Pet insurance is becoming more and more popular in Australia. It offers you peace of mind as it covers some or all of the treatment costs if your pet was ever involved in an accident or suffers a sudden illness. There is no equivalent of Medicare for pets, thus often treatment costs exceed what an equivalent problem would cost for a human patient.
If only there was insurance for pets! Well there is... with many policies costing less than $1.00 per day.
At Bowral Veterinary Hospital we encourage pet insurance. We regularly encounter situations where a much loved family pet suddenly requires expensive veterinary treatment. This can be a serious financial strain when it occurs without warning.
Did you know that 24 hr emergency care for animals can cost over $1000 per day? Some surgeries such as repair of fractured bones or exploratory surgery can also add up to thousands of dollars and that does not even include the recovery and aftercare treatment. It is a heartbreaking situation to have to choose between the health of your pet and financial constraints, so for peace of mind we strongly recommend that your pet is insured.
There are many companies in Australia that offer pet health insurance. Many home and contents policies, or health insurance (eg. Medibank, HCF) may offer policy add ons for your pet's health insurance. Other stand alone pet insurance companies will offer policies.
Bowral Veterinary Hospital and the Australian Veterinary Association does not endorse or financially benefit from any particular pet insurance scheme or company.
What does pet insurance cover?
Individual packages vary in the type of treatment covered. However, they usually include most accidents and unexpected illness.
We hold brochures of several different companies and are happy to discuss the basics of insurance for your pet, however we advise that you contact the various insurance companies for further information and details of their policies. You need to consider the differences between policies, in particular the claim excess amount, proportion of treatment costs covered, annual claim limit, age restrictions, pre-existing illness exclusions and policy costs.
For your convenience we have listed below some of the companies which offer pet insurance policies