Pet insurers are being pressured to pay out after wrongly denying claims based mostly on the animals’ weight.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) mentioned it acquired a number of complaints this yr from pet house owners whose claims had been unfairly denied due to their pets’ dimension.
In all the circumstances delivered to the Ombudsman, the insurers claimed the diseases or accidents had been introduced on by the animals being overweight.
However, after reviewing all the claims, lots of which included vet reviews saying being chubby had nothing to do with the therapy, the FOS ordered the insurance coverage companies to payout to claimants.
In one occasion, the insurer claimed a canine, who had jumped off a settee and injured his leg, didn’t qualify for monetary help as a result of he was chubby.
It comes after an October report from pet insurer ManyPets confirmed that on common having an chubby pet may cost house owners £1,500 in vets’ payments per go to.
The insurer’s survey of two,000 individuals discovered 51pc of cat and canine house owners are already involved about their pet’s weight.
The claims included dogs that had been struggling leg accidents, cruciate ruptures, diabetes, and even one which wanted spinal surgical procedure.
Of the ten circumstances delivered to the FOS, seven had been associated to insurer Casualty and General Insurance, and three towards Building Block Insurance.
One case noticed the house owners of a Golden Retriever being wrongly informed the £2,000 they claimed for surgical procedure to repair their pet’s dislocated leg wouldn’t be paid because it was attributable to the canine being chubby.
The house owners of a Border Terrier had been additionally refused cost for therapy wanted to restore a ruptured cruciate ligament, and a Boxer canine had an identical declare rejected for a similar damage.
After the Ombudsman stepped in to order the insurance coverage agency to pay the declare in addition they made them pay out a further £150 for the house owners’ misery.
A spokesman for the FOS mentioned: “Pets are a much-loved part of the family and it can be tremendously worrying when they become unwell.
“We often hear from consumers who feel their insurance claims have been unfairly rejected. That’s why it’s so important insurers make their policy terms transparent and adhere to those conditions when determining a claim.
“When people are unclear, it’s the insurer’s role to carefully explain the terms and conditions.
“If consumers don’t feel they’ve been treated fairly by their insurer, they should contact our free, independent service and we’ll investigate their complaint.”
The cost of seeing the vet has skyrocketed this yr as impartial surgical procedures get purchased out by personal equity-backed chains.
This has despatched annual pet insurance coverage premiums into three-figure sums. According to the Association of British Insurers, the common cost of insuring a canine or cat for accident and damage is round £10 a month, or £125 a yr. A horse prices round £50 a month to insure, reviews insurance coverage firm HelloSafe.
Building Block Insurance mentioned all of the claims referring to them had been for pet insurance policies distributed by Perfectpet who used their very own in-house claims handlers and so they stopped offering cowl on the finish of 2021.
Casualty and General Insurance had been approached for remark.
