Waiting periods and vet visits: When you can claim plus how to claim
If you have recently purchased a pet insurance plan, then kudos to you. Not only have you helped save yourself from surprise vet bills that can cost you a small fortune in the case of an accident or illness, but you have also opened the door your pet to receive the best possible care money can buy.
Pet insurance is a responsible purchase to make if you want your pet to lead a long, healthy and happy life. It helps shoulder the costs of expensive vet bills, and in the case of a plan with day-to-day benefits, pet medical insurance comes in handy with routine care and vet visits too!
In this blog, I dig into the facts on waiting periods and vet visits and what you need to know about your pet insurance cover.
Check this out while you’re here: 6 tips for cost-conscious pet owners: how to tweak your spending & save expenses in the long-run
Some expert advice
As many of my readers might already know at this point is that when it comes to expertly covering a topic such as this one, I tend to reach out to the guys over at Oneplan Pet Insurance.
Oneplan is my personal favourite pet insurer as they do everything in their power to ensure their insurance is easy to use, easy to understand and easy to apply. From paying their clients before they see their vet of choice, to breaking down the legal lingo in their policy wording documents. They go above and beyond to make their clients’ lives easy and hassle-free.
Which is why I chatted to the pet team at Oneplan to ensure I had my facts straight.
Before I dive into the facts on waiting periods and vet visits, let’s first define what a vet visit is…
What is classified as a vet visit?
A vet visit is categorized under health cover, also known as day-to-day benefits as opposed to hospital cover.
“Vet Visit” refers to consultations, medication, pathology, radiology and dentistry performed by a person who is registered with the SA Veterinary Council and who is able to provide veterinary treatment that is medically justifiable for an “Event” as defined in this policy in a veterinary facility/hospital. All treatment and procedures must meet the protocols as laid down by the South African Veterinary Association.
Basically, a vet visit is a consultation with your vet and includes cover for radiology, pathology and dental procedures.
What is the waiting period for vet visits?
There is a waiting period of one month from the date of inception of your pet insurance.
What do vet visits NOT cover?
Oneplan does not cover the costs of prescription food, tail docking, dewclaw removal, skinfold resection or ear cropping, dental scaling or SPCA services.
Check this out: Oneplan pet insurance: Is there a network of vets for me to choose from?
Is scripted medication covered?
It sure is!
Oneplan includes cover for scripted medication if you have vet visits included in the benefits of your chosen plan. Medication refers to any prescribed medication for a medical condition diagnosed during your consultation, but this DOES not include over the counter medication.
What about chronic medication?
For chronic (long-term) medication for a pre-existing condition, you will have to wait 12 months before you can claim for these costs. Any chronic condition diagnosed after a 3 month waiting period will be included in medication cover.
Some important information to know about vet visits
You are allowed to claim for a vet visit up to your claim limit (outlined in your chosen plan) with a 14 day waiting period between vet visits. This means you need to wait 2 weeks until you can claim for a different vet visit. However, you are permitted to claim up to your limit for follow-up vet visits regarding the same event until your limit has been reached.
For example, if your vet visit limit of your chosen plan is R500 and your previous claim was R250, you can still claim for the other R250 to help cover the next vet visit for the same health issue.
How many vet visits am I covered for every year?
With Oneplan, you are covered for 4 vet visits every year.
How do I claim for vet visits?
This is possibly the most exciting bit of information in this blog, as I mentioned before, Oneplan fronts you with cash before you see your vet.
How they do this is using their unique transactional Onecard sent to you when you purchase a Oneplan pet insurance plan with health cover included in your benefits.
This card functions in the same way as a debit card and allows for Oneplan to preload funds for vet visits and routine care via the Oneplan App. Once the money is loaded onto your card, you can simply swipe and pay for the vet visit at your vet’s rooms.
Here’s how to preload the funds:
- Login into the Oneplan App
- Load your claim under My Claims
- Select Vet Visits
- Select the date you are going to the vet, the pet who is seeing the vet and select the Onecard to load the funds to
- Money will be transferred onto your Onecard within seconds
- Swipe the card at your vet to the limit available
Sounds pretty simple, right? That’s because it is!
Until next time,
The Pet Insurance Team