With the Australian bushfire season taking its toll already, PetSure is extending cover to help existing petinsurance.com.au policyholders impacted by adverse weather events including bushfires or flooding. 

Recently the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) declared the El Niño weather pattern, reported that the upcoming months will be really hot and dry with an increased risk of bushfires in some parts of Australia. 

So, what does this mean for me and my fur baby?  

Bushfires can lead to, or worsen, pet health risks like respiratory conditions, burns and some eye conditions. Data from PetSure (the brand behind petinsurance.com.au), shows the volume of claims for these conditions increased by nearly 8% in January 2020 during the most severe month of the Black Summer bushfires, compared to January 2019**. In NSW, claims for these bushfire-related conditions rose over 17% during this time. 

How can I prepare for the bushfire season? 

Here’s our tips to help you prepare for the bushfire season, and to keep your fur baby safe:  

  1. Update your pet’s microchip details and create an emergency kit: Ensure your pet’s microchip information is up to date with your current contact details, and nominate a secondary contact under your pet’s microchip. 
  1. Create a pet emergency kit: Assemble a pet emergency kit that includes essential items for your pet like food, water, pet medication, a leash, a collar with an ID tag, a carrier or crate, and copies of your pet’s medical records. 
  1. Develop an evacuation plan: Plan evacuation routes and destinations that are pet-friendly. Not all emergency shelters or accommodations accept pets, so identify nearby pet-friendly hotels, shelters and boarding kennels in advance. 
  1. Keep a reserve of prescription medications: Have a reserve of prescription medications for your pet, and/or to keep a copy of your pet’s clinical record so you can still organise regular prescription medications, in case your local vet is impacted by the emergency.  
  1. Stay across weather warnings in your area: Keep an eye on weather forecasts, fire alerts, and local news so you’re across the situation in your area, and you can act quickly if needed. 
  1. Keep pets indoors and prepare your home: If you don’t need to evacuate, try to keep your fur baby indoors to reduce the risk of smoke inhalation. Keep your pets’ carriers or crates easily accessible.  Learn more about bushfire protection on the NSW government website. 

 Extended pet insurance cover for petinsurance.com.au customers 

In response to an extreme weather event, and for all existing petinsurance.com.au pet insurance policies, PetSure (the power behind petinsurance.com.au) will act in two ways: 

 Cover will be provided for pet health complications for the insured pet, regardless of policy type or coverage level, arising as a result from an extreme weather event. 

  1. For a limited time, cover will be extended, regardless of policy type, to reimburse the full incurred cost of Emergency Boarding to customers in relation to the insured pet, with no access to accommodation or that have been displaced or evacuated. Cover for emergency boarding will be provided up to the policy annual benefit limit but without application of the emergency boarding sub-limit. Extended cover for emergency boarding will be available from 13 December 2023 – 13 June 2024. 

 Waiting periods will be waived for pet health complications occurring as a result of the weather event.  

 Underlying pre-existing conditions that occurred or worsened directly as a result of the extreme weather event will be eligible for the ex-gratia initiative. However, claims for a pre-existing condition that do not directly relate to the extreme weather event will not be covered under the ex-gratia initiative.   

 Let’s take an example. If your fur baby had asthma as a pre-existing condition which got worse due to an extreme weather event, you could claim for this condition under this initiative regardless of your policy type. However, following the weather event, any claims for this condition would revert back to being treated as a pre-existing condition for the rest of your policy term. 

 In terms of the fine print, all other policy terms & conditions continue to apply. 

 So how do I know if I’m eligible? 

To be eligible for this initiative, you must: 

 Be an existing petinsurance.com.au policyholder 

  • Have the event or expense be in relation to the insured pet under your policy 
  • Be located within or near a bushfire or flood affected zone 
  • Provide documents, such as a fully paid invoice (for non-GapOnly® claims), that indicates a pet health complication and/or emergency boarding expense in relation to your insured pet, were incurred as a direct result of an extreme weather event 

 How do I submit a claim for this initiative? 

To submit a claim for an eligible treatment and/or for Emergency Boarding, send it through the usual claims channels (paper, Customer Service Portal, e-claim or GapOnly®). 

How quickly will my claim be approved? 

If all the right information is provided, eligible claims will be reimbursed within 3-5 business days. 

If you have any questions about this initiative, contact your provider. 

 With some preparation, there are steps you can take to ensure you’re prepared this bushfire season – we hope you and your fur baby stay safe. 

References: 

** PetSure claims data, total volume of logical claims (by treatment date). Volume of claims for January 2020 vs January 2019. Bushfire related conditions for the analysis were defined as: accident – burn, eye condition, eye condition – conjunctivitis, respiratory condition – bronchitis, respiratory condition – clinical signs and respiratory condition –reverse sneezing.