Hey, everyone, I’ve got a couple of questions about pet insurance claims. I’m using Pets Best, but I think these are pretty general. So, if I take my cat to the vet for an issue and they end up giving a vaccine during the same visit, will the insurance deny the whole claim because of the vaccine? Or would they just subtract the vaccine cost?
Also, what happens if my cat has a few issues, one being pre-existing and the others new? Would they deny the entire claim because of the pre-existing condition? Is it better to just separate the appointments to avoid this?
For the first question, they usually just deny the vaccine part but cover the rest of the visit. But the appointment needs to be coded as a “sick visit” and not a wellness one, and the vet has to document that properly.
As for the second one, insurance companies usually try to split the covered stuff from the non-covered. But there could be complications, especially if the exam is mainly due to the pre-existing condition. They might deny it, especially if treatments overlap with the pre-existing issue. So yeah, it can get tricky. Make sure the vet is really clear about what each treatment is for to avoid any confusion.
You could do separate visits, but I get that it’s not always easy, especially with cats. If your vet’s cool, they might let you do back-to-back appointments. But yeah, that’s asking a lot of them. I wish it was simpler
Unfortunately, I don’t have the wellness plan! It’s just temporary because my kitten needs a lot of vaccines right now. Once he’s older, he’ll just get them at his regular wellness checks.
In my experience, they’ll usually separate out the non-covered stuff from the covered charges. You’ll get two claims on the back end and be reimbursed for the covered things according to your policy. We’ve had this happen a few times. They recently excluded cremation and gastropexy (preventative) from a big emergency vet bill but still paid for the rest.
