Pet Insurance

[MJ5150]

After some recent trips to the vet and pet ER, the wife and I have decided to invest in pet health insurance to save us some money next time. Cutting $500 or $800 checks to the vet is no fun. One of our friends jokingly suggested the minute we pay for pet insurance we can pretty much be sure we'll have a healthy pet from then on.

Anyone insure their pet or pets? A quick search online shows several options to choose from with good and bad reviews of each company. Hopefully someone has some experiences they can share.

-Mike

[-Kramer-]

I am glad you brought this up. I have been having this discussion with my wife to be a few times about our dog to be.

I think it really comes down to how much you think that you will spend on a pet. I love my dogs, but I am more likely to make the hard decision to put the dog down than to spend the thousands to keep them alive a year or two longer. OTOH Some people will spare no expense to give their dogs the best healthcare available.

I am pushing for the self-insurance method. Put $1000 in a savings account to be there in case of emergency, but otherwise we will have the money if the need does not arise.

[8_finger]

IMHO, set aside an amount you can afford each month, or as previous poster mentioned $1000 in savings account is better than most pet insurances.
Do you really want to be for hours on a phone to discuss your pet's medical needs with an insurance company? They are no different than people Med. Insurances and they work pretty much the same way (e.g. by not paying what you expect them to when you expect them to).

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by -Kramer-

I think it really comes down to how much you think that you will spend on a pet. I love my dogs, but I am more likely to make the hard decision to put the dog down than to spend the thousands to keep them alive a year or two longer. OTOH Some people will spare no expense to give their dogs the best healthcare available.

This is a good point when talking about older animals with possibly terminal illnesses. We have a seven month old puppy that had gastrointestinal problems. Making the decision to put her down so I can save $1,700 is irresponsible and reflects a lack of respect for life.

The pet insurance we looked at is $28 per month and coverages are similar to those for humans. The benefits are clearly spelled out and a couple list out a fee schedule so you know up front how much you will be reimbursed.

-Mike

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by 8_finger

IMHO, set aside an amount you can afford each month, or as previous poster mentioned $1000 in savings account is better than most pet insurances.
Do you really want to be for hours on a phone to discuss your pet's medical needs with an insurance company? They are no different than people Med. Insurances and they work pretty much the same way (e.g. by not paying what you expect them to when you expect them to).

Can you elaborate please on the hours on the phone comment? Are you speaking from experience?

In our example, our out of pocket up to this point would be less than $200 if we had insured our puppy from day one. The yearly premium would cost us right about $350 if we paid it up front for the year instead of monthly. I would already be coming out ahead in our case.

-Mike

[8_finger]

Check the exclusion lists: they usually list hip dysplasia which is very common in large dogs, plus all of the routine vaccines and check ups dogs/cats need in a year that comes out of your pocket with most plans. Same goes for teeth cleaning. Check the exclusions, that's a lot more important than what's included.

It makes sense if you want accident/emergency coverage, but that's pretty much it.

For the rest of the situations put money aside and do all the necessary preventative care(vaccines, heartworm, decent quality food) and you'll be fine.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by 8_finger

Check the exclusion lists: they usually list hip dysplasia which is very common in large dogs, plus all of the routine vaccines and check ups dogs/cats need in a year that comes out of your pocket with most plans. Same goes for teeth cleaning. Check the exclusions, that's a lot more important than what's included.

A couple of the plans did not cover hereditary diseases at all, like hip displaysia. Others do cover it for an additional fee.

Same with routine care, most did not cover it, but they did offer routine care coverage. You are right that they are geared more toward accident/illness coverage.

You did not answer my question from my previous post. Are you speaking from experience with pet insurance? This is not an attempt to be confrontational, just trying to get a feel for your angle.

-Mike

[8_finger]

My wife and I have multiple pets (2 cats + dog) and we foster for 4 dog rescue groups and we usually have no less than 4-5 rescue dogs in our home. In last three years we had probably close to 150 dogs going through our home, some with more medical problems than others. So I have a bit more experience with animals than the average person, also being responsible to take care of the dogs and taking them to the vet I have reasonable grasp of vet expenses - from usual care to some not usual cases (torn acl recovery, HW recovery, extreme allergies, seizures, cancer, chronic conditions, etc.)

We did the numbers and we don't have pet insurance for our pets. As I said insurance makes sense for "feces hits the fan" situations, otherwise on average cost of insurance is greater than the sum of the vet bills in a year (of course depending on the plan and what it covers).

So, no I don't have first person experience, but I have more than average grasp of actual cost of owning a pet, even with severe medical problems.

My advice is to do the math, get the med records of your previous pets, average them to yearly cost per pet and compare that to what the insurances are offering.

P.S.
I don't think you are being confrontational.

[bongomania]

My wife and I do have pet insurance on our dog. We've been using "Pet's Best" for the last 3+ years, but we are thinking of switching to VPI. When we started with PB, they had the "best" combination of reasonable rates, reasonable deductible, and decent coverage. But in the last year they have changed all three of those things, for the worse, with no notification to us. We'd send in a claim, and get a letter back declining coverage, saying we hadn't met the (new) $1000 deductible, or that now dental wasn't covered... and the monthly bills went up.

We haven't yet determined that VPI is actually any better, so we haven't switched yet. But anyway there's our experience with Pet's Best.

[MJ5150]

Great info, thanks bongomania.

We were debating between VPI and Trupanion. We would really like to go with ASPCA since it would make us feel better to support that organization in a way, but the plans for our bloodhound puppy weren't all that great.

-Mike

[dj150888]

I have pet insurance for all of my reptiles. I was damn glad I did last year. One of my girls was egg-bound. If I hadn't my insurance, I wouldn't have been able to pay for her trips to the vet. Its a barely noticeable amount each month in the grand scheme of things, compared with what we spend on other luxuries, and the peace of mind I get knowing that my pets are going to be treated even if I'm broke is worth it to me.

Since my insurance is for exotic pets, the details on it are probably not totally relevant to you, however, routine checkups and faecals are included in my policy.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Anyone insure their pet or pets? A quick search online shows several options to choose from with good and bad reviews of each company. Hopefully someone has some experiences they can share.

-Mike

We got tired of exhorbitant fees from our regular vet, so we found a well-care plan through Petsmart. It covers stuff like teeth cleaning, nail clipping, shots, exams, routine urinalysis and bloodwork, discounts on meds, etc. for $29.00 per month per dog.

Our regular vet could never do all that for $360.00 per year.

Like someone said above, we did the numbers for catastrophic health insurance premiums, and it made more sense for us to just field those expenses when and if they arise. We have pretty healthy dogs, but if they did experience a life-threatening condition, we would debate treatment and pay it out of our pocket--up to a point. We're in that group who would not spend tens of thousands to keep a dog alive, we'd probably have it euthanized.