Trying to figure out pet insurance can be like trying to learn a whole new language. With all the different terms like premiums, and exclusions, it's important to know what everything means so you can make the best choices for your pet's health. This post will explain some of the most common (and confusing) terms you'll come across, helping you become a smarter pet owner and ensuring your furry friend gets the best care possible.

1. Premium

What It Is: Think of this as the subscription fee you pay, either monthly or annually, to keep your pet insurance active. It’s basically what you shell out to make sure your pet is covered.

3. Co-Pay

What It Is: A co-pay is the part of the bill you have to pay. The co-pay for our plans varies and is a percentage or fixed dollar. For our example, our Rhodium plan has a co-pay of $300, while our standalone product for dental care – Dental360 has a co-pay of 20%.

4. Exclusions

What They Are: These are what the insurance won’t cover. At Pet-n-Sur examples of our exclusions include pre-existing conditions, claims for illness or accidents in the stand down period. Before you commence a policy, it is vital to understand what the exclusions are so you can you make the right choice for your needs.

5. Coverage Limit

What It Is: This cap is the most your insurer will pay out in a year, per incident, or over your pet’s lifetime, depending on the policy you choose. At Pet-n-Sur, our limits range from $1,500 for our basic surgical plan to $18,000 for our all-encompassing Titanium plan.

6. Pre-Existing Condition

What It Is: This generally means any illness or issue your pet had before your insurance policy started.

7. Stand down period

What It Is: This is the time between when your policy kicks off and when you can actually start claiming. It’s there to prevent claims for illnesses that pop up right after you get the policy. At Pet-n-Sur, for new policies we have 21 day stand-down period for medical treatments and 7 day stand-down period for accident related treatments from the day your cover commences.

8. Lifetime Cover

What It Is: If you get this type of policy, your insurer covers your pet for ongoing health issues throughout their life—as long as you renew without a break each year. All of our policies cover the lifetime of cats, dogs and rabbits. For horses we cover them up to the age of twenty years.

9. Hereditary Condition

What It Is: These are health issues that your pet might inherit from their parents. Some insurance policies might cover these conditions, while others might list them as exclusions, so it’s good to check.

We define Hereditary Conditions as conditions that occur in your Cat, Dog or Rabbit where the breed has a genetic predisposition to that condition. These conditions may or may not be apparent in the pet’s parents however they show a clearly familial pattern of occurrence or a clear breed predisposition, as evidenced by a markedly increased odds ratio of the disease occurring in that breed when compared with the general Dog, Cat or Rabbit population.

10. Free look period

What It Is: A "free look period" is a specified amount of time during which a new policyholder can review their insurance policy after it has been issued. This period allows the policyholder to decide whether or not they want to keep the insurance policy without any penalties.

For our policies you have a 7 day free look period meaning you will have 7 days from starting your policy to consider the full terms and conditions of the policy you have taken out. If you are not happy or change your mind during this 'free look' period, you can notify us and we will cancel the cover and refund any payments you have made.

Getting to grips with these terms can really make a difference in picking the right insurance plan for your pet. Start today, and you’ll be ready to make the best choices without any guesswork!

Is your pet covered?

Contact our experts today and discover how you can protect your companion. Alternatively, you can visit our plans page to find out more about the details of the plans we offer.