Pet Insurance Company Offers New Well Care Coverage

Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the nation's oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance, announced today that it will release two new WellCare products designed to promote semiannual physical exams and increase options for routine care reimbursement. The company is also simultaneously marketing enhanced base medical plans. VPI plans to offer the new Core and Premier Pet WellCare Protection riders and enhanced VPI Standard and Superior plans to customers in California, Idaho and Tennessee by late July, with a product rollout in all 50 states over the next 18 months.

"Routine care coverage has been a popular and distinctive option of VPI Pet Insurance since it was added as a choice nine years ago," said Carol McConnell, DVM, director of veterinary education for VPI.

"The new Core and Premier Pet WellCare Protection riders will take routine care coverage to the next level, providing our policyholders with more flexibility and greater reimbursement for the veterinary services they use most."

The Core WellCare rider provides policyholders with up to $250 in total annual benefits for $12 per month and the Premier WellCare rider offers policyholders with up to $400 in total annual benefits for $22 per month. Both include benefits for physical exams, vaccinations or titers, heartworm testing, fecal testing, deworming, microchip identification, flea and/or heartworm preventive and routine diagnostics. The Premier Pet WellCare Protection plan includes additional benefits for urinalysis or ERD kidney testing and dental cleaning or spay/neuter. VPI's new Pet WellCare Protection will be offered as an add-on to VPI's Standard and Superior plans.

The Core and Premier Pet WellCare Protection riders are the result of extensive claims history research and the input from numerous veterinarians and policyholders. Reflecting the counsel of veterinarians, one main aspect of the newly designed riders is reimbursement for two office visits per year. In addition, an increased reimbursement amount is available for microchip identification, which some communities now require as a means of tracking pets in order to return them safely to their owners.

The new riders are also intended to reflect and accommodate recent changes in veterinary medicine. For example, as opposed to reimbursing for specific vaccinations, the Core and Premier WellCare plans feature one generous reimbursement amount for any selected vaccinations or titer tests, allowing the veterinarian and pet owner to decide which preventive approach is best.

With two distinct products, pet owners also have the power to decide which best meets their needs and budget. The Premier or Core WellCare option is intended to provide optimal routine care coverage at every stage of a pet's life. The Premier Pet WellCare Protection, which offers slightly higher reimbursements as well as benefits for kidney testing and spay/neuter or dental cleaning, is designed for pets that have not been spayed or neutered, pets requiring regular teeth cleanings, or older pets in need of additional care. The Core Pet WellCare Protection is intended to keep healthy pets healthy while still keeping routine care costs manageable.

"The Core and Premier WellCare products offer pet owners broader preventive coverage for their pets and flexibility in how to administer that coverage, resulting in more satisfied customers that visit their clinic on a more frequent basis," said McConnell. "These products were designed to support and sustain a lasting policyholder-to-veterinarian relationship, which is beneficial to a pet's long-term health."

Enhanced Standard and Superior Plans

Launching alongside the new WellCare products are enhanced versions of VPI's base medical plans. The Standard and Superior plans, offered in their current forms since 2002, have been revamped to provide greater reimbursements and coverage for more diagnoses. As with the WellCare products, the company expects to offer the enhanced plans starting in California, Idaho and Tennessee by late July.

Both VPI's Standard and Superior plans reimburse according to a benefit schedule. Depending on the plan purchased, VPI pays up to 90 percent of the benefit schedule allowance, less a $50 per incident deductible. The enhanced benefit schedule contains 81 new diagnostic codes and increases benefit allowances for several diseases, the five most common being otitis externa, gastritis, atopy, cystitis, and osteoarthritis.

The enhanced plans will also include a new secondary testing benefit. While most pet owners visit the veterinarian for one specific ailment, they may leave having received treatment for multiple conditions. Revamped medical plans will enable pet owners to receive reimbursement for testing required to identify a secondary condition.

"The redesign of our medical plans was not only an effort to include additional diseases on our benefit schedule, but also an attempt to provide more reimbursement to our policyholders," added McConnell. "Adding coverage was not an easy task, since our primary goal is to keep pet insurance affordable for all pet lovers."

About Veterinary Pet Insurance

Veterinary Pet Insurance Co./DVM Insurance Agency is the nation's oldest and largest pet health insurance company. Providing pet owners with peace of mind since 1982, the company is committed to being the trusted choice of America's pet lovers and an advocate of pet health education. VPI Pet Insurance plans cover dogs, cats, birds and exotic pets for multiple medical problems and conditions relating to accidents, illnesses and injuries. Optional Pet WellCare Protection for routine care is also available.

Medical plans are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 1,600 companies nationwide offer VPI Pet Insurance as an employee benefit. Policies are underwritten by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company in California and in all other states by National Casualty Company, an A+15 rated company in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information about VPI Pet Insurance, call 866-357-0084 or visit Veterinary Pet Insurance.