Geelong Vet Promotes the Benefits of Pet Health Insurance: Is your Pet Covered?

Statistics show that one in every 3 pets will need emergency treatment during each year. Unfortunately, the unexpected costs can be high and families may need to make tough decisions concerning the care of their pet. Pet insurance can help cover the cost during these stressful situations and ensure that decisions are made based on your pet’s welfare rather than finances alone.

Our Geelong vet team at Bellarine Vet are dedicated towards providing the best care for your pet when he or she becomes ill. Having pet insurance means that financial stress is greatly reduced and decisions can be made without having to worry as much about the costs involved.

 Experienced local Geelong vet, Dr Amanda Hulands-Nave offers a word of advice:

“I would strongly recommend that pet insurance is taken out as early as possible, when your pet is still a puppy or a kitten, before any problems develop. If you wait until a problem occurs before taking out pet health insurance, that problem will become an exclusion due to pre-existing disease and you won’t be covered for it”.

Even veterinary nurses and some veterinarians obtain pet health insurance for their own pets. The main reason behind this is that not all problems can be dealt with in a general practice scenario. Veterinary medicine and surgery has come a long way in the last 20 years. Similar to the human medical field, there are now registered veterinary specialists in many fields including surgery (orthopaedic and soft tissue), internal medicine, cardiology, dermatology and oncology (cancer treatment). Having a pet insured means that if your pet needs a referral to one of these specialist, the expense is not as much of an issue.

What type of pet health insurance cover is available?

Pet insurance cover is available as either Accident Only or Comprehensive Cover. It’s important that you choose a pet insurance policy that suits your budget but also adequately covers your pet for injury and/or illness.  Double check the fine print so that you are absolutely certain that your pet is covered for any common problems that may be associated with their breed.

Accident Only

This is the cheapest cover but will only cover your pet if they sustain an accident injury (road traffic accident or similar event). Beware that most Accident Only policies will only cover a percentage of the veterinary care costs.

Comprehensive Cover

This cover is more expensive and each provider will offer differing costs according to the level of cover chosen and the excess nominated by you.

It will cover expenses for both accidental injury and also illnesses such as:

·         Skin conditions

·         Gastrointestinal conditions

·         Infectious diseases

All comprehensive covers will vary in the illnesses and situations that they will cover, so you need to be comfortable that you have chosen the most appropriate policy for your pet.

Vet cost examples

An overview of common vet insurance claims sorted by average claim size is offered below by The Hollard Insurance Company (July 2010-June 2011)

          Condition               Average Claim        Highest Claim

Our Bellarine practice’s Geelong vet staffs don’t endorse one specific insurance provider over another but you are welcome to use the following link to view a comparison table of commonly used providers in Australia.

For more detailed information about pet insurance you should contact the pet insurance providers directly.