Insurance question

[Mike]

I havent yet Mary. Afraid my birthday got in the way Whatever happens, I'm still a firm believer in pet insurance, I just may need to find a more suitable insurer is all.                    

[daftcockers]

Dont know if you can name insurance companies on here, but I have been with mine for 3 years with Alfie, 2 with Archie and recently with sonny> I have had to make 3 claims each for nearly £300 each and have received the cheque within 3 days of the vets sending in the claim, with no questions or queries, they might not be the cheapest I pay £12.99 a month for £6,000 of cover and this covers and illness for life not just for a year, lots of other benifits too.                    

[*Jay*]

I pay almost 60 pounds a month for my premiums and have never made a claim int he last 4 years but in the past week, I have submitted 2 claims for Vegas - one for his shoulder injury(this one turned out quite pricey due to x-rays and an orthopaedic specialist reading the x-ray for me) and the other one was sent off today for his food allergy(again quite pricey as we have backdated it for 6 months and it also includes the allergen test, the cost of which made me go a bit  ). They have paid up for the shoulder claim but I have a feeling they may try and wriggle out the allergy one.....we shall wait and see                    

[PennyB]

The conditions are definitely related - the bad teeth caused the abcess, so there would have been no point treating the abcess without taking care off the teeth as it might simply reoccur. I'm going to give the insurance people a call. I filled in the claim form myself and sent it to the vet, so it was definitely sent on one form.

Could it be your vet wasn't explicit enough in their explanation. When I had an issue with my insurer over 2 excess payments like yours for the same thing I was told to go back to my vets and they had to re-explain it to the insurer (as they wouldn't listen to layperson me, who probably knew a lot more than them anyway but that's another story). I received the cheque for the correct amount by return post.                    

[Mike]

I spoke to the insurers and they said I'd need the vets letter - so no surprise there. I'll chalk this one up to miscommunication somewhere along the line - if they sort out the correct payment then I'll probably continue the pets' insurance with them.

ps Gill... you pay an awful lot per month, I have to say                      

[*Jay*]

ps Gill... you pay an awful lot per month, I have to say  

Well, at one point Brooks premiums alone cost 60 pounds So switched him over and only pay a third of that for him now, so its basically an average of 20 pounds a month per dog. Think its maybe about time for me to think about a doggy fund                    

[Mike]

Okay everyone, get this.

Just spoke to the vets re getting them to send a letter to the insurance company. They said no.

At the time, they said that a particular tooth had caused the abcsess, and so they removed it. That's all I knew, as we picked Manoon up after the operation and didnt hear any more. Now that I've made this enquiry, the vet now says that the tooth WASN'T infected after all they found, once they'd removed it, and therefore it didnt cause the abcsess. They still removed the tooth BECAUSE of the abscess, in my opinion that it apparently didnt turn out to be the cause is neither here nor there surely The vet said their position is the tooth had to have been the cause of the abcsess in order for me to be able to claim the whole costs as one treatment, and therefore it would be a fraudulent claim if they wrote otherwise.

SO I'm 50 squid out of pocket due to a technicality   I'm not impressed with the vet at all.                    

[Anonymous]

Hi Mike,

Surely the vet should have known if the tooth was infected before he removed it!!!  If as he says the tooth wasnt infected after he removed it then i think he is incompetant!! and the fault surely is his !!!

I would take this up with the vets as he has told you one thing and it turned out to be another !!!! I would also explain the situation to the insurance company, and see what they say. I really wouldnt put up with it !!!

You are a bit far away for me to recommend my vet, he is a one man show with his own practice and he is excellent. I have recommend so many people to him and they have all said how good he is !!! I know that doesnt help you!!!                    

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

Cant follow this Mike ,as Sam says if the tooth didnt cause the absess ( spelling) why remove it in the first place.
Another query from me, we havnt got Nell insured  
We found out 2 days after we bought her she had a heart murmur grade 2 whatever that means. How would we stand regarding insurance? i,m referring to anesthetics
would we be wasting our money. ? i,m not sure but iv,e got a feeling the premiems would be very very high.
 
  Barb. i would appreciate any advice.                    

[Mike]

At the time he based his assumption the tooth was infected on the fact that it was loose, and directly where there abscess had occurred - "the likely cause", I think he said, something along those lines anyway.

I am pretty annoyed. I mean, imagine I had said no when he said he was going to remove the tooth, after having told me it was the reason the abscess had occurred? I'm interested to know what Gill says, as a veterinary nurse (no pressure there Gill  )                    

[*Jay*]

Well, the way we do our claim forms, that would have all gone down as one claim :- The fact that, in hindsight, the tooth did not cause the abscess would not have been an issue as at the time of the procedure, that was thought to be the cause of the problem and was therefore removed. We had a similar sort of case not too long ago where a dog was tested for hypothyroid and the vet was positive that this is what the dog had. Tests came back borderline so they decided to place the dog on treatment anyway and see how it responded. A few months later, the dog came in for another blood sample and another vet thought that the dog had cushings This result came back positive. When it came time to complete the form, we included the thyroid test and treatment as that was what the vet thought was causing the dogs initial symptoms. So I reckon your vet is being very harsh and I certainly wouldnt give in just yet. We have also included lab fees for tests done for Vegas - the vet thought he may have been suffering a bacterial infection which of course we know now that wasnt the case. My vet could have argued that had nothing to do with the allergy so couldnt claim for it but its all part and parcel of finding the cause isn't it :-                    

[Mike]

Thanks Gill. I dont agree with/understand my vet's logic, but it actually does make me feel better to know that you dont think I'm mad  As I've already gone round in circles with the vet though, I dont really know what else to do... except maybe change my vet? :-