NEW DELHI: Pet insurance can help you save money on your pet’s medical expenditures. However, because these are still considered niche products, they are a little pricey.
While India’s pet market is expanding, ailments like arthritis and diabetes are becoming more common among pets. These come with a hefty price tag for therapy.
Also see: India’s vaccine confidence is now ticking more boxes
In this article, we examine whether or not pet insurance is necessary.
When you purchase pet insurance, it usually covers the costs of treatment for specific diseases, surgeries, hospitalisation, and death due to illness. These, like ordinary health insurance policies, are only valid for a year.
Domesticated dogs, including cross-breds, exotic breeds, pedigree and non-pedigree breeds, are typically insured from the age of three months to ten years.
Lifetime coverage, time-limited coverage, and money-limit coverage are all options for pet insurance policies. The most frequent type of insurance is lifetime coverage, which protects the pet and its owners from serious or long-term disease, as well as chronic conditions. After a pet contracts a sickness or sustains an injury, a time-limited pet policy provides financial protection for a set amount of time. The pet’s medical bills are covered under the money-limit cover. The coverage has no expiration date and can be used until the cash maximum is met. Long-term care, mortality benefits, and protection against theft or loss are all available as add-ons.
The premium is usually higher than the rate of morbidity in human life. Furthermore, due to a lack of registration with Kennel Clubs, normal health conditions, cleanliness issues, pedigree record, and other variables, the quality of pet care in India falls short of international standards.
Kennel Clubs keep a publicly accessible register of purebred and litter pedigrees.
Several frequent maladies and disorders, including as distemper, hepatitis, and leptospirosis, are also excluded from pet insurance, and can only be covered if the pet has been vaccinated against them by a licenced veterinarian. An injury or disease caused by negligence or inept management of the pet, as well as loss or harm caused by war, foreign enmity, military upheaval, and other factors, may not be covered by the policy.
Should you make a purchase?
According to Rakesh Goyal, director of Probus Insurance, just as health insurance covers people’s medical bills, pet insurance helps with unforeseen treatment costs.
“The costs of frequent health exams and surgery (if necessary) can be substantial at times, and this insurance ensures that the parents receive the necessary financial support during such occurrences.” The best aspect about getting pet insurance is that it doesn’t discriminate based on the pet’s age or breed while still providing peace of mind,” Goyal said.
“Although a pet policy covers expenditures of a single ailment, injuries, surgery, and hospitalisation, the three key recurring expenses—vaccines, medicines, and veterinarian consultation—are not covered,” stated Prableen Bajpai, Founder, FinFix. As a result, even if one purchases pet insurance, there will always be a slew of additional costs.”
