What to ask before buying pet insurance

The two that matter most

**"How do you define a pre-existing condition, and does a resolved condition still count?"** Definitions genuinely differ between insurers. Some distinguish curable from incurable conditions; some don't. If your pet has any history, this determines whether the policy is worth buying.

**"If my pet is diagnosed with something this year, is it still covered next policy year?"** For any chronic condition, this matters more than the reimbursement rate. A plan that stops covering a condition at renewal is not insurance against chronic illness.

About limits and payment

• Is the annual limit per condition, per year, or per lifetime?
• Is the deductible annual or per condition?
• Is reimbursement based on my actual bill or on a benefit schedule?
• How much do premiums typically increase as my pet ages?
• Is there an upper age limit for renewal?

About claims

• Can I use any licensed vet?
• Do I pay upfront and get reimbursed, or can you pay the vet directly?
• How long does reimbursement usually take?
• Is pre-authorisation needed for major procedures?
• What's the deadline for submitting a claim after treatment?
• What documentation do you require with a claim?

About the waiting periods

• How long until accident coverage begins?
• How long until illness coverage begins?
• Are there longer waits for specific conditions such as joint issues?
• Does anything diagnosed during a waiting period count as pre-existing?

The questions about what is excluded

Every plan excludes something, and the differences between plans sit here rather than in the headline price. These are worth asking one at a time rather than as a general question.

• Is the consultation or exam fee covered, since it is charged at every visit?
• How is dental handled - disease, injury only, or subject to documented annual examinations?
• Are behavioural treatment, prescription diets and supplements covered?
• Are any conditions associated with this breed excluded or limited?
• How are bilateral conditions treated if one side has already been affected?
• Is anything in this animal's existing records treated as pre-existing, and specifically what?

The questions about how you get paid

Most plans reimburse you after you have settled the bill, which is fine for a routine consultation and difficult for emergency surgery.

Ask whether the insurer will pay your practice directly, and separately ask your practice whether they will accept it - both have to agree. Ask how long reimbursement typically takes, and whether claims can be submitted by app or only on paper.

Ask whether the reimbursement percentage is calculated on the full bill you were charged or on the insurer's own benefit schedule. Those are different numbers, and the difference is invisible until a claim.

The questions about what happens later

A pet policy is a long relationship, and the questions that matter most are about years three through fifteen rather than year one.

Ask whether there is a maximum age for continuing an existing policy, as distinct from starting one - the two limits are different and the distinction is the whole reason early enrolment matters. Ask how premiums change as the animal ages, and whether a claim affects the renewal directly.

Ask what happens to a chronic condition at renewal: whether it continues to be covered indefinitely, or whether it becomes excluded once it is established.

The question people forget

Ask whether the orthopaedic waiting period can be shortened or waived by an early veterinary examination.

Many insurers will do it if the animal is examined within a defined window after enrolling and shows no existing signs. It is frequently the single highest-value call you can make to an insurer, it is almost never volunteered, and the window closes quietly.

It matters most for breeds predisposed to joint problems, and it matters in the first weeks of a policy - which is exactly when nobody is thinking about it.

Write the answers down

Ask these of every insurer you are considering, and record the answers rather than trusting your recollection of four similar conversations.

Then check the answers against the policy wording before you commit. A verbal assurance is not the contract, and where the two differ the contract is what responds at a claim.

The four settings, asked as questions

Every plan comes down to four numbers, and asking about them directly is more reliable than reading a summary page.

• What is the annual limit, is it per pet or shared, and does it reset in full each year?
• Is the deductible annual or per condition, and does it reset each policy year?
• What is the reimbursement percentage, and is it applied to my full bill or to your benefit schedule?
• In what order are the deductible, the percentage and the limit applied?

Questions about the waiting periods

Most plans run several waiting periods at once, and the differences between insurers are larger here than almost anywhere else.

Ask how long the accident period is, how long the illness period is, and how long the orthopaedic period is - the third is usually much longer than the other two. Then ask the one nobody asks: whether an early veterinary examination can shorten or waive the orthopaedic period, and by what deadline.

Ask what happens if a condition first shows signs during a waiting period. The answer is usually that it becomes pre-existing permanently, which is why the dates matter.

Questions about renewal and the long term

A pet policy is a fifteen-year relationship and most of the questions people ask are about year one.

Ask whether there is a maximum age for continuing an existing policy as distinct from starting one. Ask how premiums change as the animal ages, and whether making a claim affects the renewal directly. Ask whether a chronic condition continues to be covered indefinitely once established, or whether it can be excluded at a later renewal.

That last answer is the difference between a policy that solves the problem and one that stops solving it exactly when it matters.

Questions about your own animal specifically

General product questions are answerable from a brochure. These are the ones that need to be asked about your actual pet, and the answers are what decide whether a plan is worth having.

• What in this animal's existing records would you treat as pre-existing?
• Does that exclusion extend to related conditions, or to the other side of a paired body part?
• Are any conditions associated with this breed excluded or limited?
• Can an excluded condition ever be reviewed if it resolves and stays clear?
• Is there a maximum age for continuing this policy, as distinct from starting one?
• Will you put the answers to these in writing before I enrol?

Why the answers should be written down

These conversations happen once, at enrolment, and are relied on years later by someone who was not part of them.

Get the material answers in writing and keep them with the policy - particularly anything about what is treated as pre-existing, and anything about a waived or shortened waiting period. At a claim, the assessor works from the file rather than from your recollection of a phone call.

Where a verbal assurance differs from the policy wording, the wording is what responds. So the second step is checking the answers against the document rather than trusting the conversation.

Questions about cost over time

The premium quoted today is the lowest one this policy will ever have, and how it rises is a fair question to ask before committing.

Ask how premiums have moved for existing policyholders as animals aged, whether claims affect the individual renewal directly, and whether there is any option to hold the premium steady by adjusting settings later.

No insurer will guarantee future pricing, and that is not what you are asking for. You are asking for the shape of the curve, and a straight answer to it is itself informative.

Ask what happens when you claim

The claim process is where policies differ in practice and where quotes never differ, so it is worth asking about before rather than after.

Ask how claims are submitted - app, portal or paper - and how long reimbursement typically takes. Ask what documentation is needed the first time, since insurers generally want the full veterinary history to establish a baseline. Ask whether your practice can submit on your behalf, and whether the insurer will pay them directly.

Then ask what happens with an ongoing condition: whether every visit needs a fresh claim, or whether a continuing claim can be opened for the condition. Over a decade that is a meaningful difference in effort.

Ask the same questions of everyone

The value of a list is consistency. Ask every insurer the same questions in the same order, write the answers down, and compare the answers rather than the marketing.

Four similar conversations blur quickly, and the differences that matter - how a waiting period works, what counts as pre-existing, whether the exam fee is covered - are exactly the ones that get lost in recollection.

Check the answers against the wording

A verbal assurance is not the contract. Once you have the answers, ask for the policy wording and confirm the important ones appear in it - particularly anything about waiting periods, pre-existing conditions and what the reimbursement percentage is applied to. Where the two differ, the wording is what responds at a claim.

One last thing

None of these questions are unreasonable and any insurer worth buying from will answer all of them. An unwillingness to answer, or an answer that stays general when you asked something specific, is itself the most useful information you will get from the call.