A guide to Pet Insurance Claims

As an owner, pet insurance can provide peace of mind that should your pet have an accident or become unwell – you’re in a position to get full or part payment for any treatment your pet may require. Read more on pet insurance.

Once you have insurance, there are two options for how you pay for treatment:

• Direct claim
• Indirect claim

Direct claims

A direct claim is when your vet bill is paid for directly by your insurance company, this could be the full bill or a part of the bill. This is something that Medivet can manage on your behalf with certain pet insurance policies. Please talk to your local practice team about whether this works with your insurance company.

We charge an administration fee to process direct claims, this is because they require a lot of administration from your practice team. This may include a pre-authorisation, the completion of paperwork, liaising with your insurer as well as keeping you in the loop on any queries or if a claim is rejected.

Direct claim fee (initial)                                £25
Direct claim fee (subsequent)                     £10

If you’d like to make a direct claim fee, please talk to your practice team. You will need to:

1. Complete the relevant forms, including a direct claim pre-authorisation form
2. Pay the direct claim fee, plus the excess on your policy

Important notes 

• Pre-authorisation can sometimes take a few days, so it isn’t always an option for urgent or emergency cases.
• Pre-authorisation isn’t available with all pet insurers.
• Pre-authorisation may need to be arranged via the client with some insurers.
• Agreement for a direct claim isn’t a guarantee of payment, the pet owner remains liable for all the fees incurred and will be required to promptly settle any amount outstanding if your claim is declined or underpaid by your insurer for any reason.
• Outside insurers’ office hours, we may be unable to confirm if a direct claim will be possible.
  In these cases, we prefer you to settle your account in full, we will then submit a claim on your behalf and you’ll be reimbursed by your insurer (provided your claim is valid under your policy). In the event that this is not viable, we reserve the right to request a 50% deposit. The remaining 50% will need to be paid by yourself as soon the insurance company have paid you.
• If a pet is affected by multiple condition- a single fee will apply for all conditions managed within the same claim.
• In the event that a pre-authorisation is declined, we will refund the direct claim fee.

Indirect Claims

An indirect claim is when your insurance company reimburses you for your pet’s treatment after you have made the payment to your vet.

This will work differently with the various insurance companies, but the end result is always that your insurance company will reimburse the cost directly to you.

The most common approach is that you will need to submit a claim to your insurance company (online or paper). As part of this, you’ll need to confirm the details of the practice where your pet was treated.

Your insurer will then contact us to request your pet’s clinical history. If it’s a paper submission, there may be a section that your practice needs to complete – please talk to a member of the team.