How to speed up your Pet Insurance claims

Helpful advice with Pet Insurance Claims

Here are a collection of tips and instructions to help you speed up your pet insurance claim.

1. Always make sure you have plenty of pet insurance claim forms - This way if you ever need to make a claim, you don’t have to call your insurer and wait for them to send a claim form out. You can just fill in the form and hand it straight to your veterinary practice.
2. Read and fill in your form carefully - Many people do not fill in their form correctly and this leads to delays and/or possible rejection of claims. If in doubt ask a member of staff at your veterinary practice that is familiar with pet insurance claims. Many insurance companies are also happy to deal with problems or enquiries regarding filling out the form over the phone.
3. Who does the insurer need to pay? - If the wrong party is paid by the pet insurance company this can lead to long delays. Claiming money back from the vet after a mis-payment to them, can be an unnecessary stress.
4. Note when and who you submit your form to - It would be beneficial to remember when and who you submitted your form to at your veterinary practice as human error can occur, e.g. forms going missing. Most veterinary practices also have a dedicated member of staff who processes the insurance claims, it would be beneficial to note their name too just in case you have any questions regarding your claims progress or lack of progress.
5. Find out how long your veterinary practice take to complete claims forms - Veterinary practices vary considerably, some complete their part of the claims form within 24-48 hours of receiving it, others can take days or sometimes weeks. It is important to find out how long it would approximately take as you may be relying on the insurance claim being processed quicker than it actually is. Remember your insurance company can not assess your claim until they receive all relevant information, be it from your veterinary practice or from your selves.
6. Find out how long claims should take once with insurance company - This can differ from company to company and it is important to find out, as again you may be wasting valuable time under the impression your claim is being processed - but in fact the form did not arrive or there were other complications.

What to do if there are problems or delays with your claim

1. Chase your claim up with the insurance company - Remember as with the veterinary practice always note the person’s name, the date and the time at which you called. It is easier to deal with that one individual each time you contact your insurance company, especially if problems regarding your claim persist. Your insurance company should have computer logs containing all relevant details regarding your call. Should an advisor not see through to completion an enquiry, yourself and your insurance company can chase up the person involved.
2. Chase your claim up with the veterinary practice - Inquire with the veterinary practice (remembering the name of the person with whom you submitted the form) as to when and / or if the form was submitted.