It is puppy season and already my Vet friends are taking bookings non-stop for all those new little cute puppies. This includes my booking slots filling up due to the influx of new puppies and dogs.
Receiving the gift of life is a blessed gift however, when that boyfriend of yours drops that puppy into your lap, he doesn’t disclaim to you the potential expenses that you may very well run into that will end up costing you that fancy new wardrobe you have been saving up for years.
The reality for many pet owners with Vet bills is that they can set you back R14,000 within the first 6 months of your puppy’s life and then another potential R24,000 – R36,000 within the next 48 months after that. Here is the real curve ball, there is also those behavioural rehabilitation bills that can make you weep, especially in extreme cases. I get calls of cases where the owner feels that my services are too much for their dog even though I deliver results each and every time and provide the solution to save the dogs life. Sadly, many owners have been conditioned that it’s easy and acceptable to put a trouble teenage dog down then have it rehabilitated to be the most amazing dog afterwards. Hence why I always promote each and every new puppy owner to get Pet Medical Insurance as you never know what might happen or what behavioural issue may arise where you wish you had that money available to save your dog’s life.
There are 3 Pet Medical Insurance companies in South Africa:
- Petsure – http://petsure.co.za/
- Medipet – http://www.medipetsa.co.za/
- Solver Pet Medical Aid – http://solverinsurance.co.za/pet.php
I have reviewed and examined all of them and I found the best value for money to be Medipet. Why? For the cost of your burger and a couple of beers your buddy Max is covered for the month. He receives up to R25,000 cover per year. This includes fancy things like Hydrotherapy, Acupuncture, Homeopathy and Behavioural Rehabilitation (Please note that all these must be booked through your vet in order to be covered.) I have clients of mine who live in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the country, Medipet covered all my travel costs as well as hourly consultation rate. Now that is amazing cover ;)
I disclaim that I am not paid nor receiving direct financial benefit from any of the insurance companies above listed above. The information is provided purely on my personal view and the benefit that I have seen it deliver to my clients as the facility helped saved their dogs’ lives.
Just want to share in the antics of Chris here.. Got our 2 Goldens in Jan 2011 at 8 weeks and me being driven by “all organised” and cost wise, gotten them med aid through Medipet. Unfortunately at 7 months, both were diagnosed with Hyp Displaysia and have been going for Hydro treatment since (it’s been 8 months now) Knowing the financial burden (literally thousands of rands) is off our shoulders, and the affect the treatment has had on them – it’s amazing…
They’ve started off with 3 times a week and are down to once a week and they absolutely love going to “PetRehab”. This is a lifestyle now and the THR operation is off the cards at the moment with the success they’ve had with the hydro. God Bless their little cotton socks! And thumbs up to medipet!
I would like to add to your letter regarding Medipet. I agree that they are a good medical aid and have used them for approximately the past 6 years. As it happens in life, I had both my dogs insured and last year was a year of a lot of medical claims…. not even remotely near the R25 000.00 mark, they claim to pay out and so guess wait…my policy has been cancelled, via email nogal, eventhough I have built up a good relationship with them, including one of their directors Louise Beevers. Not once have I claimed fraudulently or without very good reason. Nor did I ever default on monthly premiums….. but still… Sigh… I was a liabilty. I have praised them to all and sundry and many people have joined becasue of my good word…alas now I refuse to promote them at all and will warn all who even dare to think of joining them… I am sorry Akela and Griffin-Bear that Medipwt do not believe that you are worthy of medical cover anymore.
Be careful Sufrani, they may just cancel your policy too……
@ Dominique
Same Here, they informed me of the cancellation of my policy for my 2 boxers Billy and Lennox. However they promised to approach the underwriters on my behalf, and guess what. They come back with a proposal and exclude the very condition that I need the most cover for, and bump up my premium by 10%. (all in MY best interests of course!!!)
You are still lucky Howard. They doubled my premiums and limited my claims to R1000.00 for the ailments (Hip Dysplasia and excema) that I was primarily claiming for. I have decided to cancel. Typical insurance company behaviour…..
My Jack Russel Jilly Jelly has to go for xrays of Friday and it seems that she might in the very early stages of hip or joint problems. I was told by my local and favourite VET to take out cover for Filly from MediPet. To my disappointment, they will not cover any pre-existing conditions or anything diagnosed and thereafter in future in the first three months. So I went looking for more options. I stumbled upon OnePet and one phone call confirmed that there’s a 3 month waiting period if no pre-existing conditions are present. Also, if a condition already exists, your pet will then be covered for that condition after a 12 month period. I figured that if I have to pay for a pre-existing condition anyway, I might as well hang in there for a year and then receive help from my petinsurance after a year rather than taking up MediPet and not get cover at all. I hope this info might have been helpful in any way to anyone :)
Yes, unfortunately, I too was most disappointed on certain matters with respect to Medipet and the director Louise. Even having details confirmed in black and white writing from her in email and in verbal witness, she would then go back on it and ignore. It seems that Medipet for some time now has had issues with their underwriters.
With pet medical insurance is the same with normal human medical insurance. Some people seem to have amazing results and others seem to have terrible ones. With respect to just having your policy cancelled, there has to be just reason and this is stipulated in a contract and protected by many legal acts of South Africa. Therefore we have 3rd party protection bodies like the ombudsman and CPA etc… these take time and one’s effort but can favor your resolution in the end. Unfortunately, companies can be like people, sometimes we need a bit of a reminder on following through on our promises and contractual obligations while at the same time delivering compromises where possible.
With respect to the different comments about Hip Dysplasia, yes, there are amazing things that can help in its rehabilitation and prevention. Our focus at my center is to identify and treat the cause of the abnormality, not the symptoms. There can be things like imbalanced PH, radiation effects, defected DNA, diet etc….all these things we diagnose and treat accordingly. If you are unsure, then have your doctor speak to us with respect to your rehabilitation program. It is very important that your dog should not be treated with pain medication for an extended period of time. More then a month or two. These have strong adverse effects on your dog’s kidneys and liver which then can roll over to behavioral and neurological issues as well.