With the number of pet owners in Taiwan continually on the rise in recent times, locals may soon have the option of purchasing medical insurance for their furry four-legged friends.
Union Insurance Co. Ltd. and TLG Insurance Co. Ltd. have both drawn up plans to begin providing pet health insurance and are expected to submit them to the Financial Supervisory Commission for approval within the next month. If all goes smoothly, pet owners will be able to get medical coverage for their pets by as early as October.
He Pei-xun, general manger of Avectec.com Inc. which is cooperating with the insurance companies, said the pet medical insurance plan will be implemented in two stages.
In the initial phase, insurance will only be offered to dog and cat owners, with coverage to be spread to other types of pets at a later date, He explained.
Currently, he said, the plan is to provide coverage for cats and dogs from the age of eight weeks, with the maximum age for cats being set at 11 years and for dogs at nine years.
Before applications for coverage are accepted, the pets will have to undergo a simple health examination as well as a DNA test. The results of the latter will be used as an identification market for the pets to help prevent fraudulent claims for insurance benefits.
For the first stage, a list of 107 types of illnesses and diseases has been drawn up, with benefits to only be provided to owners of pets who suffer from any of these conditions.
The initial phase will only offer coverage for serious conditions, while the second stage will include payments for annual shots and mild illnesses, He said.
The standard premium rate for both cats and dogs will be set at NT$5,000 (US$156) annually, with the maximum total insurance payout being limited to NT$150,000 per year, according to He.
He pointed out that the major risk to pet owners is not accidents, but instead illnesses and diseases. Owners can often be saddled with heavy medical expenses for their sick pets, with costs running as high as between NT$20,000 and NT$30,000 for a single serious illness.
Insurance industry sources said that a total of nearly 2 million cats and dogs are kept as pets in Taiwan at present. They predicted the insurance coverage rate for these pets could reach as high as 2 percent, or roughly 40,000 cats and dogs, within three years of the plan’s implementation. (SB)