The world of pet insurance can be a bit of a minefield, especially for new pet owners. Particularly bewildering for many people is the concept of benefit limits and, more importantly, questions such as “how much cover is enough cover?” and “should I opt for cover per condition or per pet?”.

As we know, however, tighter regulations by the FCA in recent years mean that those working in a veterinary practice really shouldn’t be putting themselves in a position where they’re attempting to answer questions of this nature. Instead, they need to help clients to ask the right questions from potential insurers or, provided the practice is an authorised Introducer Appointed Representative, rely on introducing clients to reputable Pet Insurance providers.

In order to help clients and practice staff alike, Vetsure Pet Insurance has, as part of their more general rebranding process, launched a new section of their website, www.vetsure.com, dedicated to helping clients understand the percentages of treatment claims that go over various benefit limit thresholds in a given year.

By using data from Vetsure’s own experience in handling claims, clients can easily see the likelihood of claims made in a year going over particular limits for an individual condition e.g. £1000, £3000 or £6000 etc. It’s important to highlight, however, that Vetsure do not give specific advice or make recommendations regarding a choice of policy – some people are happy to have a lower/ less expensive level of cover if they understand the risk that they might have to pay a larger proportion of the bill in the event of accident or illness. Ultimately, this choice should be up to the client!

In helping to make this this data as clear as possible, Vetsure Pet Insurance highlight a practical example of a dog that unfortunately suffered from three unrelated conditions in the same year. In this instance, if the client was covered with Vetsure’s Premier Plus Policy, they would have £5,000 per condition, giving them a total of £15,000 to treat the dog’s three conditions. They could then choose to ‘top-up’ further if they were risk averse and wanted more cover per condition. Of course, unlike Vetsure, most insurance providers cover per animal per year rather than per condition, so this would need to be considered when a client was deciding the level of cover needed.

Vetsure hope that their new website launch and rebrand prove helpful for vets and practice staff who are faced with new puppy and kitten owners who are confused by the wealth of choice available on the insurance market. By only offering lifetime pet insurance policies and by championing transparency, practices can be confident in promoting Vetsure to their clients and directing them to www.vetsure.com for guidance when choosing a policy type that suits their budget and risk appetite.

If you’d like to hear more about Vetsure Pet Insurance, or the other services Vetsure offer including our Buysure buying group and Pet Health Plans, please get in touch with your local Vetsure Veterinary Relationship Manager.

For full information on what Vetsure’s claims experience shows, please visit:

www.vetsure.com/pet-insurance-policies/how-much-cover-do-you-need