Insurance and Annual Vaccination

Hi

Just read Karlins new sticky re "Current Vaccination Advice" which came in handy as I was due to post and ask current thoughts as my fours renewal with AXA is due shortly ,actually theres a letter at home now which could be it .I know my vets always push for an annual jab as its a nice little earner for them but does any member know if its a condition of insurance cover ? as obviously with our little Cavaliers insurance cover for life is so essential .

I think the wording of the contract indicates it is a condition of the contract but I have asked another long time AXA customer who said only the conditions you didn't vaccinate for are not covered. You would be doing me a big favour if you ring and ask them.

If you have not heard from them lately, the letter waiting for you would be your new account numbers as AXA have new administrators and have changed them. It'll be a real pain for you having four dogs because when they write, they don't give the name of the dog so you have to phone up, give them they new number on each letter and ask which dog they mean. There is also a delay in direct debits during the switch so they offer you the chance to make a one off payment to clear the delayed month if you want to.

Nerves about tomorrow is making me waffle! I hope that made sense.

Generally they would only not cover something related to the vaccine diseases. But as most dogs in studies seem to get lifetime cover from their first booster alone, and the maximum recommendation for vax is every THREE years from all leading vet organisations and vet schools in the US now, the chance that they would get a vax related disease is virtually nil. The likelihood of a vax-related reaction, including a fatality, from annual vaccinations is higher (while still low).

I think you need to speak directly to your insurance agent though -- it would not be useful to rely on anyone's guess on an internet forum. You need an explicit response from them, so I'd call their help line.

PS Brian I'd print out that article and bring it in to your vets and ask for a response as to why they push for an annual vaccine when evidence is strong that this causes more problems than it helps and is an unneeded vaccination, something they are not therefore supposed to do.

Hello

The letter was the insurance renewals and AXA are charging £75.00 excess and a premium of

Poppy (4 yrs 1 months ) £135.15
Daisy (3 yrs 9 months ) £125.12
Rosie (3 yrs 2 months ) £125.12
Lily (1 yr 9 months ) £140.21

I asked why Lily being the youngest is the dearest and they answered that overall they have paid out more in claims on Cavaliers of Lily's age than the ages of my other three ,so premiums are calculated only on AXAs paid out claims values on the ages of our Cavaliers .
I then asked if annual booster injections are a condition of cover and they directed me to clause 3 page 11 of their new May 2010 policy book which states .

"YOU must ensure that YOUR PET is vaccinated each year against distemper ,hepatitis ,leptospirosis and parvovirus for dogs and feline infectious enteritis ,feline leukaemia and cat flu for cats ."

Comments and guidance please .:?

Brian, I've just had a look at the policy document for Pet Plan (Allianz) - in Ireland - and it says:
"You must arrange for Your Pet to be kept vaccinated against the following:
Dogs: Distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and kennel cough.
Cats: Feline infectious enteritis, feline leukaemia and cat flu.
If You do not keep Your Pet vaccinated, We will not pay any claims that
result from any Illness it must be vaccinated against."
Maybe AXA has the same policy, ie they simply don't cover vaccine related illnesses if the dog hasn't been vaccinated.
If you don't have any preexisting illnesses that you claim for, would it be worth your while to shop around?

Hi

I am more than happy with the premium as the only other life cover is from Petplan who last time I looked were around three/four times the cost AXA .What I was concerned about was the annual booster being a condition of insurance cover which unfortunately it seems to be as with all the recent guidance I was going to adopt a period of every three years for their boosters but it seems I cant ,unless anybody knows different.

Thanks for looking .