This is what Petplan say about their two options
What is lifetime cover?
Our Covered for Life policies provide a broad range of cover and are designed for pet owners concerned about their pet developing a long-term, chronic or recurring illness. These include arthritis or eczema and would need treating by a vet over a long period of time, often for life. As long as the Covered for Life policy is renewed each year without a break, we will continue to provide cover for any illnesses right into the petīs old age. This is a popular type of cover for pedigree cats and dogs, as they are more prone to chronic illnesses
What is time-limited cover?
Our Pet Value policy gives pet owners valuable protection for a limited period after any injury or illness that needs vet treatment. Generally costing less than our Covered for Life policies, Pet Value provides up to Ģ3,000 of cover for each illness or injury for up to 12 months from when the problem was first noticed. This is a popular type of cover for owners of crossbreed cats who are worried about the immediate high cost of treatment after an injury, such as a road accident, or illness.I doubt that they will retrospectively change the type of policy you have, but you'll never know if you don't ask. There may be a cooling off period where you could change what you signed up to but only if you've renewed very recently. The claim seems to have been under the "time limit" cover though so guess they wouldn't change the fact that this particular illness will be excluded in future (the vet would have to show that any future problems were un-connected
).
However if you change to another company, it would still be a pre-existing condition and excluded too. That said, how would an insurance company ever know that there had been a claim before