Southern Cross Pet Insurance Policy changes December 2023

This is a summary of the changes we’ve made to our PetCare and AcciPet policies, which come into effect at your renewal date, on or after 1 December 2023.

This is a guide only. Make sure you read your updated policy document (PetCare or AcciPet) for full details of the terms and conditions that apply from your renewal date.

For more information on what these changes mean to you, head to our existing customer product page.

PetCare & AcciPet

Change to chronic condition and cruciate

Removal of lifetime limit

We’ve removed the lifetime limit for all chronic conditions from both PetCare and AcciPet plans. Apart from the new cruciate ligament sub-limit (see below), you can now claim for any eligible health condition up to your annual benefit limit each year, on the terms set out in your updated policy document.

This means if your pet had previously reached their lifetime limit for treatment of a chronic condition, you can start claiming again for qualifying treatment that occurs on or after your policy renewal date.

New annual sub-limit

We’ve added an annual sub-limit for treatment of cruciate ligament health conditions and any related condition. This means:

Customers on AcciPet, PetCare BronzeRibbon or PetCare SilverRibbon can claim up to $2,500 per policy period for cruciate ligament and related health conditions.
Customers on PetCare GoldRibbon or PetCare BlueRibbon can claim up to $5,000 per policy period for cruciate ligament and related health conditions.

This sub-limit renews each policy period, which means you can claim up to this sub-limit each policy year.

Managing premium increases

New annual excess

We’re adding a mandatory annual excess to PetCare and AcciPet. You can choose between:

$100
$250
$500

In each policy period we’ll deduct your chosen annual excess when you claim for qualifying treatment before we reimburse you. This annual excess will be applied before your co-payment is calculated. Make sure you check your new certificate of insurance to see your annual excess.

Your annual excess only applies to reimbursements under the base policy, it is not applied to claims reimbursed under extra cover.

In your renewal pack, we will tell you what annual excess that’s been applied to your policy. If you would like to change this to a higher or lower  annual excess, please call us on 0800 800 836.

If you increase or decrease your excess at your next policy renewal (or thereafter), your new excess will apply to qualifying treatment for all claims from this date. This includes new claims for health conditions you might have previously claimed for with a different excess.

A higher annual excess will reduce your premium, and a lower annual excess will increase your premium.

Change to co-payments

We’ve added 2 new co-payment options and removed the 0% co-payment option.

You can choose one of the following co-payment options:

10% - new
20%
30% - new

Customers who currently don’t have a co-payment will automatically have a 10% co-payment applied to their policy and this will be noted in your certificate of insurance. If you’d like to change this you can contact us

If you currently have a 20% co-payment, this will remain the same, unless you call us to change it.

If you increase or decrease your co-payment at your next policy renewal (or thereafter), your new co-payment will apply to qualifying treatment for all claims from this date. This includes new claims for health conditions you might have previously claimed for with a different co-payment.

A higher co-payment will reduce your premium, and a lower co-payment will increase your premium.

For more on how we calculate your excess and co-payments see here

Making cover for vet consults optional

Shifting cover for vet consultations

We’ve shifted cover for vet consults from your PetCare/AcciPet policy to a separate consult care extra. This means that you now have an additional $1,000 to claim for vet consults.

You can choose to remove consult care extra for a reduced premium, but this means, you’ll need to pay for vet consults yourself.

Here are some examples of customers who might choose to remove consult care extra:

they have a vet wellness plan for their pet that covers vet consultations
they’re comfortable to pay their consultation fees and would prefer a lower premium
they’re a vet who conducts their own consultations

It is up to you to decide if this cover is right for you.

Consult care extra - new

Consult care extra, our new extra cover option, covers consultation fees charged by your vet for consultations, revisits, and for emergency and specialist vet consultations in relation to a health condition covered by your policy.

How it works
With consult care extra you can claim 80% of the consultation fees charged by a vet up to a maximum of $1,000 per annual policy period. Consult care extra is additional to your base plan and is not subject to the annual excess.

Policy wording changes

Plain language and the WriteMark

We reviewed and re-written our policy documents to make them easier to read and to understand what your pet is covered for, and how your cover works. We have received the ‘WriteMark’ which is an independent verification that our policy documents meet a very high standard of clarity.

In our review we also made some changes to the policy terms and conditions and these are outlined below. Please take the time to read your policy document carefully and contact us if you have any questions.

Underwriting process clarifications

We have added in more information about how and when we check for pre-existing conditions, and some examples of what a pre-existing condition might look like.

We may make changes to this policy

We’ve added a clause which allows us to make changes to your policy during the term of the policy – on giving you notice of the change. If we make changes we’ll give you at least one month’s notice in writing.

Working pets - an eligibility criteria

We have removed our exclusion for working pets and made it more explicit that its only if your dog is used for pig hunting that you cannot apply for PetCare or AcciPet.

Other working pets, such as guide dogs, assistance dogs and breeding pets are able to be covered under both PetCare and Accipet.

Changes to cancellations and refunds

Moving forward if you contact us to cancel your policy, we’ll cancel from the date you’ve paid up to. If you have claims for a period not yet paid, we’ll collect your next premium and cancel from the date it is now paid up to.

If you’ve paid your premium in advance (annually, half yearly or quarterly), we’ll still cancel your policy effective from the date that we receive your request to cancel. We’ll still refund the portion of that premium that applies to the period beyond the cancellation date.

Contract breach consequences

We have clarified that if you fail to declare a pre-existing condition, we may only decline the claim and add the condition as an exclusion (we’ll no longer have the right to cancel the policy). We will only cancel the policy for misrepresentation, fraud or other non-disclosure or material breach after giving you a reasonable period to explain.

Non MPI or VCNZ approved medication

There is no longer an exclusion for medication that is not approved by the Ministry of Primary Industries or the Veterinary Council of New Zealand.

Your application forms part of your policy

We have clarified that your application for the policy forms part of the policy (along with the policy document and certificate of insurance).

PetCare only

Changes only to PetCare

$25 vaccine & check-up bonus removal

We’ve removed the $25 vaccination or annual health check contribution benefit.

You can choose to add our day-to-day care extra, which provides cover for vaccinations and health checks up to $75 per claim ($300 total per policy period).

We’re excluding epidemic diseases

We will no longer pay claims for viral conditions, regardless of your pets' vaccination status, if there is a known epidemic outbreak in New Zealand at the time of infection.

Cover for grooming accidental injuries

We’ve changed our ‘grooming and bathing’ exclusion to clarify we do cover accidental injuries that happen at the groomers.

This means you will be covered for treatment of an accidental injury that happens at the groomers under PetCare.

Adding dental care extra at your policy renewal

If you add dental care extra at your next or subsequent policy renewal, the 90 day stand down period doesn’t apply.

AcciPet only

Changes only to AcciPet

Degenerative injuries exclusion

We’ve added this exclusion for degenerative injuries for clarity. These were never covered by AcciPet as they are not an ‘Accidental Injury’.

Congenital condition exclusion removal

As congenital conditions are not an accidental injury we’ve removed this exclusion from the policy.

Cell-replacement therapies exclusion

We already exclude specialised treatments under AcciPet. We’ve added cell-replacement therapies (including stem cell therapies) to this list.