Learning the Ins and Outs of Bivvy Pet Insurance

At Bivvy, we work hard to make our insurance as easy-to-understand as possible. That said, we know the ins and outs of insurance may still be a foreign concept to many pet parents. We’ve put together an overview of important insurance terms and how they are applied to our Bivvy policies.

For full coverage details in your state, please click to our coverage page!

How does Bivvy work?

Once your coverage is active and you go to the vet, you can open your claim within your pet parent account and upload your itemized vet bill. We work hard to review open claims quickly and will keep you updated over email.

For covered care, we reimburse our pet parents via a direct deposit or with a mailed check. We find this freeing since our pet parents can go to any vet they choose, including when they’re traveling.

However, we understand that not everyone has the funds to pay the vet upfront (although that is an option). We only require a copy of the bill, not a receipt, to start our claims process.

We try our best to transparently show what we do and don’t cover upfront so there are no surprises at claim time!

What is a waiting period?

A waiting period falls immediately after you open a policy. During a waiting period you can’t yet file a claim for that waiting period’s type of care. Incidents that occur within the waiting period will then be considered pre-existing as they happened before coverage was active.

A common misconception is that a waiting period starts after every new accident or illness. That’s not the case with Bivvy! Our pet-specific waiting period starts the day you open your pet’s policy.

A waiting period is built into our insurance coverage to protect all customers from fraudulent claims. Some people try to have pet insurance pay for already sick or injured pets and that wouldn’t be fair.

Bivvy has waiting periods for accidents and illnesses. Orthopedic conditions generally have a waiting period for dogs unless the orthopedic injury is a direct result of trauma. Check out our coverage page for your state’s specific waiting periods.

If you sign up for Bivvy Wellness Care, there’s no waiting period! You can use your Wellness Care benefits for routine care the day you sign up for Wellness Care.

Wait a minute, what is a deductible?

A deductible is the amount you pay before Bivvy steps in to help. You don’t send Bivvy your deductible, instead it’s simply removed from your overall reimbursed amount. After your deductible is met, your coinsurance percentage would be applied.  

Depending on your state, you’ll have a per claim deductible or an annual deductible. Per claim deductibles are applied to each approved claim and are subtracted from your total reimbursable bill.

Annual deductibles aren’t applied to every claim, they are only met once a policy year. If you have a reimbursable claim that falls below your unmet annual deductible, which means your claim is too small to be reimbursed, that vet bill will apply towards your annual deductible for the year.

One important call out, deductibles aren’t applied to Wellness Care claims! Deductibles only apply to your accident and illness policy.

What does coinsurance mean?

Coinsurance, sometimes called a copay, is the percentage you pay out of pocket that’s removed from your total reimbursement. A reimbursement is the final amount that Bivvy sends you for covered care once your deductible and coinsurance has been applied. Your coinsurance percentage can be found here as our states have different policy terms.

Let’s say, as an example, your coinsurance is 50%. That means if there is $500 of a covered bill still left after the deductible is applied, Bivvy will reimburse you at 50%, which in this case would be $250.

Coinsurance is strictly applicable for your pet’s accident and illness coverage. It’s not applied to Wellness Care claims.

How do the annual and lifetime limits work?

Your policy’s annual limit is the maximum amount Bivvy will pay each policy year for covered expenses incurred during that policy year. The policy year begins on the effective date, which is the day you first signed your pet up for coverage or your annual renewal date. Your policy’s $25,0000 lifetime limit is the maximum amount Bivvy will pay over the life of your pet.

So, you don’t cover pre-existing conditions?

As with other pet health insurance providers, we exclude pre-existing conditions. This means a condition that first occurred or showed clinical signs before your pet’s coverage started, including during the waiting periods, wouldn’t be covered.  

Unlike other insurers, temporary conditions that started prior to the end of the waiting period that have not shown any clinical signs for a consecutive amount of time (time could vary by state), may not be considered as a pre-existing condition. Hereditary and congenital conditions that weren't showing signs or symptoms may be within our scope of coverage. Learn more about your state’s pre-existing condition clause here.

I still have questions about Bivvy.

We hope you feel a little more comfortable about our pet insurance! However, it is perfectly okay to still have questions.

Please refer to our FAQ page first. We share answers to our most frequent questions in one easy to navigate spot!

You can also reach out to us via email at [email protected]. We’d love to help you and get your lovable family pet(s) covered today!