Making an insurance claim?

[__eloquence__]

I have a question for those of you who insure your horses and have made a claim before

Comments

[miladyelizabeth]

With my company, for a claim to be valid, it must be made immediately. If my horse has a minor injury, I call them just to let them know, so if I opt to make a claim later (in case of something like you describe here) they will cover it.

[xihateyourx]

This is what I've found too, that while you MAY be able to get something for an injury/ treatment that occurred a while ago it is always better/easier to call anytime anything that MAY become serious happens (scratch on the face, rain rot- probably not a problem, but anything that the vet prescribes antibiotics for poses a potential threat to be come a systemic infection or at the least a more complicated issue).
Your best bet is to file a claim and be aggressive as its almost their job to TRY and deny you and give you the run around....

[meupatdoes]

You can ask the insurance company to pay for covered medical bills that have already been incurred, as long as the horse was assured at the time.

I just got over $900 back from my insurance like a year and a half after the initial course of treatment. (The year and a half was because THEY took forever, but basically about two weeks before the policy expired I gathered together all of my stuff and sent it in.)

Generally they will try to come up with some kind of excuse why you aren't covered just to test you to see if you are serious, but if you stick with it they should pay up for all of it.

[blauereiterin]

i'm guessing it would depend on the company. i have markel, and when i had a claim in 06, one visit wasn't valid bc it occurred before i reported the injury. this year i was super careful to report her injury immediately, before even calling the vet, and so far they've covered everything (knock on wood). it can't hurt to call and see what their policy is.

[__eloquence__]

I figured the visit I already had won't get covered but I've already paid for all of that so I'm cool on that one. I am just thinking because now this has presented itself to be something that needs further investigation, despite the vet's first diagnosis, I might need help covering what's to come. I did call the company today and they said they're going to send me info about what they need from me to get the process going so I guess we'll see. I explained everything to them on the phone, the fact that it has been 6 weeks since his initial visit, and they didn't say anything that indicated we can't be covered so I guess that's a good sign.

[songofsixxpence]

ditto to this. insurance companies are very picking about when exactly you're making a claim. if your horse is dying and needs to be euthed immediately, you have to call the insurance company first otherwise you're out of luck in most cases.