Answer

By Your Horse

Bad news for your friend, but a good lesson learned for you. When you have a claim is not the time to find out that you don’t have cover! Checking the minor details of one policy summary against another can be difficult, but try to spot where it might fail to meet your needs.

Questions to ask include:
1. Does the vet’s fee cover include diagnostics, or alternative treatments and complementary therapies such as hydrotherapy, remedial shoeing and ultrasound? Will the company pay me, or pay the vet direct?
2. Does the fee’s limit refer to every unrelated incident? 
You’ll notice that most policies will not cover behaviour-related claims, cosmetic treatment or reimbursement for vices, scars or blemishes, or death of the horse under anaesthesia for non life-saving surgery. The cost of horse hospitalisation or transport to the vet is usually yours, as is the fee for the often lengthy form-filling required of your vet in the event of a claim.

How to avoid confusion
Insurance companies claim confusion is most often caused because customers make hurried choices or fail to ask the right questions. So take note of the biggest areas of misunderstanding:
1. The horse must be sound at the outset, and no insurance will cover a condition already known about, or a problem that’s likely to recur. If you’re buying a horse, decide beforehand if you can afford to live with any problems the vetting reveals that could be difficult to insure.
2. A policy is a 12-month contract that comes up for renewal every year – unlike many human policies which are lifelong. However, the cover is usually for 12 months from injury or the first clinical signs or illness, so treatment time may extend beyond that insured year.
3. Many companies provide immediate cover to protect your horse on the journey to his new home, but most will not cover illness that arises during the first 14 days of the policy period. 

Don’t be tempted to over-value your horse. Not only will your premiums be higher but, of the sum insured or the market value, the lower figure is paid in the event of death. Similarly, if you under-value him to keep premiums down, you’ll receive the lower sum. 
Perhaps the biggest mistake is to choose insurance based on its premium cost alone.
A lower premium usually means limited benefits. The cheapest company is not always the best value for money, and you may regret any corners cut if you later need to make a claim.