2
out of 5
POSTED: | BY: Diana
Frustrating and Costly
We started with AKC Insurance when our dog was a pup. Premiums were reasonable, just over $30 a month for sick coverage only. Around age 3-4 she had some health issues and claims that were covered reasonably, though never near what we were paying the vets in a metro area. Even though our dog had very few claims after that and was quite healthy, the rates more than doubled when she turned 7, then doubled again at age 10 (AKC told us this is normal), and finally increased to over $2,000 this past March (and this does NOT include wellness care!!). Everyone else we've talked to with pet insurance is shocked at what we are paying. Since our dog has been quite healthy for most of her life, we considered dropping the insurance this year just before she turned 12. In May she developed a neurological condition and we were glad we still had insurance, however, it recently took four months for $3,500 in costs to be processed and paid at just over $2,000. Because of the number of calls, faxes and communications required of my vet to process the claims, my vet has had to charge us separately for her administrative time. She believes the insurance company seem to be trying to avoid or delay paying on claims. And she finds AKC to be the most difficult insurance company to deal with.
Furthermore, we've discovered that any condition a pet has is limited to a $3,000 lifetime incidence limit!! Be sure to read the fine print in the policy. There are many exclusions and limits that you wouldn't expect. Premiums are going up and coverage is going down. And the claims process has become quite time consuming and frustrating.