[JLR1]

Are all insurance companies following along with Great American and their no Major Medical for horses valued under $15k. In a few months I will need to find an alternative. Any recommendations?

[Simkie]

Most companies offer major medical for the sub-$15k horse. The catch is you can only get as much major medical coverage as you have mortality. So you have a $1500 horse? You get $1500 in major medical. Doesn't really seem worth it

If you want MORE major medical than mortality, your options are limited. The Hartford is one, but there are some pretty severe limitations on what they cover.

[SaratogaTB]

Try Hallmark

[equinekingdom]

try horse insurance specialists in Pilot Pt TX.

[quietann]

Interesting... my insurance is through Equine Insurance Specialists and they said they no longer do a $7500 major medical, but would do a $10,000 one for about $275 more per year. Mare is insured for $12K mortality (though I would not expect insurance would pay out that much if she died.) She will turn 15 later this year so this is the last year she will be (easily) insured. We are going ahead with it.

[morgannut]

Markel (formerly Agri-Risk) covers my horse for major medical and emergency colic surgery and he is valued far less than $15k. They haven't mentioned any changes, but then the policy isn't due for renewal yet either.

[Hippolyta]

I have mortality & major medical for my 5000$ horse w/ Equisure

The mortality is only b/c it was required for the medical. The medical payout max is well above her value. If I couldn't get the medical, I am not sure I would have bought the horse b.c I don't want to be in the position of having to treat her for something & not being able to afford it

http://www.equisure-inc.com/

Their customer service was great. My agent was v. patient w/ me & all of my weird questions.

[Simkie]

Is Equisure the Colorado agency that's using Lloyds of London as the underwriter? I remember that there is a Colorado agency using them, but can't quite recall if it's Equisure. Who is your underwriter, Hippolyta, if my memory is shaky (totally possible) and it's not Lloyds?

[Simkie]

Oh, nevermind. I contacted Equisure some time ago and they no longer offer more major medical than mortality. They will only payout the value of the horse (mortality limit) in major medical. Their underwriter is Chartis.

[Prime Time Rider]

try horse insurance specialists in Pilot Pt TX.

Absolutely DO Not call Horse Insurance Specialists in Pilot Point. They neglected to submit a major medical claim for me until 33 days after the incident, and I was out of luck. No recourse.
They are an agency, not an undrewriter, so there is nothing than can do about Great American's new policy to only offer major medical for horses insured at $15k or more.

[Hippolyta]

Oh, nevermind. I contacted Equisure some time ago and they no longer offer more major medical than mortality. They will only payout the value of the horse (mortality limit) in major medical. Their underwriter is Chartis.

Yes, just looked at paperwork & yes, underwriter is Chartis. Our policy was purchased in May. I guess I may have to look around for a replacement.

[ryansgirl]

Try Hallmark

Agree - call Hallmark. I have $10,000 worth of coverage and my mare isn't valued anywhere near that. They have different policies - the cheaper one only gives you coverage up to what they are valued at while for a little extra you can get the 10k coverage amount (i pay $550/year for the 10k).

[S1969]

Just went through this with my horses and posted on this thread:

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/sh...uine+insurance

In the last post are the underwriters that I could buy from. AEIG does offer major medical in excess of your mortality rate, but it was fairly expensive.

[LDavis104]

I go through Corinthian Insurance (http://www.corinthianinsurance.com/) and have my policy with Diamond State. I have a $5000 mortality and $10,000 major medical policy. I used up every last bit of my $10,000 last year and they still renewed me this year, actually with a lower premium! Having a lower mortality amount kept my premium lower, as I really care about the major medical the most.

[deltawave]

None of mine is worth (in reality) more than $15k, so this year I've canceled all the horse insurance and am going self-insured. Within the last several years the exclusions, restrictions, deductibles and loopholes have made it less and less valuable anyway.

[kcmel]

I have Broadstone, who will insure for less than $15K. I can't remember who the underwriter is, though.

[Simkie]

This thread would be infinitely more helpful if those with insurance could post the following:

Agency
Underwriter
Mortality insured amount
Major medical insured amount
Rough date of last renewal

or:

Agency
Underwriter
If major medical insured amount exceeds mortality insured amount
Rough date of last renewal


The only underwriter that I am aware of that will give you more MM than mortality is The Hartford. Broadstone is one of the many agencies that offer them. Broadstone also offers policies with Chartis, which does not provide more MM than mortality. When I spoke with Broadstone in October of last year, I was cautioned that The Hartford policy was considerably limiting in what they would actually pay--I believe it was only 50% of "big" diagnostics like MRI and bone scan, and only $1000 total payout for biologic treatments like IRAP and stem cell. There may be more limitations, but I lost interest when I heard the above and we did not go on.

S1969, is AEIG an underwriter or an agency?

It looks like Hallmark is offering Diamond State.

[drawstraws]

AEIG (American Equine Insurance Group) is the underwriting company, Diamond State & United National are the companies behind them that actually write the policies. Hallmark uses AEIG exclusively as their underwriting company, but AEIG works with many other brokers as well. They do offer three different limits of coverage, of which the higher of the two do not tie into the horse's insured value.

Another agency you could call would be Kaplan, I believe they use several different companies and I got a quote from them for three different horses with values from $5,000 to $10,000 and they came back with a few different medical options that did not tie into the horse's value. I do not know what underwriting it was from though.

[Simkie]

Hallmark uses AEIG exclusively as their underwriting company, but AEIG works with many other brokers as well.

Huh?

The documentation on the Hallmark site shows very clearly that Diamond State is the underwriter and calls AEIG the administrator of the program.

http://www.hallmarkhorse.com/pdf/Mor...icy_Jacket.pdf

Perhaps we are not using the same terminology. In my posts:

Agencies: Companies that facilitate the sale of insurance policies
Underwriters: Companies that actually provide the insurance

It sounds like you are saying AEIG is an agency that sells policies underwritten by Diamond State and United National. As far as I can tell, AEIG is not an underwriter and United National and Diamond State are one and the same.

[drawstraws]

AEIG is definitely an underwriter (determines if coverage will be accepted and handles issuing the policy documentation, etc.), while United National/Diamond State are the carriers (basically, the companies behind everything but does not have anything to do with the day-to-day processing of policies). The underwriters work through agents/brokers, who are the ones responsible for handling correspondence between the insured and the underwriter (AEIG does not work directly with the insured, while some other companies do).

Here's Hallmark's front web page - http://www.hallmarkhorse.com/
They note that all of their policies are underwritten by AEIG.