Will veterinarian’s fees be covered under my pet insurance policy?

It depends on the level of coverage provided by your pet insurance policy. For standard coverage, routine veterinary visits are not included. It will only pay for veterinarian's fees for illnesses and accidents - mainly unexpected and unforeseen events. It will also pay for other related expenses such as hospitalization at the veterinarian clinics and prescribed medicines.

You may wonder why routine check-ups are not included in a basic cover. This is because insurance is primarily aimed towards unexpected events, and routine visits to your veterinarian are obviously not an unexpected event, so are regular vaccinations and immunizations.

If you want additional coverage to include routine veterinarian check-ups, you can do so by getting a more comprehensive coverage on your pet insurance or by getting a pet wellness plan. These plans vary from one pet insurance to another and you should look into the benefit offering to check whether the benefits you want covered are indeed covered.

Aside from this, you should also study the extent of the veterinarian's fees that will be paid. You should expect to also give your share of the claimed amount - which in insurance parlance is called the deductible. This is the first portion of the claim and will be paid by the pet owner.

For example, if you have a deductible of $50 and your veterinarian's fee is $300, the insurance company will only pay for $250, subject to maximum limits.

We highly recommend that you get an insurance policy for your pet, as veterinarian's fees can really prove to be expensive. This is especially true if your pet is afflicted with a chronic condition. Add to this the fact that the survey says that one out of every three pets will need to receive veterinary treatment every year.

You should, however, look at the policy's terms and conditions, where claims for this policy year can be used as a basis for next year's list of pre-existing conditions that will be excluded from the policy.

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