If you are covered under:
Core Cover and Core Plus Cover: the Benefit Percentage for Pets aged eight weeks and younger than eight years is 90%, up to the applicable policy limits. Once your Pet reaches his/her eighth birthday, the Benefit Percentage will reduce to 65% up to the applicable policy limits on the next policy renewal.
Total Cover: the Benefit Percentage for Pets aged eight weeks and younger than eight years is 100% up to the applicable policy limits.
Once your Pet reaches his/her eighth birthday, the Benefit Percentage will reduce to 65% up to the applicable policy limits on the next policy renewal.

The Annual Condition Limits are the maximum benefit amounts paid per illness, injury or other items covered under your policy (such as emergency boarding) that you are claiming for. For example, Core Cover has an Annual Condition Limit of $500 for each covered condition and item, and Core Plus Cover has an Annual Condition Limit of $1,000 for each covered condition and item.
The Total Policy has different limits per condition or other covered item, ie $750 for Hernia or $6,000 for Bone Fractures, which are all set out in the Benefits Schedule. If you would like more information about the applicable benefit limits for the Total Policy, please refer to the Policy Schedule in your ‘Total’ Product Disclosure Statement.
As each condition and item covered under your policy has a per condition limit, there may be times where you will need to pay an additional amount of the eligible vet bill above what is covered by your insurance policy. Depending on the condition and the amount of the vet bill, this may be a significant amount.

As our Pets age, their health starts to suffer and they are likely to visit the Vet more frequently. The increases in the likely frequency and therefore the cost of Treatments impacts on the cost of pet insurance for all ageing pets. In order to continue providing cover and keep your premiums manageable, your benefit percentage will step down to 65% on the first renewal period once your pet reaches 8 years of age.

No. Pet insurance does not work like health insurance. Health insurance is ‘community rated’, which means that everyone pays the same premium for their health insurance regardless of their individual health status, age or claims history. This is not the case for pet insurance. Health insurance providers are able to community rate health insurance because there are many other factors at play in the human health care system, such as Medicare and government rebates and subsidies, which is not the case with veterinary care and pet insurance. Pet insurance claim reimbursements are paid for purely by the premiums received by those who insure their pets. In order for each person to pay a fair price for their pet insurance, premiums vary depending on you and your pet’s risk factors.

The Waiting Periods that apply for conditions covered under each policy are:
Core Cover: 30 days - for Conditions covered under the Illness and tick paralysis sections.
Core Plus Cover: 30 days - for Conditions covered under the Illness and tick paralysis sections 6 months – for cruciate ligament Conditions (may be waived on application, refer to the ‘Waiting Period’ definition in PDS).
Total Cover: 20 days - for Conditions covered under Illness, prescription diets, and alternative & complementary therapies, behavioural conditions 6 months – for cruciate ligament conditions (may be waived on application, refer to the ‘Waiting Period’ definition in PDS) 6 months – for treatment covered under the Dental Illness Conditions section

If any symptoms or signs of a Condition occur or the Condition exists in any form prior to taking out your insurance policy or during the applicable Waiting Period, then it will be considered to be a Pre-existing Condition and it will not be covered.
For example: if your Pet shows first signs or symptoms of diabetes prior taking out your policy or within the Waiting Period, then diabetes will be considered as a Pre-existing Condition and all expenses incurred for diabetes will not be covered.
For more information, refer to the Combined Product Disclosure Statement, Policy Terms and Conditions and Financial Services Guide.

A Bilateral Condition is a Condition affecting body parts of which the Pet has at least two. However, when applying a Benefit Limit or exclusion, a Bilateral Condition will be considered a single Condition.
For example: if your Pet displays signs or symptoms of an ear Condition in the left ear prior to taking out your policy or during the Waiting Period (a Pre-existing Condition), Vet Expenses for a subsequent ear Condition in the right ear will not be covered. Refer to the ‘Bilateral Condition’ definition in ‘Section 1 – Definitions’ of the Product Disclosure Statement, Policy Terms and Condition and Financial Services Guide.

Once your pet is accepted and as long as you continue to renew your policy, your pet will be covered for eligible Vet Expenses for life (subject to the terms of policy that apply on renewal).

As with most insurance policies, there are certain situations where you will not be covered. It is important that you read all of your policy documentation for full details of what is covered under each policy. For a list of General Exclusions refer to the Product Disclosure Statement, Policy Terms and Conditions and Financial Services Guide.

New policies; Your premium is calculated using a combination of factors about you and your pet. These factors can affect the premium amount up or down depending upon whether we believe it increases or decreases the risk to us, such as the cover you have chosen, the excess selected, the benefit percentage applicable to the cover you have chosen, where you and your pet permanently live, your age and the species, breed, gender of your pet, the current age of your pet, the age you first insured your pet, and other factors related to our cost of doing business.
Renewing policies:
Factors that are taken into consideration for renewal premium calculation include your pet’s age, breed, location, duration for which your pet has been insured, claims history, as well as data relating to the health of pets that are a similar age and breed. Each year we review premiums based on these factors to ensure we can accommodate the costs of possible treatment up to your annual benefit limit, in the event that your pet becomes injured or ill.

Yes, your premium will increase each year.
This is for two main reasons:
Reason #1: Just like humans, the older our pets get, the more likely they are to have health hiccups. Cats and dogs age faster than we do, which means that their likely veterinary treatment costs go up rapidly each year too. As a result, the cost of insuring your pet will also increase as they get older.
Reason #2:
Advancements in Veterinary Treatments. The overall cost of medical treatment for pets has increased in recent years due to the increased availability of medical treatments and technology-enabled services and ongoing demand for these services. The treatment options and advancements in technology are providing us with great opportunities to give our pets a great quality of life for longer. While this is great news for the care of our pets, these treatments come at a significant cost. Year on year treatment costs increase, and this is factored into the cost of pet insurance. Please see ‘How do you calculate my premium’ for more information about calculation of premiums.

Every year, we review the cost of everyone’s insurance with regards to a combination of factors as well as claims inflation across all our insured pets. Increases in our claims costs due to increases in the range of available veterinary procedures, or due to an increased take-up of those services, impacts everyone’s premiums. Your premium takes into account the average cost of care for pets like yours. To provide an example of this, a pet parent with a three-year-old French Bulldog will be affected by the trends we see in our data from hundreds of three-year-old French Bulldogs that we insure, as well as the specific claims history of their own pet.