Field guide · 2025
Pet insurance excess and co-payment explained
Pet insurance excess is the fixed dollar amount you pay toward a claim before the insurer pays the rest. It is separate from the co-payment, which is a percentage of the vet bill that you also pay. Both come out of every claim, so together they decide how much money you get back.
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This guide explains each term in plain words, shows a worked example, and lists what to check in a policy before you buy.
What pet insurance excess means
An excess is a set amount that stays with you on a claim. If the excess is $100, you cover the first $100 of the claim amount. The insurer pays from there.
The size of the excess is not the same everywhere. Each insurer sets its own, and it is written in the product disclosure statement (PDS). The PDS is the legal document that lists what a policy covers, what it leaves out and what you pay. The government money guidance site Moneysmart tells buyers to read the PDS before signing up.
What a co-payment is
A co-payment, sometimes called a co-pay, is a share of the vet bill that you pay yourself. The insurer pays the other share. The insurer's share is often called the benefit percentage.
In the ING pet insurance PDS dated 15 March 2021, the insurer pays 80 per cent of eligible vet expenses. You pay the remaining 20 per cent, and the document calls that your co-payment. A co-payment is charged on the bill. An excess is a flat amount. That is the main difference.
A worked example with both
The ING PDS gives this example. You claim for $1,000 of eligible vet expenses after your pet gets conjunctivitis.
- Vet bill: $1,000
- The insurer covers 80 per cent: $800 (your 20 per cent co-payment is $200)
- Your $100 excess comes off that: $100
- The insurer pays you: $700
So on a $1,000 bill you carry $300 in total. Here is the same sum on a bigger bill, using the same ING rules. This one is our own arithmetic. On a $3,000 bill the insurer covers $2,400 and the excess is $100, so you are paid $2,300 and you carry $700.
Other insurers may work in a different order, or use a different excess and percentage. The PDS for your policy sets out its own order and numbers.
How often you pay the excess
This part catches many owners out. In the ING PDS, you pay the $100 excess once for each unrelated condition in a period of cover. If your pet needs more treatment for the same condition in that period, there is no new excess.
A different condition brings a new excess. The PDS gives examples. A dog bite after a conjunctivitis claim means another $100. A second bout of conjunctivitis from an unrelated bacterial infection also means another $100. But if both bouts of conjunctivitis came from the same herpes virus, they count as one related condition, and the second claim has no excess. The insurer would pay the full $800 on a $1,000 bill.
Other policies can charge the excess per condition, per claim, or in other ways. Ask which one applies before you buy.
Annual limits and what they do to the maths
The excess and co-payment are only part of the picture. Moneysmart tells buyers to check the annual limit on benefits that the insurer will pay. Once you reach it, the policy stops paying for that period.
In the ING PDS, the overall annual limit is $12,000 for each period of cover. Some conditions also have lower sub-limits, such as $4,000 for orthopaedic conditions and $1,500 for tick paralysis. The document says your excess and co-payment do not reduce the remaining limit. Only the amount the insurer pays does.
That has a real effect. A policy with an 80 per cent benefit and a $12,000 limit does not cover $12,000 of bills. The insurer stops after it has paid out $12,000, and you still pay your share of every bill along the way.
What to check before you buy
- The excess amount, and whether it applies per condition, per claim or per year.
- The benefit percentage, which sets your co-payment.
- The overall annual limit and any sub-limits for specific conditions.
- Waiting periods, which are set times when you cannot claim yet.
- Exclusions, such as pre-existing conditions that your pet showed signs of before it was insured.
Moneysmart also notes that most insurers ask you to pay the vet in full and then claim the money back. So you need cash on hand for the whole bill, not just your share. It adds that pet insurance can cost thousands of dollars in premiums over a pet's life, and that setting aside savings each pay may suit some owners better.
Our own limit: the editors read published documents. We did not buy policies or test claims, and the figures above come from one insurer's 2021 PDS. They show how the terms work. They are not a quote.