Petplan insurance - how to use?

[parrotonmyshoulder]

Ddog is elderly and very has said arthritis meds will help. We got a trial last week and want to carry on. We have pet plan insurance. Has anyone used this for ongoing medication? Website no help really.

We claim regularly for Ddogs arthritis meds and have since she was diagnosed. I assume it depends what level of cover you have, but I just submitted a claim for arthritis after the first appt / batch of meds, and now claim every few months - you just tick the box to say its an existing claim. Never had a problem

Yes this, i have an open claim with them for my horse, downloaded a claim form and completed my sections as a new claim, sent to the vet to complete their part and sent off to Petplan with the first invoice, they usually text you with a claim number, then do the same with subsequent invoices quoting the claim no and tick that its an existing claim…they will take the excess from the first reimbursement probably (did with me)

There are different levels of cover with Petplan. Do you have access to your policy document? It should be with your last email/paper renewal and will let you know what is covered and the excess. They have a my petplan portal you can register for and view your policy and cover. Generally there will be a set amount of coverage per year for all conditions the policy covers, with an excess payable for each new condition. One of my last elderly pup for example had 4k cover a year, had surgery for one condition for 3k which left 1k and some of this I used for vet treatment and meds for joint issues. They are very helpful on the phone so you could speak to them for advice. Hope the meds help your dog and the insurance works out. Also worth checking if the meds are cheaper with a vet prescription from a site like pet drugs online and if so if petplan would cover.

I'm on petplan and my dog has arthritis meds. I put in a claim every couple of months (because I can't be bothered doing it after every appointment) and say it's an on-going condition. It's really simple and Petplan pay quickly (minus any excess). I have lifetime cover so I can claim year after year. I've been claiming arthritis meds for 4 years now.

Oh meant to say, I hope the meds help your dog. Mine still has a great quality of life and is active despite severe arthritis in his hips.

I am with Many Pets and my large breed dog is currently having injections for arthritis once every 6 weeks which I claim for but my God my premium has now doubled so be aware of this.

There seemed to be a lot of complaints of big price rises after they changed branding over from bought by many.

Petplan don't usually increase premiums based on individuals claims rather it's spread over a group so you can put everything through without worrying of being penalised. My dog maxed out the 7k limit a couple of years and it went up about 18% on renewal each year. Many insurers offer cheaper premiums until you have big claim or the dogs reached old age and then whack up the prices as know your over a barrel with pre-existing conditions and you often can't get lifetime policy's past 8/9yrs. It's really sad that when owners often need cover most they end up feeling forced to cancel, so I really appreciated Petplan not doing that even if they were more pricey to start.

If you've not found them already CAM are a fantastic resource.

If its long term medication you can check if it's significantly cheaper to get a prescription and then buy online (I used weldricks) or local pharmacy if a human drug as this then saves more of insurance pot for any future bills. You can then submit the receipts and script copy for reimbursement. My vets would submit the prescription fees, they were monthly due to being a controlled drug couldn't have repeat. They were quite generous on time allowed to submit claims too compared to many insurers.

Petplan also cover physiotherapy which can also be useful with arthritis. Hydrotherapy was quite limited but may have changed more recently.

My 10 year old jrt is on apoquel for an allergy and it just hadn't occurred to me to claim, I'll do it now!

Yes it's super annoying paying premiums for 8-10 years when your dog needs nothing and then the premiums are outrageous when they're elderly. I think a better way to do things might be to save what would have been the premiums from a pup and put it in a high interest account for when they're elderly. Possibly alongside a very cheap accident only policy.

We claimed for insulin and eye drops for our dog for a few years. We’d pay one excess per year for anything diabetes related but had to also pay 20% extra once he’d reached the age of 10.