Regular readers to this blog, hello to you, will remember my post a couple of weeks ago about Pet Plan and their insurance policy that covers alternative medicine. I wrote a letter to Pet Plan asking why they were happy to pay out for treatments that don’t work; you can read this letter here.
My main issue was that if a deluded few want to pay extra for an insurance policy that covers them for magic then that’s fine but I don’t see why I should have to pay for this as well. Pet Plan got back to me and said that this part of the coverage was “not optional” and “they have no plans to change this”. I replied asking how Pet Plan had come to this position and this was their response;
Within our customer base there is demand for these types of treatments and therefore, to provide a flexible product which suits all the different policyholder requirements we offer cover for these types of treatments.
The cover for we provide for these types of treatments is limited with a maximum benefit of £750 per year for all injuries/illnesses, when compared to the veterinary fees benefit which provides £4000, £6000 or £12,000 per year for all injuries/illnesses (depending on the plan chosen).
The complementary treatment benefit provides cover for acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, chiropractic manipulation, osteopathy and hydrotherapy and most of these treatment types have been proven scientifically.
I understand that with homeopathy the basis and scientific evidence to prove effectiveness is continuously under debate; however, as there is a demand for this type of therapy we provide a limited benefit towards these costs.
Thanks again for your feedback.
This will be my final correspondence on the matter.
Kind regards,
I concede that if there is demand for something then as a business it makes complete sense for them to provide this service. But surely those of us that don’t want to pay extra for coverage we will never use should be able to opt out of this? It is irrelevant how limited this coverage is; any money spent on rubbish is too much. I don’t accept this reasoning with the NHS spending money on homeopathy and I don’t accept it here.
I don’t want to get into the evidence for the various treatments listed above but for them to say that most of them being proven scientifically is pushing it quite a bit.
Maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill but I think if we just let these sorts of treatments to be supported and funded, regardless of how tacitly, then we are just allowing these dangerous practices to continue. All this does is give more legitimacy to nonsense and unproven madcap theories about how the world works.
It was good of Pet Plan to take the time to respond to my questions, I am not a customer only a potential one, and although they took a while to respond and I didn’t get the answers I wanted I am pleased that they engaged with the issue. Perhaps if more people ask for unproven treatments to be removed from their insurance plans, pet or otherwise, then this will be another victory for science based medicine.
3 Responses to “Pet Plan respond – pet insurance and quackery”
Lucy wrote on September 26th, 2010 10:50 am :
I disagree – my12 year old dog has had acupuncture for the last two years and the effect on his arthritis has been fantastic. He was running again after the first session and is more fluid in his movements after each appointment. I think the fact that PetPlan give us the opportunity to choose our therapies is excellent.
I’m not sure why you are so angry about it – go with a different insurer.
uksceptic wrote on September 27th, 2010 9:31 am :
Thanks for your comments Lucy. Unfortunately there is a real lack of controlled clinical studies to support your claim that acupuncture if efficacious in treating arthritis in dogs.
As soon as there is something that proves acupuncture works then it will no longer be an alternative therapy but be considered medicine, then my complaint about it as an alternative therapy being funded by insurance claims would be moot.
I do not think that any treatment should be offered unless there is evidence to support that it works. While it is pleasing to hear that your dog is improving your evidence is anecdotal and not really enough for me to reconsider my stance.
There could be plenty of reasons for your dog’s improvement; the weather, the placebo effect, your expectation of improvement or other medicines it might be taking in conjunction. Without controlling for these variables there is no way of telling if it is the acupuncture that is actually having an improvement. Certainly all controlled studies suggest that acupuncture works no better than a placebo for a variety of treatments.
Excellent blog, but disappointing, but predictable, response from pet Plan.
However, with BUPA now re-considering homeopathy for humans, it’s time companies like Pet Plan reconsidered as well.