Does pet insurance have exclusions for pre-existing conditions?

Taking out a pet health insurance policy is the same as taking out a human health insurance policy. It involves paying premiums, various deductibles, and different types of health coverage plans with varying premiums. In the case of pet insurance, plans and premiums are dependent upon breed, age, lifestyle of the pets and pre-existing health conditions, if any.

You love your pets and consider them as a family member so you naturally want them to have a healthy life and medical insurance. However, when you go to a pet insurance agency you are asked if your pet has any hereditary conditions or existing health problems. There is no cause for worry even if your pets have a pre-existing condition. Most likely insurance companies will enquire if you would like to cover the 'pre-existing conditions' of your pets. There are several pet insurance companies which provide all kinds of pet insurance covers.

So what exactly is a 'pre-existing condition?' A pre-existing condition is when your pet is already suffering from any kind of disease hereditary or otherwise. In the usual case pet owners prefer a basic insurance coverage for their pets, they take into account routine vaccinations, health check ups and lodging and boarding fees. But if the pets have a chronic disease and especially the exotic ones like turtles, birds, hamsters, rats and guinea pigs, there are many insurance companies which are ready to give special and customized health cover to these pets.

One must remember that the basic insurance cover does not include treatment of the pre-existing health conditions. To take a health insurance cover for your exotic pets and pets with pre-existing conditions you need to pay a high monthly premium. The insurance companies have a special medical coverage with a varied range of premiums starting from $100 a month to over $1000 a month.

Of course, the insurance premium depends on the type of pre-existing condition and the type of pets along with what kind of lifestyle a pet leads. Not all health insurance companies provide health cover to animals with pre-existing conditions. Out of the companies that do have a health insurance cover plan for animals with pre-existing conditions each insurance company has its own criteria to provide health cover to the pets with pre-existing health problems. Some insurance companies provide health cover if the condition of the pet is stable or in control, though they observe the pet for a period of 3 to 12 months. Some health insurance providers refuse a health cover if the animal has a terminal disease. Other insurance companies do not cover certain exotic animals or animals which are prone to developing diseases common to their breed or the disease to which that particular breed of animals is genetically prone to like hip dysplasia in some larger breed of dogs.

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