Insurance

Pet insurance will usually cover the cost of treatments we provide.

Our normal procedure is for you to pay for the treatment and leave a claim form with us. It is important that you have completed the appropriate part of the form so that we can complete our section and send it in the post within three working days.

Sometimes we can arrange for payment to be made directly to us, but only if we have authorisation to do so by the insurance company. This usually takes a minimum of a week, so is generally not applicable for many of the services which we offer (which are usually performed as soon as possible).

Should an insurance company decide, for whatever reason, that cover will not be provided for a claim, unfortunately the responsibility for any outstanding amount must be taken by you, the person with whom they have a Contract. A telephone call from you to the insurance company to ensure that there is cover for your pet’s condition (even if there is no diagnosis at the time) is advised prior to consultation. Such a telephone conversation should encompass:

• Confirmation that your pet is still covered
• Confirmation that the condition is (still) covered. Some policies will offer a maximum level of cover per condition, some will only pay 12 months from the first signs of the condition, some only pay a certain amount per 12 months.
• Maximum cover, and how much of that has been “used up” by work done by the referring veterinary surgeon.
• Confirmation of the excess required to be paid when a claim is made. This may be a fixed amount or a percentage. It may be applied once per condition or once per year.
• Insurance companies tend to deal with serial claims in chronological order so should there be claims for work done by the referring veterinary surgeon prior to referral to SCVS, the claim for the previous work should be submitted as soon as possible to prevent delays on any subsequent claim.

Please bring your policy and claim form to your consultation if you have arranged a direct claim.