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Our pets mean the world to us, whether they’re furry, scaly, small, tall, or winged. We want to keep them safe and healthy throughout their lives. Vet visits can help us navigate our pets’ health difficulties, but they can be expensive. That’s where pet insurance in Australia and comparing pet insurance plans can help.
Our guide will walk you through how to compare animal insurance so you end up with the best insurance product for your companion.
Why It’s Important to Compare Animal Insurance
Getting the right and best coverage for your cat or dog is an important step that begins with animal insurance comparison. When you compare animal insurance, you take the right steps to ensuring your pet gets the care they deserve throughout their lives.
Taking out the right insurance policy after comparing providers gives your pet the best chance to recover quickly. At the same time, with animal insurance such as the PetsOnMe Deluxe Plan, your pet will be covered against unexpected medical bills for dental conditions, hip dysplasia, luxating patella, and more. You’ll protect your savings whenever your furry companion requires veterinary care.
Animal Insurance Comparison: Factors to Think About
First time looking for coverage for your pet? There are a few things to think about that will help you compare animal insurance and get the best coverage, including the following.
Standard Coverage
You’ll first need to know that there’s a range of coverage levels that can compensate for the costs of unexpected vet bills. That’s why you’ll need to evaluate options such as standard coverage or additional options carefully – each will align with different needs or requirements.
Standard options tend to include accident or accident and illness coverage for your furry family member. This pet insurance covers car accidents or injuries like those that happen in fights between other animals.
Other policies, such as comprehensive plans, will give you gold standard additional coverage. This means you’ll be able to get coverage for dental diseases or specialised therapies. PetsOnMe offers coverage for accidents, plans for illness, and comprehensive plans that all cover consult fees and tick paralysis to ensure you never need to make a choice between your savings and your pet’s health.
Additional Options
You might also want to consider add-ons or extras to give you even more coverage for your pet. For instance, you could get your pet to routine care, which includes a few of the regular pet health costs, including vaccinations, flea treatments, tick treatments, and more. The insurance will give you a small reimbursement in a few categories.
Example reimbursement – For the routine care costs, your routine care add-on may offer up to $140, with which you could claim $50 for tick treatments, $50 for consult fees, and $40 for other costs such as desexing.
Comparing Exclusions
When you’re looking at pet insurance plans, it’s just as important to think about the things that are not included as it is to consider the things that are or the above types of coverage. This will guide you toward a policy that ticks the right boxes. There are some typical exclusions you’ll want to think about, including:
- Pre-existing conditions – If your little companion has a condition that happened before obtaining the policy, you might find that pet insurance doesn’t typically cover such claims. Just as you can’t insure a vehicle if you buy it without an MOT, exclusions such as pre-existing conditions tend to apply in the world of pet insurance. This is because insurance is meant to give you peace of mind when covering unforeseen events.
- Age exclusions – You’ll notice that each coverage has a maximum and minimum age requirement. For instance, there tends to be a maximum age limit that applies the first time your pet joins an insurance plan.
This means you’ll want to consider this kind of exclusion when you compare pet insurance and align each provider’s limit with the age of your furry family member.
- Breed exclusions – Even though most pet insurance policies don’t have breed exclusions these days, there was once a time when some cat and dog insurance plans didn’t accept some breeds.
The main reason for this was the breed’s genetic predispositions to some conditions. So, when comparing pet insurance, look closely at the product disclosure statement (PDS) to ensure your furry friend isn’t excluded.
- Annual limits and lifetime limits – It’s quite important to pay attention to annual limits and lifetime limits, which are the highest amount the provider will pay out within a policy year and the maximum amount your provider will pay during the lifetime of your pooch or feline.
Sometimes, lifetime limits may lead to a cap on your payout despite the set annual limit if your beloved furry friend has numerous veterinary bills – that’s why you need to compare annual and lifetime limits carefully.
While many policies may have exclusions for hereditary conditions or specific breeds, at PetsOnMe we cover inherited conditions expenses in our Classic and Deluxe Plans. Our policies also include a full range of cat and dog breeds, and you can learn more about this on our animal breeds page.
Premium Comparisons
When it comes to your pet’s coverage, you’ll pay a premium according to the agreement. When you compare each option, you’ll find that each breed may require a different premium, with some costing more, some having exclusions, some having poor benefit limits, and some covering fewer conditions.
Comparing each premium will help you determine which insurer provides the best value for your pet and find the most economical option. Here’s what you need to compare:
The Cost of Fortnightly Premiums
It’s worth comparing premiums across each provider. Even though they might seem a cost-effective option, you’ll find that they might only appear cheaper than a monthly premium. This is because fortnightly premium payments lead to 26 payments each year, falling on different dates.
So, although a smaller fortnightly payment might seem cheaper, it can lead to a higher yearly premium. By contrast, monthly payments require 12 each year, which is a more economical option.
Special Introductory Offers
It’s also ideal to look out for special intro offers and compare these across each provider. For instance, you might find a pet insurance option worth $50 but with the first month free. This means you’ll pay $550 for the year.
But compare this to another provider offering a monthly discount of 15%. On paper this may seem less tempting than a whole free month, but it actually works out cheaper at $510 for the year. This leads to savings of $40, so it’s worth double-checking the financial costs and weighing up which option works best.
Financial Factors
It’s not just your monthly premium that you’ll need to think about. When completing pet insurance comparisons for your cat or dog, other financial factors are important, like the benefit percentage and excess:
- Benefit percentage – You’ll likely not get 100% of eligible vet bills paid for by your policy in the majority of cases. What will apply is a benefit percentage and a co-payment sum. The average benefit percentage is between 70% and 90%, and you’ll pay the co-payment out of pocket.
Example benefit percentage – You receive a pet bill of $300, and your co-payment is 20%. This means you will pay $60 out of pocket.
- Excess – There’s the option to pay an excess, though some providers make this an obligatory requirement (so it’s another factor worth comparing). The excess is a sum you’ll pay towards a vet bill that has been covered. You’ll pay this sum before the insurance pays a benefit.
But since all excesses are not the same, you’ll want to consider the kinds of excess amounts the provider expects.
- Extra fees – Always ask for and compare the fees expected from each provider, outlined in the terms and conditions. One specific fee to watch out for includes administrative expenses, which may relate to the cost of updating policy details, processing claims, managing documents, or reviewing vet bills.
With PetsOnMe, you receive a generous benefit percentage of 80% and will not face any sneaky, hidden fees. Our pet insurance policies are transparent and we will not charge sub-limit on consult fees, so you can get your pet the care needed without extra caps within your annual limit.
Choose PetsOnMe for Animal Insurance Plans
Comparing animal insurance plans for your beloved pet is more than looking at what’s included. You’ll want to look at exclusions and factors like your premium amounts. Not all insurance plans are the same, but options such as PetsOnMe are transparent, offer flexibility in the veterinarian you choose, protect you from unpredictable pet bills, and make claims easy through an intuitive portal.
We offer dog and cat insurance with arrangements for one month free. When it’s time to get your furry friend insured, don’t hesitate to contact PetsOnMe. Choose us for pet insurance that gives you peace of mind and protects your pet.
Learn More About Animal Insurance Comparison
How to Compare Pet Insurance Plans
Comparing plans involves researching a few things. Look carefully at the following factors when you’re picking a policy:
– Coverage and pricing
– Your budget
– Excess costs
It’s worth getting quotes from a few pet insurance companies, considering whether the plan aligns with your beloved pet and lifestyle, and checking what’s included in each of the providers before making the final decision.
How Does Most Pet Insurance Work?
Insurance for pets requires you to pay your premium either monthly or annually. When your pet receives veterinarian care, you’ll pay the cost of the care. Then, you’ll make a claim to the insurer.
The insurer will reimburse you a portion of the cost, which will be covered by the monthly or annual premium you have committed to.
