Trupanion pet insurance review

What policies does Trupanion offer?

Trupanion offers a single policy that covers the following:

• All accidents and injuries. Like snake bites or broken limbs.
• All illnesses. Such as ear infections, cancer, diabetes or hip dysplasia.

It will reimburse you for 90% of eligible treatment costs no matter how high your bills get since there is no benefit limit at all.

Additional benefits

Automatically included benefits

• Vet direct pay. You can have your claim approved and your invoice paid on the spot if you visit a partner vet or hospital.
• Dental cover. You'll be covered for dental illness or accident if you get a dental exam once a year, as long as the illness isn't a pre-existing one that occurred before buying the policy.

Optional benefits

• Recovery & Complementary Care. This covers your pet for a range of natural therapies including rehab, acupuncture, chiro, behavioural modification therapy, naturopathy and more.
• Pet Owner Assistance Package. This protects you from non-vet expenses related to your pet like boarding fees, lost pet rewards, damage to someone else's property, burial fees and holiday cancellation costs if your pet gets sick or dies.

Why should you consider Trupanion pet insurance?

If you want a no-nonsense policy that offers the most cover you can find in Australia, Trupanion could be for you.

Although it does away with a few supplementary benefits that other brands offer, such as routine care, the unlimited benefits mean it protects you from what could really hurt: ongoing and extensive medical expenses due to illness and injury.

It's a policy that's very easy to understand and obviously dedicated to the health of your pet.

Here's what sets it apart from other policies on the market:

• It pays 90% of eligible treatment costs. Other insurers pay anywhere from 75–85%.
• It sets no benefit limit. All other insurers policies have limits and/or sublimits, which means cover can run out. The most other insurers will pay towards your pet's treatments is $20,000 per year.
• The optional extras are unique and helpful. Instead of offering cover for boring and expected expenses like routine care, Trupanion offers extras that aid your pet's recovery through the Recovery & Complementary Care package, and help you avoid further unexpected costs through the Pet Owner Assistance Package.
• You can newly insure an older pet. Trupanion allows new policies with full cover to be commenced for pets up to the age of 13, which is very uncommon. Most insurers only offer accident cover for older pets unless they've had consistent cover that has been in place since well before that.
• You can insure your pet from birth. Trupanion allows baby pets to be covered from birth, if matched with their new family who have also paid a deposit.

What isn't covered by my insurance?

As with any pet insurance, some events won't be claimable. These are called exclusions. It's best to read Trupanion's policy wording for a full list of restrictions and exclusions.

Here are some general exclusions:

• Pre-existing conditions. This is any illness or condition that arose before you took out your pet's policy or up to 30 days after taking out your policy. Injuries or accidents that occur within 5 days of taking out your policy are also considered pre-existing conditions and won't be covered.
• Routine and preventative care. This includes desexing, microchipping, vaccinations, flea control, deworming and exams and consults.
• Unauthorised treatments. You won't be covered if you pursue treatment not recommended by your vet. You also won't be covered for complications that could arise from such treatment.
• Unvaccinated pets. If you don't get vaccines recommended by your vet, you won't be covered for illnesses that could have been prevented by those vaccines. Again, this is a typical exclusion.

Steps to file a claim with Trupanion

If you visit a vet that's in Trupanion's network, the vet can process your claim and have the invoice paid right there on the spot. However, if you do have to make a claim yourself, there are two easy ways you can do it:

Some final questions you might have

• What is the coverage period for my pet?

  When you first sign up, you'll be covered for 12 months. As long as you renew every year after that, you can keep your pet insured for life.

• What are the age requirements for cover?

  You can insure your pet anytime from 0 to 13 years old. As long as you keep your policy current, you can insure your pet for the rest of its life. If your pet is over 13 and you haven't purchased a policy, it will be too late to buy cover.

• Does Trupanion provide cover for all accidents?

  Your policy will cover you for any accident as long as it's a single, specific event that's unpredictable and unintentional. That means it won't cover you if you kick your cat or if your dog consistently provokes a den of snakes leading to repeated injury.

• What's considered a pre-existing condition?

  A pre-existing condition is a documented medical condition that occurred prior to you taking out your policy or during waiting periods. In some cases, as in hip dysplasia, your pet only has to show premature signs of the condition for it to be considered a pre-existing condition.

• What's the applicable waiting period?

  Your policy won't cover any illnesses that arise within 30 days of buying your policy and those illnesses will be considered pre-existing. It won't cover any injuries within five days of buying your policy and those injuries and ongoing complications will also be considered pre-existing.

• What's considered a bilateral condition?

  This is a condition that can happen on both sides of the body, for example a cruciate injury. If your pet developed the condition on one side of the body before you bought the policy, many insurers will consider the same problem occurring on the opposite side of the body a pre-existing condition even if it happens years later.

  Trupanion has a list of such conditions in its exclusions and this list includes luxating patella, glaucoma, elbow dysplasia, cataracts and several others.

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