The Taipei Animal Protection Office on Tuesday launched a pet insurance program in a bid to encourage pet owners to better safeguard their four-legged friends’ health and wellbeing.
The program, called “Give Stray Animals a Home; They Are Lucky to Have You,” allows owners who adopt dogs or cats at the Taipei Animal Shelter between July 1 and Dec. 31 this year to enjoy free insurance coverage.
Pet costs covered would include visits to the veterinarian, surgery and hospitalization, the office said, estimating that 1,500 dogs and cats would be insured under this program, with the highest payout amount being NT$210,350.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
The office said the insurance coverage gives pet owners a maximum of NT$1,000 per vet visit, with at most three payouts; a maximum of NT$5,000 for hospitalization, with at most two payouts; and a maximum of NT$10,000 for surgery, with at most one payout.
Animal Management Division coordinator Chang Mao-hsuan (張茂萱) explained that the maximum payout for veterinarian visits, hospitalization and surgery combined is NT$10,000 per year, which limit is not applied to special cases like pets biting and hurting others.
For such cases, in which another individual’s rights are infringed upon, the maximum payout is NT$100,000 per case, with two cases paid for at most.
As long as owners go to any of the 250 animal hospitals in Taipei certified by the Pet Commercial Trade Council, they are entitled to file insurance claims for related costs, he added.
Pet Commercial Trade Council chairman Chang Ching-lin (張靖霖) said that pet insurance has been available for a while now, but has been hard to implement because pet microchips and pet registration were not common, and both are necessary for animal identification. Another obstacle was that insurance claims were accepted by just a few animal hospitals.
Now, with more pets officially registered and implanted with a microchip, the insurance industry is willing to devise new policies that not only ensure animal rights, but also reduce the risk of animal abandonment due to the owner’s inability to pay for their pet’s medical costs, he said.
The office added that it is offering a discounted price of NT$650 for the policy to owners who have adopted dogs or cats at the shelter from Jan. 1, 2017 to June 30.
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