Does Pet Insurance Cover ACL Surgery?

On the article: What is ACL surgery? | | How does ACL surgery coverage work? | | Which Company Covers ACL Surgery? | | annual cost | | Is ACL surgery common in dogs? | | Is ACL surgery common in cats? | | Conclusion | | Frequently Asked Questions

If your pet ruptures the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), pet insurance companies usually cover surgery to fix it. However, because ACL problems are so expensive to treat, they often have longer waiting periods and are ruled out more rigorously than other conditions.

Our Home Media Review team analyzes these exclusions to help pet owners understand what to expect from their pets. best pet insurance provider As for ACL tears.

What is an ACL Injury?

Strictly speaking, animals do not have ACLs. This is his one name for the ligaments in the human knee that connect the thighbone (femur) to the shinbone (tibia). In our four-legged friend, this is called the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL), and he has one on each hind leg. However, this ligament is often called the “ACL”, so we will call it this ligament.

A torn ACL is a fairly common injury to the knee joint in dogs, called the knee joint. Cats can also suffer ACL injuries, but they are most common in active dogs. It may be part of the trauma, or it may be the result of your dog landing awkwardly when running or jumping. It can also occur in older pets from prolonged wear. Obesity is a risk factor for ACL tears, as excess weight puts more stress on the joints.

What is ACL surgery?

Cruciate ligament injuries are serious. Your pet cannot put weight on the affected leg and the treatment needed is often surgery. There are several types of ACL surgery depending on the size of your pet and the severity of the problem. .

• Lateral Suture/Extracapsular Repair: A strong suture creates a new pseudoligament to replace the torn ligament. Over time, the joint stabilizes as scar tissue develops.
• Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO): Cut, reshape and rotate the top of the tibia (shin bone) to create a more stable joint. Essentially you don’t need ACLs because weight is distributed differently at joints.
• Tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA): Similar to TPLO, this procedure also cuts the top of the tibia, but uses a steel plate and bone graft for fixation.

After surgery, your pet may need physical therapy to fully recover. This may or may not be covered under standard pet insurance coverage.

How does ACL surgery coverage work?

When covered, using pet health insurance for ACL surgery works like any other veterinary bill. After the initial visit to diagnose the problem and discuss treatment options, the procedure and schedule required hospitalization. Pay your out-of-pocket costs, file a claim with your insurance company, and get a refund. The amount you receive is determined by your selected reimbursement rate, coverage limits, and deductibles. All medical expenses are covered, including x-rays and other scans, surgery costs, and medications.

However, all pet insurance coverage is excluded existing state — that is, the health condition that appears before the waiting period ends. Most policies have a waiting period of 2-7 days for him for accidents and 14-30 days for injuries, but there are special limits for orthopedic issues such as ACL injuries and hip dysplasia. Some providers do. For these providers, he has to wait 6-12 months to receive compensation, and his ACL problems that occur before that period ends are not covered.

In addition, some companies have bilateral exclusions. This means that if a pet develops her ACL problem on one hind limb, her ACL problem on the other hind limb will be considered a pre-existing condition and excluded from coverage. Your health care provider can see your pet’s medical history, so even a limp at your annual checkup may be enough to deny coverage. We recommend that you purchase pet insurance as soon as possible.

Which Company Covers ACL Surgery?

Here are more details about ACL surgery coverage offered by our recommended pet insurance companies.

Lemonade ACL Surgery Coverage

Lemonade’s basic accident and illness pet insurance plan covers ACL surgery. However, the company requires a six-month waiting period for “cruciate ligament events”. ACL treatment will not be covered, even if you do not ask for it. Additionally, if you want physical therapy coverage, you’ll need to purchase a special add-on for about $2-$5 per month.

You can learn more about: Lemonade Pet Insurance Review

Scope of Spot ACL Surgery

If you’re worried about ACL issues in the near future, Spot Pet Insurance has just a 14-day waiting period for all accidents and injuries. This is the shortest waiting period for ACL damage.Spot only offers accidents cheap pet insurance – This covers sudden ACL injuries, but if your pet’s joints fail over time, you’ll need accident and illness planning.Also, unlike some providers, Spot does not have an upper age limit for new registrations, but premiums for senior pets are higher.

You can learn more about: Review of spot pet insurance

Scope of Torpanion ACL Surgery

Torpanion’s Basic Accident and Illness Plan targets the treatment of ACL problems, such as injuries and joint deterioration over time. With the Recovery and Complementary Care add-on, you can add rehab therapy coverage for $2-$30/month. Torpanion has a waiting period of 5 days for accidents and 30 days for illnesses, but no additional waiting period for ACL problems. Also, there are no specific two-sided conditional exclusions that are unique to this list.

You can learn more about: Torpanion Pet Insurance Reviews

Get ACL Surgery Coverage

Fetch by Dodo offers a single accident and illness plan that covers ACL surgery, but there is a 6-month waiting period for all hip and knee injuries. However, this waiting period may be waived if the pet is examined by a veterinarian during his first 30 days of the policy and certifies that there are no pre-existing knee problems. In that case, only his usual 15-day waiting period for all accidents and illnesses applies. Fetch also covers rehabilitation after surgery.

You can learn more about: Acquired by examination of Dodo pet insurance

Accept compensation for ACL surgery

Like Fetch, Embrace also offers a single accident and illness plan with a six-month waiting period for orthopedic conditions, including cruciate ligament problems. There is also an orthopedic screening and waiver process that can reduce the waiting period to 14 days. Bilateral conditions are not covered, but some rehabilitation, such as hydrotherapy, is covered.

You can learn more about: Accept pet insurance reviews

Scope of ACL Surgery in Healthy Legs

With an accident and sickness plan, Healthy Paws covers ACL surgery after just a 15-day waiting period. There are also no caps on payments per incident, year, or lifetime. However, bilateral conditions are excluded.

You can learn more about: Healthy Paw Pet Insurance Reviews

Discreet Pet ACL Surgery Coverage

Prudent Pet offers accident-only plans that cover ACL surgery as a result of injury, and accident and illness plans that cover chronic illnesses. There is a six-month waiting period for knee and ligament problems that are waived by physical exam.

You can learn more about: Careful review of pet insurance

Annual Cost of ACL Surgery Coverage

here are some sample price For plans that cover ACL surgery. These prices do not include health or preventive care add-ons to cover vaccinations, sterilizations, and other anticipated medical expenses.

*Sample prices are based on quotes obtained from a 4 year old medium mixed breed male dog and a 4 year old medium mixed breed medium hair cat in Denver.

Is ACL surgery common in dogs?

Fortunately, only about 5% of male dogs and 8% of female dogs spayed before the age of one year develop cruciate ligament problems. However, about half of dogs with her ACL injury on one leg will eventually damage the other leg. In the following dog breeds, this ligament becomes fragile over time, eventually tearing or tearing.

• labrador retriever
• newfoundland
• german shepherd
• rottweiler
• golden retriever

Is ACL surgery common in cats?

ACL problems are less common in cats, but do occur. Partial tears or ruptures may be treated with medication, joint supplements, and exercise restrictions. However, if there is no significant improvement after about six weeks, surgery is usually the next step.

Bottom Line: Does Pet Insurance Cover ACL Surgery?

Standard pet insurance usually covers ACL surgery, but has some practical limitations, such as longer waiting periods and exclusions for bilateral conditions. The quickest cover for ACL problems, and Trupanion offers the most complete coverage for ACL treatment (including surgery).

Methodology: Our System for Ranking the Best Pet Insurance Companies

Our pet insurance company reviews are based on reading hundreds of customer reviews, simulating the quote and buying process, speaking with representatives on the phone, evaluating customer service experiences, and surveying 1,000 dogs and cats nationwide. Based on in-depth industry research, including surveying owners. Determine the most important elements of pet insurance coverage. Based on these factors, he scored each provider out of 100.

Details of each element and its weighting are as follows:

• Monthly fee (25 points): The amount each company charges for a pet insurance plan is an important part of a customer’s decision. The best pet insurance companies combine comprehensive coverage and plan options at affordable rates.
• Planning (15 points): Top pet insurance companies offer accident and illness plans, accident-only plans, and health or preventive care add-ons to help customers choose the best plan for their pet.
• Target treatment (15 points): We used this factor to score companies based on their targeted treatments and procedures. Companies with a wide range of treatments and unique coverage scored more points than providers with more standard or generic policies.
• Customization Options (10 points): Customizing your policies is a valuable way to ensure your pet only pays for what they need. Providers with more options for annual limits, deductibles, and reimbursement rates received the highest scores.
• Customer Care (10 points): Scores companies on website accessibility and overall usability, customer service availability, mobile apps (if any), money-back guarantees, veterinarian telemedicine options to provide more customer experience I gave points to the insurance company.
• Industry reputation (10 points): To determine each company’s industry reputation, we reviewed the latest ratings and certification information from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) ​​and scored companies based on years of industry experience and state availability.
• Waiting period (10 points): Companies with shorter waiting times for accidents, illnesses and orthopedics between enrollment date and coverage start date scored higher than those with longer waiting times.
• Target age (5 points): Some companies do not offer policies for pets over a certain age. We deduct points from providers that have age restrictions on eligible pets.

Use our rating system to compare and contrast each company against key factors that help determine the best pet insurance companies in the industry. In addition, we keep our research up to date and review our reviews regularly.