insurance after colic surgery

[DQ01]

Hi everyone,

My horse had colic surgery in August and her insurance is up for renewal in a month. I just phoned them to discuss my options now. I did successfully make a claim for this surgery. My vet has said that my horse is not at a higher risk of getting colic than any other horse. Her surgery was very simple as far as colic surgery goes, and there were no complications.

I am insured through Capri. They told me today that once a horse has colic surgery they are never covered for anything colic related again. Also if the horse needs to be euthanized due to colic, they are not covered for mortality either. The insurance company does not take into account that the vet said my horse is not at a high risk of colic reoccurring.

I’m wondering if this is the same for all insurance companies or if I should be looking around to insure my horse through a different company. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks so much.

[LDavis104]

While I don’t have any experience specificially with colic, I can tell you that every single other thing that happened to my horse was subsequently excluded from the following year’s insurance policy. Even when 1 vet “treated” a joint on my horse that new vet discovered had absolutely nothing wrong with it, they still excluded that joint based on vet #1’s misdiagnosis. They said after a few years or so they could revaluate but my horse was dropped completely after his neurectomy so I never got to that point.

You could always contact another company to get a quote and tell them about the colic to see what they say, but insurance companies do and will exclude things if there was any history of it at all, so I don’t think it’s unusual for them to be excluding colic on next year’s policy.

[findeight]

Get out the policy and read it. Most specifically exclude any body part they paid a claim on for at least a stated time period, colic can be forever. Call around but make sure you call agents representing different underwriters.

And make sure the agent knows what they are talking about. There are only a handful of underwriters, those are the companies that actually formulate the policies and cut the checks. Some agents just don’t know and gloss it over to make the sale since they are straight commission sales people. I got dinged that way once, got a refund too. After a bit of a fight.

Your vet may say one thing and their vets will say another so it’s probably not worth protesting. The underwriters base exclusions on statistical risk, if that’s the way they read the numbers? That’s the way it is.

[mroades]

my horse was able to be re-insured one year after her colic surgery provided she did not have a colic episode in that one year period.

[Daventry]

If your horse is insured through Capri, then I’m assuming you are located in Canada. Call around to some of the other insurance companies, as each Underwriter and policy wording is different. Some insurance companies exclude the injured or surgery body part for the life of the policy. Other companies will delete the “colic exclusion” if the horse has been shown to be colic-free for one year, two years, three years, etc. As findeight posted above, your vets opinion likely isn’t going to change anything the insurance company decides, as the exclusion is based on statistical risk and the chance of the insurance company having to pay out on a claim.

[DQ01]

Thanks everyone. I’ll make a few calls this week and see what I can come up with. At this point I’m almost wondering if I’m better off putting the money I’d pay for insurance into an account and just start saving for emergencies.
Daventry, yes I am in Alberta, Canada.
mroades, that’s how a lot of my friends thought it was. Good to hear you’ve had that experience. Hopefully I can find an insurance company that will take us on.

[Mistral]

What company is your horse insured through?

[Atlas_Shrugged]

I have insurance on a horse that had colic surgery - I had to wait a year and get a letter from my vet - full coverage now