A couple of years ago, my employer generously started offering pet insurance for what I thought was a reasonable rate. A few months prior to that, we had to cancel a vacation because our dog got sick so it seemed like a good idea. Recently, she tore her ACL and needed surgery so I put in a claim. The runaround that I got and the end result have really gotten me completely and totally annoyed! Hit the link to read more about my horrible experience and what company I suggest you avoid...
So, surgery isn't cheap and that extends to your pets. The problem is that every vet prefers payment at the time of service. I get it, people skip out and they likely have trouble collecting when that happens. But coming up with several thousand dollars at the drop of the hat isn't something that most people can do. The practice that we go to leaves the decision to the individual doctor whether to allow for a payment plan or not. We the recent surgery to repair the ACL, our vet allowed us to do a payment plan as we've never failed to pay them in the past. Great deal if you ask me, only 2% interest. And that is especially true for me since I anticipated getting a check from the insurance company. The reason we continue to go to this practice is because Dr Spindel truly cares about each of his patients and their owners on top of being extremely knowledgeable. But his practice is where the good experience ended.
Once we got home, I scanned in the invoice and started the claim as that is the procedure for this particular pet insurance carrier. I submitted all that I thought they needed, including a description of how the injury happened (she was running around, then yelped, followed by not putting any weight on her leg). The invoice broke down all that was done so they had all the detail they needed. I finally heard from them over a week after submitting the claim where they stated that they needed proof that I paid it in full to proceed. Since I don't have that kind of cash sitting in my pocket or bank account, I figured out how to get it on a credit card with plans to pay it off as soon as I received the reimbursement. We contacted the vet office to pay it off and get a receipt stating it was paid in full. I then submitted that to the insurance company so they could process the claim.
It wasn't even 12 hours after I submitted the update that they declined the claim. What really bothers me about the denial is that there wasn't any additional information on the receipt stating it was paid in full. They had all the same information before they told me I had to pay it in full. What it means is that it's going to cost me a lot more money as not only am I not getting reimburse, it's on a credit card that has a higher rate than the 2% that I had through the vet's office! I get that I may not have had coverage for this (though I would see this as an accident), but they could have told me that without forcing me to pay it in full before.
So who is the insurance carrier? Pets Best. I will likely be cancelling my policy since I've now paid for 2 full years without a single claim prior to this just to be denied. If I would have saved those premiums rather than pay them, I would have had nearly $2000 more than the cost of the surgery! What's the point of insurance that is so specific that it covers virtually nothing? I will be speaking to those at work who make decisions on who to bring in as this isn't the kind of company that we normally work with. It's completely ridiculous!
No comments:
Post a Comment