[rideastar]

Who do you use for equine major medical? I am sooooo disappointed in Equisure/Caitlin. I have been a customer for many years and I made a claim for an injury (first claim ever!) and the insurance company is piddling around and not sending me any checks. My credit card is approaching maximum limit

[drawstraws]

Generally speaking, in my experience most holdups for payments being made are if the company is either A) waiting on information from either the owner or the vet regarding the horse's injury/diagnosis/treatment/prognosis (which, if you've been in contact and provided everything they've asked you for, give them a call and see if there's something you can do to prod your vet along, if that's where the holdup is) or B) they're getting approval from the higher-ups that the condition and treatment are covered. Unfortunately, this is not an instantaneous process.

Again, my best suggestion would be to call the claim company and politely ask if there's anything they still need from you or that you can try to help supply to move the claim along.

[Addison]

Great American

[FalseImpression]

I thought GA was not covering horses valued at less than $15K any more? from other threads I have read.

[drawstraws]

Great American is no longer offering major medical coverage for horses valued under $15,000. It's mortality only, plus I believe you can still add a surgical only coverage, but no major med.

[horsepoor]

If you are approaching your credit card max, that makes me think you are in the midst of a fairly significant claim. I would not be looking to change insurers in that case. I'd be making some polite calls to your claims adjuster to find out what the delay is caused by, and assisting them in collecting any reports/whatever they are lacking. Perhaps your vet has not sent in the required report...knowing that, you can contact the vet to remind or prod them into returning it. I have used one vet that was horrible about filling out the reports. I would get a copy of the form from my adjuster, arrange to meet my vet at a farm call, read him the questions and take down the answers while he treated various horses, have him sign it, and fax it myself! I've also had an adjuster lose invoices, and only when I called to check did we figure it out so I could submit things again.

Depending on your vet, too, sometimes they are willing to delay charging while you sort out the insurance. So rather than putting it on a credit card, they might let you carry a balance directly with them until you get some payments from the insurance...but I'd make those arrangements prior to any treatments, etc from the vet. And I'd want to know for sure the insurance will be covering things, and the hold up in payment isn't due to a question of whether the injury/ diagnostic/ treatment is covered.

[rideastar]

Thanks for the input, I've had a lot of people recommend Great American. I just re-upped with Equisure/Catlin right as the injury occured. So I have almost a year before I can change, but I will change then.

[drawstraws]

When you're ready to shop, also get a quote from an agent who works with American Equine Insurance Group to compare. Their medicals have a $300 deductible but no co-pays or sub-limits while Great American's have a co-pay on their diagnostics, which can add up pretty quickly.

[Daventry]

An insurance company is only as good as how they deal with a claim Regardless of who you go with, make sure you know your policy inside and out! Is your horse insured for "agreed value" or "actual cash value" (fair market value)? With agreed value, if your horse is insured for $10,000 and the horse dies, the insurance will pay out $10,000 as long as there is proof of value. With actual cash value, you may be paying premiums on $10,000 for 5 years, but if your horse dies, the insurance company will only pay out what your horse is worth at the time of death (fair market value). If the economy tanks, etc., and the fair market value is only $4,000, that is unfortunately all you will get.

Most horse owners are under the impression that if they insured their horse for $20,000 and they've paid their premiums every year that they will get $20,000 if they die. Unfortunately, no always true!

Regardless of the insurance company you choose, please, please, please make sure to keep good records on your insured horses - including pictures, video and show records....and remember to continue to update them! I've done several very tough equine appraisal cases in which the owner didn't have a single photo or video of their insured horses that passed away, no show record, nothing....which makes it extremely tough to prove their value! And, if you feel like the insurance company is giving you the run around, and you truly believe your horse is worth more, get your own independent equine appraisal done and present it to the insurance company. I do a lot of these...and it does work!

I've got a few insurance tips and tricks on my website and on our Facebook page to help horse owners...so my job isn't so hard if someone needs to make a claim at some point!
Daventry Equine Appraisal Services
www.equineappraisers.com

[tisor]

Daventry - is it even worth trying to get an appraisal on a 4 year old that's barely started training?

[Mukluk]

I had Great American and was happy with them- until they changed their minimum horse value to $15,000. I am not sure what their rationale was for the decision.

[equinelerium]

Ditto on being happy with Great American when I had insurance on my horse. They were pretty easy to deal with and I got reimbursed quickly.

[Diamondindykin]

My horse is insured through Hallmark and I have thankfully not had to make a claim they seem great so far and I have heard that they pay claims quickly. I am hoping that I never have to find out