Now That's a Vet Bill!

I'm in Las Vegas at the Western Veterinary Conference and I heard a most interesting story today about a claim we recently paid. It all started out with a seemingly routine surgery. A middle aged dog in Michigan had an ovariohysterectomy (spay) for treatment of a chronic vaginal discharge she developed after her last heat period. So far so good.

At the end of the day following her surgery she was experiencing post operative bleeding. With an older dog, spaying can be a more complicated procedure but it's still fairly routine. The surgeon assumed that the bleeding was due to the surgery and he referred the client to the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine emergency facility.

Flea and Tick Products Going OTC (over the counter)

Some really big news from the animal health care industry this week. Bayer, one of the largest pharmaceutical outfits in the world, announced that they will start selling popular products like Canine and Feline Topical Advantage and K9 Advantix directly to pet stores and large pet store chains like PetCo and PetsMart. They will also sell these products on-line.

What that means for pet owners is that they don't have to buy these products from veterinarians and they don't need a prescription. It also means these products should be less expensive. By selling directly to retailers, Bayer cuts out one of the typical supply chain links, namely the Veterinary Distributor.

Thinking of Pet Health Insurance this year?

The other day Tom and I met with a new person here in CO who has a great pet business, The Pet Bus. She and her husband will deliver your precious pet from one location to another (across town or across the country), safely and with gentle care and attention. (yay! we made a new friend!)

We got to talking about pets and she revealed that she has 3 dogs (one is a St. Bernard! OMGosh!) and she has a cat. A true pet person. Someone who definitely knows how to give the right attention and care to pets she delivers from home to home.

We also got to talking about the cost of pet care. When you have more than one pet, it can add up. Especially if one pet takes ill or gets injured. 

PurinaCare® Offers Pet Insurance as Group Benefit

It doesn't get better than this. PurinaCare® Pet Health Insurance has just created a "Groups Benefits Department" that will offer employers and associations group discounts for providing their employees and members with pet health insurance.

A bold, forward move that needs to be applauded, don't you think? I do. According to the press release I found via Google alerts, "Pet insurance is a coverage program designed to pick up the tab on the high cost of vet bills." Got it? The "high cost of vet bills"...which is another way of saying, a great way to take care of your dog or cat when he or she is ill with an on-going medical problem or in an accident that requires extensive surgery and/or medical care.

Does My Indoor Cat Need Health Insurance?

This is a very common question for many cat owners that are thinking about pet health insurance. They reason that keeping a cat indoors makes them less susceptible to infectious disease and less likely to be involved in a serious accident. For the most part, I agree with this logic and I'm an advocate of an indoor lifestyle for cats.

On the other hand I attended an interesting presentation last week at The North American Veterinary Conference that opened my eyes to the Health Risks of indoor living for cats. 

A number chronic, non infectious diseases are being diagnosed more and more often, especially in indoor cats. A number of studies have shown that behavioral problems, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, obesity, separation anxiety disorder and various forms of lower urinary tract disease are more common in indoor cats.

The Question Is...

Why wouldn't you buy pet health insurance?

And, what's missing in the websites you check for this option? We try to provide down to earth information on our site and our blog, but we're looking at things from inside, not outside. In marketing, that's where we recognize that reading the label from inside the bottle doesn't tell us anything. You have to be outside the bottle to read the label - and even then, it can have confusing information.

Dr. Larry is especially passionate about providing good, relevant, easy-to-understand information about the topic of pet health insurance, but we expect you still have questions. As we move forward into 2010, we want to be more responsive and attentive to our readers. So, I'm wondering...

What Does "Usual and Customary" Mean?

I got an e-mail from someone looking into our insurance policies last week. It seems they are a little confused about the words "usual and customary" pertaining to veterinary fees. We use this language to describe our rationale for reimbursement on claims filed by policy holders. Once you have met your deductible and 20% co-pay, we reimburse 80% of the eligible fees that are "usual and customary."

Let me quote from page two of the actual policy document:

When used in the Policy, "Usual and Customary" shall mean fees or costs that would be considered reasonable for like veterinarians to charge in the region for which the the services were performed as described in veterinary fee references or other similar publications. 

 

That seems pretty self explanatory to me. In plain english, it means we reimburse the going rate in the area in which the services are performed. We don't put a dollar limit on reimbursements because we are sophisticated enough to realize that veterinary fees vary from region to region and even within a give area.

Mast Cell Cancer Claim: A PurinaCare® Podcast

In this podcast, Dr. Bill and Dr. Larry discuss how PurinaCare® pet health insurance helped a pet owner with the serious issue of Mast Cell Cancer.

This is for anyone who has had to deal with cancer in their lives. Having insight into how it works in pets, and how pet health insurance coverage can be extremely helpful in defraying costs, is something worth knowing.

Oftentimes pet people wonder what the pet health insurance industry allows, and Dr. Larry talks openly about that on this blog, regularly. Read his posts and visit our podcast page to hear stories about claims and more on the issue of pet health insurance.

Hip Dysplasia - From the Claims Files with Dr. Bill and Dr. Larry

In this discussion, we listen to Dr. Bill describe a claim made by the owner of a dog, named Piper, with hip dysplasia. This is a common concern of pet people who have larger dogs, and Dr. Larry has discussed this issue over at Scratchings & Sniffings, if you would like even more information.

Dr. Bill's claim story is from a family in CO, which is where we'll be moving next week. Isn't life interesting, that way? You'll learn what hip dysplasia is, that it's a chronic condition, but also what the claim on the PurinaCare Pet Health Insurance policy covered for this dog (hint: it's a lot!). Listen up...

Annual, Lifetime and Per Incident Limits

Pet insurance companies put limits on how much they will pay out on claims. They do it in three different ways.

Per incident limits apply to specific issues like an ear infection or a broken leg. Some companies won't pay claims beyond a certain amount for a specific problem.

Annual limits are limits on how much an insurer will pay out over the course of a policy year in total and lifetime limits refer to how much they will pay over the course of the pet's life.

At PurinaCare we have no lifetime or per incident limits and a $20,000 annual limit. The annual limit resets with each year's renewal. We feel this should cover the vast majority of dogs and cats and we have never had anyone exceed our reasonable annual limit.