In general, only purebred cats have life insurance, usually
acquired at young age, although cats can enter life insurance
until 6 years of age. Cats can enter a veterinary
care-insurance program at any age, but life insurance is
only valid till the age of 13 years. If cats are more than 2 or
6 years when first insured, for life and veterinary care insurance,
respectively, applications must be accompanied by
a veterinary health certificate. For veterinary care insurance,
there is a predetermined deduction (in the year 2003,
it was 1200 SEK (when 100 SEKw $80US and w90 Euro))
for a claim period (i.e., 100 days), whereas the median
premium was 450 SEK, and for most cats the maximum
reimbursement within a year to animal owners was 30,000
SEK. After a veterinary visit, the receipt for veterinary care
costs is submitted to the insurance company (electronically
or by mail). When a life-insured cat dies, a claim is processed
using forms completed by the attending veterinarian,
including a summary of the cat’s disease problems,
and if requested by the insurance company, the complete
medical record. In general, in the insurance computer
database only one diagnostic code is used per claim, codes
which are made by attending veterinarians. In general, the
study populations were a large population of cats with
veterinary care insurance, a much smaller population of
life-insured cats, and an even smaller population of cats
with both insurance types simultaneously.