Bow Wow Meow Pet Insurance Questions & Answers (page 8 of 8)

Hi Amanda - a pre-existing condition is a condition that occurred prior to insuring your pet with us or within the 30 day waiting period. If you do have a pre-existing condition, you can apply for this condition to be removed after 18 months of continuous cover with us.

Thanks for the answers Jan. I thought I would respond to DoggyLover as well. Please see below:
1. Labradors and Labrador Retrievers are the same breed – they are listed separately to avoid confusion as some clients are advised by the vet or breeder their pet is a Labrador and other Labrador Retrievers and aren’t aware they are the same breed and can be concerned if they cannot find their specific breed in the quoting tool. There is no difference in pricing or product.
2. We provide cover for chronic conditions (Diabetes, Arthritis, Cancer etc. ) provided the condition does not fall under one of our exclusions as shown in our Product Disclosure Statement and the pet has not shown any clinical sign or symptom of the condition prior to the policy starting or within any of the applicable waiting periods. (30 day WP Illness cover – 6 month WP Cruciate Ligament cover)
3. Each of our covers has a listed Annual Benefit Limit (it would be $8,000 or $12,000 depending on the policy or the options you choose for your policy cover) which defines the amount you are eligible to claim back in the annual policy period. There is no chronic condition limit but you may only claim up to the specified Annual Benefit Limit in each policy period.
4. When claiming for a condition that is bi-lateral, provided the condition is coverable, the benefit would be applied into the Annual Benefit amount and you can claim up to your Annual benefit limit for all claims submitted in the policy period in which the treatment occurred. Please see the following link which shows our policy options and the annual benefits: http://www.bowwowinsurance.com.au/choosing-the-right-health-plan
5. When claiming under routine care there are the specified benefits and you can utilise up to the full benefit amount, even if it is done over multiple claims. Please see more information int he following link: http://www.bowwowinsurance.com.au/routine-care-cover

Hi Ksam, unfortunately all dental cover has very limited cover (you will find this with all pet insurance policies). Descaling is covered under our Routine Care Wellness Plan. This is an additional optional cover and is limited to $50 per annum.

Hi Dexter''s Mum, Devil is correct. It is a simple process if you have not had any claims. However, if you have, it will be considered a pre-existing condition on your new policy an therefore excluded from cover. If this is the case, I would recommend keeping your existing RSPCA policy.

Hi Nickee
Thanks for investigating our pet insurance. I will answer all your questions in the order that you have asked:
1. Yes, he definitely would be covered down the track as long as this is NOT a pre-existing condition (a condition that occurred prior to insuring your pet with us or within the 30 day waiting period).
2. The only dental cover we provide is if you include the routine care option. This is minimal cover which is for dental cleanings etc. You will find that all policies in the market have limited dental cover. This is because pet insurance premiums would be too high to include this.
3. Like all annual insurance policies, an annual premium is ONLY payable if their has been a CLAIM in the policy period. In other words, if you paid for your premium for the year upfront and your pet dies halfway through the policy period, you will be refunded about 50% of the premium provided you did not claim during the period. This can not be refunded back if there was a claim.

3 continued: The same applies on a monthly basis. If you pay your premium per month and your pet dies halfway through, you will not need to continue paying your monthly premiums if there has not been a claim in the policy period. On the other hand, if there has been a claim, you will need to continue with your monthly premium until your full annual premium has been paid. This is applicable with all annual insurance policies.

Hi Siobhan
You definitely could claim again every single year, up to the annual benefit of pour policy, as long as you have renewed your policy and it was not a pre-existing condition BEFORE you took out the initial policy. Please see the following link under "Life-long cover" http://www.bowwowinsurance.com.au/why-choose-bow-wow-meow.

Thank you very much for your question which is very relevant as we currently have a project underway which addresses both of these suggestions.

Hi Andrew - that is a great question. Firstly, if you look around the product review site, you will note that we are one of the very few pet insurance customers that respond quickly to customers which shows we are attentive and we care. Secondly, we have competitive rates and try our best to keep it this way. Thirdly, Bow Wow does have a say with Petsure and we do our best to ensure that if anything does go wrong it is dealt with as soon as we know about it. Lastly, we chose Petsure to be our administrators for two reasons: 1) Petsure is constantly trying to improve. They recently upgraded their systems, which initially caused issues, however, it has seen our claim processing times improve to a point where over 95% of our claims are processed within 10 days and in many occasions within 5 days of receipt of all requested documentation. 2) Petsure is underwritten by The Hollard Insurance Company who are by far the largest underwriters of Pet Insurance in Australia.

Hi Sparden - The claim delay issues and poor communication issues was due to a system changeover with Petsure. Petsure have service agreements with many pet insurance companies. You would find that when these system issues were sorted out all those impacted are now running smoothly. Hence the slowdown in negative reviews across the board over the last 4 months. I am glad to say that provided we have received all claim data requested, we process 95% of claims within the first 10 working days. Accordingly, customer service and processing times have improved tremendously. I hope this answers your question.

Hi there, Desexing is covered under our Routine Cover option. This is an additional optional cover that you can choose to include on top of the policy you select. Please see http://www.bowwowinsurance.com.au/routine-care-cover for more details relating to this.