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Pet cover out of step as vet fees increase by 12% a year

3rd September 2013 Print

Sainsbury's Bank has re-launched its pet insurance with a range of cover options and a maximum level of vet fees cover of £13,000 per condition, one of the highest on the market of its policy type.

New research commissioned by Sainsbury's Bank highlights a worrying shortfall in cover for pet insurance customers as some policies have not kept pace with rises in vet fees.
 
As significant advances in veterinary treatment continue and with animals living longer, the supermarket bank is encouraging pet owners to ensure they choose the right pet cover to ensure they have access to the medical treatment their pets may need.
 
Analysis of claims data indicates that over 98% of all pet insurance claims involve veterinary costs, but despite fees rising by around 12% a year, research from Sainsbury's Bank reveals that many pet insurance policies are not providing levels of vet fee cover that are keeping up with rising vet fees.  Its findings reveal that the majority of per condition policies (which provide a maximum level of cover per condition) offer less than £3,000 per condition. The £13,000 cover per condition offered by Sainsbury's Bank is one of the highest available on the market for this type of policy.
 
Other types of pet insurance policy are also failing to keep up with rising vet fees; the Bank's research reveals that since 2008, vet fee cover on policies with time limits has fallen by 9.6%.
 
In light of these findings, the Bank is highlighting that a combination of rising vet fees and the failure of pet insurance policies to keep pace with them increases the risk of owners facing a shortfall on their veterinary bills.
 
To help its customers with rising vet fees, Sainsbury's Bank has re-launched its pet insurance proposition and is now offering three different types of policies with cover against vet fees of between £3,000 and £13,000.  After choosing the level of vet fee cover, customers can also opt to add on one, two or all three additional benefit packages:

Loss cover - which covers death from injury, death from illness and cremation

Safe return - which covers theft or straying, advertising & reward and emergency boarding

Holiday cover - which covers trip cancellation, quarantine & loss of documents, and repatriation
 
Scott Gorman, Head of Sainsbury's Pet Insurance said: "The veterinary profession has made huge advances in diagnosis and treatment including the treatment of chronic conditions and this is expected to continue. However, these advances come at a cost some pet owners may find increasingly difficult to pay for.
 
"We estimate that pet owners spend approximately £5.3 billion a year on their animals and this has risen by around 4.2% a year since 2008. A growing proportion of this cost is likely to be attributed to vet fees and the pet insurance industry needs to do more to raise awareness of this and ensure pet owners have access to adequate cover."
 
New research among vets, commissioned by Sainsbury's Bank, reveals that in the past 12 months alone, 63% of vets have come across cases where they had to administer a treatment that was not their preferred choice, because owners did not have adequate cover on their policy. Similarly, 83% of vets said that they had encountered situations in the last year where owners had to pay towards the cost of treatment because of insufficient cover.
 
In addition to the large number of pet owners who have had to pay medical expenses due to insufficient cover, an estimated 69% of cats and 48% of dogs in the UK are not insured.
 
Over the next five years, 96% of vets expect vet fees to rise.

For further information about Sainsbury's Bank Pet Insurance, visit sainsburysbank.co.uk.