reclaim from insurance. However, our vet clinic will "discuss" direct payment in certain situations (v large unexpected bills, known customer, etc). Sadly, in my experience people don't always fully understand what insurance cover they actually have and direct payment to the vet reduces the risk of vet not getting paid at all.

I suspect that's because your average horse owner has an income sufficient to cover charges (they wouldn't have a horse if they didn't have a good income in the first place, after all), whereas anybody can have a cat, dog or rabbit and feed them easily on next to nothing - so a generic horse owner is a better 'risk' than working out whether the person with the cat in a basket will be able to pay the bills if the Insurers decide that because Mog had treatment five years ago for something vaguely similar, they're not going to pay out again.