Why the payout was less than expected

Plain-English reasons: deductible, excluded items, annual cap, waiting period, pre-existing.

When actual reimbursement is less than expected, Heel breaks down the gap in plain English. The five most common reasons:

• Deductible— your policy-year deductible wasn't fully met yet, so the first $X of eligible cost was on you.
• Excluded items — grooming, food, certain preventives, or anything your plan calls out as ineligible.
• Annual cap— you've hit the per-pet maximum for the policy year and the rest rolls to next year.
• Waiting period — the visit happened inside the first 14 / 30 / 6-month window your plan enforces for the relevant category.
• Pre-existing condition — the carrier flagged the diagnosis as pre-existing based on prior records.

Each reason carries a dollar amount, so "explained" means the dollars add up. If they don't — i.e. there's still a gap after all five reasons — Heel flags an unexplained variance and suggests appealing.