Curious who everyone uses for mortality insurance. I’ve been getting quotes, and for the cost of my horse, American reliable is $100 less per year (than Great American) and also that comes with $5000 toward colic surgery, opposed to only $3500 with Great American. But I’ve read that many use and like Great American. Any suggestions or referrals? Thank you.
I’m very happy with my coverage from XL Specialty, through the Broadstone Agency. They paid out very promptly on a significant major medical claim, and did not nickel and dime me on the invoices I submitted. I previously had good experience with Great American also. With my last horse purchase, I did a comparison of all the coverages and deductibles for the major medical piece and did find more variation than I would have expected, so particularly if you will have major medical coverage also I think it is a good idea to shop several options and compare the actual policy forms to see the specific caps, definitions, exclusions, etc . . .
Praetorias had the best coverage of diagnostics when I was shopping. Most others only cover about ~50% of the more expensive stuff (bone scans, etc.). I bought mine through Jennifer Oliver.
https://www.facebook.com/JenniferOliverEquineInsuranceSpecialist/
Separate major medical coverage from mortality. Mortality is the base property coverage for the loss of a horse to illness, accident of theft. You can add major medical as an endorsement and pay additional premium for it. Most carriers have identical mortality coverage; premiums will vary depending on what their actuarial department developed. Major medical can be all over the board and not easy to compare.
I have Major Medical and Mortality with Jarvis
My vet and a few of my friends recommended Jarvis to me.
My trainer uses Hallmark and has been pleased with the claim protocol and they are fairly quick with payment help.
I spoke with probably 10 insurance companies before I settled. I wanted to make sure I understood what I was paying for and that it included customer service about half of the companies got dropped from the list because they were annoyed that I was asking questions. So I encourage you to call and just get a feel for one that you like. Many of them have horses and compete like us. Jarvis has a lot of eventing people in the office so I liked that. Best of luck!
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there are lots of horse insurance agencies but few actual underwriters. I’ve had Hallmark for years and am very pleased with them. They still insure my 19 year old fellow for mortality (and I think you can get just surgical coverage if you want to add it). I know several folks who have been very pleased with Broadstone.
I found that the biggest difference in the mortality policies was whether it was an agreed value policy, ie, assuming policy compliance, they pay the full insured amount. Some policies had a FMV component that left open the possibility that you paid for X amount of coverage, but received less.
I also found the only way to truly compare major medical policies was to request a copy of the actual policy forms and review them for the precise coverages. I’m a lawyer, and used to wading through a lot of the legalese, and even with that it was really a tedious process. But it did make a big difference in my final selection, particularly since with $150 in additional premium, XL Specialty will pay 100% of diagnostics. And they truly did pay without any issue under that coverage - MRI, bone scan, and multiple ultrasounds by the time it was all said and done, and I was only out of pocket my initial $400 deductible.
