Arthritis and insurance claims - is it worth it?

[Lucy_tidmore]

We've just started our cat on Solensia with the vet for arthritis in one leg, monthly injection. We have good lifetime insurance cover but we can't work out whether to claim or not. We feel that if we claim the premium will go up by the treatment cost plus some from the next renewal which would negate the point of having the insurance. On the other hand we don't know if not claiming would cause other issues down the line if we need to make a claim.

Does anyone have any personal experience of this type of issue? Everyone we've spoken to says a different thing but no one has any personal experience.

[Mollycat]

I'd have to describe myself as anti insurance so no personal experience, so my first reaction to your question is why pay for a good lifetime insurance if you're not going to claim for a lifetime condition. I do sort of understand where you're coming from though, especially as cat has seen the vet and the arthritis diagnosed, as I understand it this will still count as a pre-existing condition regardless of whether you claim now or not, but I don't know.

What I can tell you is that a friend of ours has a large dog who slipped in the mud last year and was given metacam by the vet and was fine in a couple of days, when he was found earlier this year to have cruciate ligament disease in both stifle joints needing two operations costing around £10,000 in all, his insurers pointed to the slip in the mud for which he had not claimed and said no, pre-existing condition.

I guess you have to add up the total cost of the monthly visits and injections, decide whether this is the treatment you want of if one of the alternatives is more affordable and suits you better, balance that with the likely premium hike and exclusions, take into account any no claims you might have, excess, any % of the bills you would pay, and also maybe think about what scenario you would be prepared to make a claim for and what you actually want from the premiums you're paying.

[booktigger]

I have always claimed for things like that, mainly because I don't see the point in paying for insurance and then paying for medication that is covered by it. It can cause increases, but then most insurance goes up yearly regardless of whether you have claimed or not, but it isn't necessarily the amount of the treatment cost - I can't remember the exact increase after Lucy's £4k in one insurance year, but I've had her 6 years this year and I think it's about £11 a month more now than it was when I first took it out (although her excess is now different)