Does your pawsome companion have a pet insurance yet?
A pet insurance policy covers veterinary expenses incurred for the treatment of a pet who has endured an injury or has a prevailing illness
Last year, Delhi-based software developer Prakhar Kumar adopted a month-old Labrador, Joy, to beat the loneliness caused due to the work from home routine. The coronavirus-induced lockdown caused a flurry of emotions amongst people that pushed them to find ways of cheerful distraction. Pet adoption was one of them.
“I was doing night shifts for 9 hours through the week and slept rest of the time. I felt anxiety knocking on my doorsteps. That’s when I adopted Joy after seeing a post on Instagram. He instantly brought so much joy to my life. But after I got Joy, I realised that animals are more than cheerful distractions. They need maintenance like humans,” Prakhar said.
Joy suffered from runny eyes, fever, coughing, vomiting, and paralysis a few months into adoption. The disease was later identified as canine distemper which is caused due to a contagious virus transmitted through airborne exposure or contact like shared food bowls. Enough money has been spent on his treatment since then.
Medical insurance for pets in India is a lesser-known term. Like Prakhar, many aren’t simply aware of such products. India is catching up on the domestication of animals at a fairly fast pace. The number of households with pet dogs and cats in India accounted for approximately 17 million and 1.5 million respectively in 2018, Statista Research Department claimed in a report. In 2014, 11.4 million households had pet dogs while 1.1 million housed cats.
Forget fatal diseases, even routine healthcare expenses of domestic animals like timely vaccination, deworming and tick treatment can cost up to thousands annually. Hence a pet insurance must be brought to avoid unexpected budget miseries.
What is pet insurance?
A pet insurance policy covers veterinary expenses incurred for the treatment of a pet who has endured an injury or has a prevailing illness. According to PolicyBazaar.com, some pet insurance plans also covers death. This helps pet owners to eliminate the risk of high expenditure for medical treatment of the pet and to protect its life by providing the best treatment.
Types of policy covers?
Broadly categorized in three types, these covers help pet owners give the required medical help to their four-legged buddies without burning a hole in their pocket.
-Lifetime Cover: It protects your pet against long-term diseases like eczema, arthritis, etc. The policyholder gets a certain amount each year for the treatment of their pet.
-Time-limited Cover: As the name suggests, this cover provides protection to the pet for a specific time duration when it contracts an illness or critical injury.
-Money-limit Cover: This cover provides financial aid to pet owners to meet the medical expenses until the money limit set for the policy gets saturated. No time limit is set for such policies.
According to PolicyBazaar, the premium to be paid for the pet insurance policy in India is equal to 3% – 5% of the sum assured.
What does the insurance cover?
Inclusions:
-Death due to accident
-Illness contracted while the policy is in effect
-Treatment expenses
-Accident while in transit (via rail, air or road)
-Loss/ theft of the pet
-Incapacitation
-Accidental poisoning
-Third Party liability
Exclusion:
-Willful or malicious injury to the pet
-Injury or illness arising out of neglect or unskillful handling of the pet
-Loss or injury due to war, foreign hostility, revolution, rebellion, military upheaval, etc.
-Death due to rabies, distemper, Viral Hepatitis, Viral Enteritis, Leptospirosis, etc.
-Illness that has been contracted prior to taking the policy
Which companies offer pet insurance?
One must make the most of the opportunities that we have to safeguard the lives around us. Don’t wait for the thunder to strike you, plan ahead of time and you could avoid an eventual financial jolt.