Pet insurance is designed to help with the unexpected costs of veterinary care. It does not cover pre-existing conditions, which are illnesses or injuries your pet had before you took out a policy or during waiting periods. This is because insurance is for future, unforeseen events, not for conditions that already exist.

What is a pre-existing condition?

Under a Trupanion policy, a pre-existing condition is any injury or illness that showed signs before your policy started or during the waiting periods. This could be something your vet noted in your pet’s records, or even subtle signs you might have noticed yourself. It doesn’t need to have a formal diagnosis to be considered pre-existing (full details are outlined in your Product Disclosure Statement).

Why are pre-existing conditions not covered?

Pet insurance works by pooling the risk of many to cover the unexpected vet bills of a few. If insurance covered conditions that pets already have, it would not be insurance. It would be more like a payment plan for existing health problems. This would make pet insurance unaffordable for everyone.

What are waiting periods?

Waiting periods are a set amount of time you must wait before you can make a claim for certain conditions. For a Trupanion policy, there is a 5-day waiting period for injuries and a 30-day waiting period for illnesses. This is to protect against people signing up for insurance only when their pet is already sick or injured.

Why is it important to insure your pet when they are young?

Insuring your pet when they are a puppy or kitten, before they show signs of any health issues, is the best way to ensure that you have cover for any new illnesses or injuries that may occur. The younger and healthier your pet is when you enrol, the less likely they are to have pre-existing conditions.