We dig into the basics of how day-to-day cover on a pet insurance policy works and explain the legal lingo to make your life just a little more pawsome.
In case you didn’t already know, at Oneplan Pet Insurance, we have a range of different pet health insurance plans for you to choose from. Meaning we give you more options to find a plan that is best suited to your budget, and most importantly, your pet’s health.
In some of our more comprehensive pet insurance plans, we also include some pretty fantastic day-to-day benefits such as cover for vet visits and routine care. But, what many of our clients tend to ask, is what the difference is between these two benefits.
In this blog, we break down the legal lingo and simplify the terms for you to walk away with your tail wagging.
Day-to-Day Health Cover in Your Pet Insurance Policy
If you have routine care or vet visits included in your plan, both of these benefits are classified as health cover, as opposed to hospital cover which includes cover for hospital admissions.
What is the waiting period for health cover?
There is a waiting period of 30 days for pet health cover.
Related: Pet Insurance & Waiting Periods: 4 Things You Need to Know
What is routine care?
Think of routine care as a way of keeping your pet healthy. Another name for it is preventive or wellness care. So basically routine care is classified as a vet visit that is aimed at keeping your furry friend healthy.
Routine care is an important part of pet healthcare as it allows for your vet to regularly keep an eye on your precious pet and detect and treat any health concerns before they develop into something more serious and more expensive to treat. According to our policy wording document, routine care is defined as:
Preventative care for your cats and dogs and includes, voluntary sterilisation, vaccinations, deworming, flea control, and anal gland expression, dental scaling and polishing and nail clipping.
What does routine care NOT cover?
Costs for pet accessories such as food, beds, toys, leashes, grooming etc. This means we don’t cover the glitz and glam. In saying that – as a Oneplan Pet Parent, you’ll get up to 25% discount in the Onepet Store where you can buy all these pet essentials AND save every month!
What is a vet visit?
A vet visit is when something goes wrong with your pet. According to our policy wording document, we define a vet visit as:
Consultations, medication, pathology, radiology and dentistry performed by a person who is registered with the SA Veterinarian Council and who is able to provide veterinary treatment that is medically justifiable for an “Event” as defined in this policy in a veterinary facility/hospital. All treatment and procedures must meet the protocols as laid down by the South African Veterinary Association.
Vet visits also include cover for scripted medication:
Medication means any prescribed medication for a medical condition diagnosed during the consultation but excludes over the counter medication – basically, we only cover meds that your vet gives you a prescription for.
Chronic medication (chronic means long-term) for a pre-existing condition will be subject to a twelve (12) month waiting period. Any chronic condition that is diagnosed, after a three (3) month waiting period will be included in the definition of medication.
Read this: Does Oneplan Pet Insurance Cover Vet Hospital Admissions?
What do vet visits NOT cover?
- Prescription food
- Tail docking, dewclaw removal, skinfold resection or ear cropping, dental scaling
- SPCA services
How to claim for pet health cover
Thanks to our unique Oneplan Claim Card, which you receive when you become a part of our Oneplan Pet Family, this allows you to preload a claim before you see your vet. This means we put money in your pocket before the vet visit!
With this card, the funds are readily available (according to the limits available of your plan), for you to swipe and pay for a vet visit the same way you would use a debit card.
Oh, and did we mention we also let you go to ANY registered vet of your choice? But that’s a cool story for another blog. To preload funds for vet and routine visits, here’s what you need to do:
- Login to our Oneplan App
- Load a claim
- Money is loaded onto your Oneplan Claim Card
- Swipe at the vet
Once your vet visit is completed, you may swipe your Oneplan at the provider to the limit available. We require a detailed copy of your invoice to validate your claim or to facilitate a refund, this can be snapped and uploaded in-app.
Boost up your routine care
Now, here’s where things get even more interesting. If you’re on our Hospital or Primary Plans, which have limited or no day-to-day cover, you can add on our Pet Med Booster which will give you an added R350 per year for routine care costs.
You can also add our Pet Med Booster to the Classic and Super plans. In doing this, you will DOUBLE your Pet Med Savings Benefit for the year, so on the Classic Plan you’ll get R1 600 instead of R800, and on the Super Plan, you’ll get R1 800 instead of R900!
Read next: Chronic care for pets: Caring for your pet with a chronic illness
Say goodbye to hospital excess fees
When you purchase the Pet Med Booster, this will automatically include our Excess Buster. With this, all in-hospital excess fees charged by vets are automatically waived.
We hope this blog helped to clear up any confusion around day-to-day benefits for your pet insurance policy, and if you’re ready to join the Oneplan Pet Family and enjoy all these pawsome benefits, you can click here for an instant online quote.
Your Pet Insurance Family,
Oneplan
