Arghhh--Pet Plan

[F, Calla & Luca]

I received some insurance reimbursement for Luca's tail. I spent $843.70 and other amounts not included on bandages and vet wrap for bandaging I did myself. My deductible is $200 and my copay is $20%.  I received $381.18 today. Why you might ask, I did. Well, Luca was seen Feb 22 and that was $117.22 for the initial visit, bandaging and medication. But my plan renewed on 3/9. So Pet Plan paid me nothing for the first evaluation. Then Luca had his surgery in 3/11 and they started the deductible clock again.

Had I opted for surgery right away I would have been paid more. But had we been able to save the end of Luca's tail it would have cost Pet Plan less altogether.  I think this repayment  is grossly unfair and I  will speak to a supervisor on Monday. I did mention to the fellow that I was speaking to that I belonged to a website of 10,000+ members and that many of us had PetPlan. If the supervisor doesn't help my son just reminded me that My writing to CEO's has been effective. To be continued.....

Update:

I did not get anywhere with the supervisor. I did email the CEO. I doubt that will help but we'll see. Meanwhile, lest you feel sorry for Petplan:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/5f54f7d4-6b08-11e2-9670-00144feab49a...

[Cyndi, The Boys & Callie]

Honestly, this was the main reason that I did not go with Pet Plan or any company that calculates deductible in that manner. Trupanion has one deductible that has to be met once for the condition/incident for the life of the policy. The overall premium may be more than Pet Plan (I have not checked in a while) but it works best for us

[F, Calla & Luca]

I will keep that in mind.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I did check and the premium would be a lot more for Luca.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Update above.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

What really interested me in that link was the fact that 30% of UK pet owners have pet insurance versus 1-2% of USA pet owners. 

F, I hope you get somewhere with this.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I doubt I will but at least I 'm trying : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Still, after reading some recent discussions here, I'm still glad you have the insurance. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Me too.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

wow I cant believe there is only 1-2% that has pet insurance here!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, I guess even healthcare for pets is a higher priority in the UK than here, just like health care for people. 

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

F, that totally stinks! I hope you get an answer from them. I'm sure I'd have the same problem with my insurance. Still, it is better than nothing.

[nate]

I don't want to sound cold about this... but PetPlan is totally upfront about this in their marketing materials, FAQ, policy generator and the documents they give you.  

We looked at EVERY pet insurance policy out there.  When it came to payouts and companies not giving people issues on collections, the two best rated ones were PetPlan, Trupanion and one other (i think PetsBest, i could be wrong).  Most of the rest were... let's just say very poorly rated online and our vet laughed at some of them and said "hell no!".  When we looked at premiums, Trupanion was 70% more than PetPlan for their basic coverage and double if we included hip coverage.  

Then we looked at modeling out the different scenarios under which we'd want to make insurance claims.  Under the Trupanion plan, we'd be more likely to collect reimbursements due to the "per condition" minimums - but we'd be paying a much higher premium - so our total out-of-pocket would be considerably more each year.  

Yes, you're upset that the insurance plan didn't work out the way you expected it to -- but you've got an insurance plan that is probably $200 a year less than Trupanion AND covers hip dysplasia , which Trupanion would want another $100 or so for each year.  While it sucks that you're out more money than you feel you should be, you're actually saving more money than using the competitors people are talking about.  We're talking about only the $117 deductible here, right?

Focus on the positive.  You'll feel a lot better, and your pup will need to see that.