Importance of Horse Medical Insurance

Horse medical insurance can help you avoid making heart-wrenching decisions about whether or not to pursue life-saving treatments. However, many policies are available, and the fine print can vary significantly.

Most horse insurance plans include obligatory basic coverage for ‘death, theft, and wandering’ and will pay out the horse’s market value if one of these scenarios occurs.

One popular type of policy is major medical/surgical coverage, which covers surgeries resulting from an injury or illness. Generally, this is combined with mortality coverage in a single policy.

Preventive Care

A horse medical insurance plan pays some of the diagnostic testing, surgical, and medical treatment costs if your horse is sick or injured. Some plans also cover aftercare treatment. These plans suit anyone concerned about being saddled with thousands of dollars in veterinary bills if their horse is critically ill or injured.

Generally, these policies do not cover routine care or alternative treatments. Similarly to human primary medical insurance, they do not pay for preexisting conditions. Many insurance companies will offer this as a supplement to a mortality policy.

Many of these plans also include a preventive care component that provides a certain amount of money back for services that help keep your horse healthy, like vaccines, dental floating, and an annual wellness exam. Protect your horse while keeping your vet bill low with this effective method. This won’t diminish the grief of losing your equine partner, but it will help to relieve some of the financial burden.

Surgical Coverage

With veterinary medicine progressing at record rates, horses requiring illness and injury treatment are getting diagnostic tools and care that were unheard of a few years ago. But these advancements come with a price, and the costs can quickly add up.

Insurance can help offset these expenses. Primary medical/surgical coverage is typically added to the base mortality policy and reimburses reasonable and customary veterinary expenses incurred due to an accident, illness, or disease. Generally, this includes a portion of the cost of diagnostics, medication, and surgery.

This insurance aims to cover expenses beyond the typical and anticipated veterinarian bills required for every horse owner, such as yearly vaccinations, dental work, and parasite control.

Loss of Use

Equine surgery costs are very high, and significant medical/surgical coverage can help defray the costs.

Some companies also offer loss-of-use insurance, which pays out if a horse has an accident or illness that makes him permanently unable to perform the activity for which he was insured. However, this coverage does not typically cover preexisting conditions, so checking with the company on their policy wording before signing a contract is essential.

Many insurance companies allow you to add loss of use to a named perils mortality policy at a flat fee, depending on the annual limit and deductible chosen. When choosing a company, it’s essential to have a track record of delivering dependable and punctual services to their customers.

Liability Coverage

With medical technology progressing at such astounding rates, horses suffering from severe illness or injury benefit from diagnostic tools and treatments that were unheard of even a few years ago. These advances come with a cost, though.

Major medical and surgery policies cover reasonable veterinary, medical, and surgical care charges caused by accident or disease. They also reimburse for diagnostics and testing. This kind of insurance is typically part of a mortality policy but is also available as a separate purchase.

Liability coverage is another essential component when considering an equine insurance policy. This can help you pay for damages your horse causes to other property and people. This may include if it bites someone, injures a rider, or gets lost. It can be included in a property or general liability policy or purchased as an add-on to your horse’s mortality policy.