Thoughts on Pet Insurance

T

The Quahog

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I confess I have never been a big fan of pet health insurance, and do not think it will be a good thing for the profession when it becomes widespread enough to approach being 'the norm.' (Another rant for another time.)

That being said, we do like to keep informed so that we can offer clients meaningful advice, and some of our clients have insurance, so when a large pet insurance company advised us that our practice was rated a 'B' on a scale of A-D of number of clients using their services, though I had never recommended them, we thought we'd have them in for a presentation.

I did find the presentation interesting, and something I could se myself in fact recommending in certain situations, and thought I would share what was offered to see how this compares with what those here have or have been offered. The variety of options and plans is bewildering, but we simplified it to specific examples.

1) Full wellness care - covering vaccinations, routine visits and medications. Sorry, not interested. (Again, for another time.)

2) Medical - with a $250 deductible, (and that is a once per year for all incidents) a 5 yr old Golden would cost about $300 per year. This seemed to cover about half what major medical procedures would cost around here - for example about $1000 for an ACL, $600 for a gastric foreign body etc. That formula (about 50%) seemed to hold up for most procedures I looked at.

3) Major medical - For a $250 deductible, 5 year old Golden, about $600 a year. Seemed to cover just about what a procedure would actually cost, eg $2000 for the ACL, $1200 for the emergency foreign body etc.

4) Injury - All dogs would be the same fee, regardless of breed or age. 'Injury' includes such things as foreign body ingestion., its more 'accident' than 'injury.' With a $250 deductible , costs about $120-150 per year.

Cats, incidentally, have a much more reasonable flat rate plan in the $100 -$200 range paying $600 for each diagnosis (up to 5 I think) per year.

I did find this interesting. The policies are not cheap, and that's good because if they were my 'spider sense' would tingle that the company could not make any money if it did its job properly. But the fees are far from absurd, and could give some peace of mind that an owner could get 'catastrophes' attended to without overworking up every ache and pain to get their 'money's worth.'

So is this pretty much in line with people here's experience? If you have had insurance, were you pleased with it and kept it up or did you later decide against it? Just curious from the standpoint of helping clients make informed decisions.

Incidentally, Skye just checked on her insurance status and discovered she has none. She is out on the deck sulking. :o - Dr. Mac
 
This is very interesting. I've never really looked into Pet Insurance. I think I may do so now.

Thanks for the information!
 
ive quickly looked into the pet insurance, however with that said I just dont think it would work for me. With Six dogs just the cost for the premium all at once would kill me, and the dogs generally dont cost me that much per year...granted this year wasnt a good year for vet fees with the girls, I think it was close to $3000. I dont even want to add it up between one with a c-section and another with Pyo, (which I dont think the insurance would cover although I could be wrong)....Other than that the general fee is rabies every 3 years and once a year office fee for around $30....so the other dogs are cheap, the girls just decided to cash in this year:rolleyes2::dead:

Although I do think it could work if you have one or two dogs, and they tend to have issues...Do they have a clause though that they wont cover certain things that are known issues in certain breeds???
 
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I have trupanion insurance for my girl. I got it when she was 10 weeks old. I was not concerned with wellness care insurance (vaccines, yearly visit, heartworm pills, etc). I was looking for coverage in case of an emergency or long term illness. I don't want money to ever be an issue if heaven forbid, I have to make a serious medical decision for Bailey. That is why I decided to get insurance.

I chose a $0 deductible, so I only pay a monthly fee. I went with trupanion because they reimburse you 90% of your actual bill (minus the vet exam fee). Most of the other insurances I researched reimburse you 80% of what they believe the average cost of a procedure/diagnosis testing is in your area.

So far I have been very pleased with them. Bailey has had a few UTI's, liver shunt test, malnutrition test and stomach viruses. I was never denied a claim and was reimbursed exactly what I expected.

Having insurance definitely gives me peace of mind and I hope to not have to file a claim anytime soon.
 
I've thought it over, and I just decided pet insurance wasn't worth the money for me. The monthly fee was a bit much. I just have a credit card I keep handy that is used for nothing other than emergency vet bills.

Plus I get cashback bonus on the card when I pay it off. :biggrin2:

I don't know. They say some insurances cover the cost of spaying and neutering your pets. Smudge's neuter was steep, but he had a lot going on that day. Fluffy's was $92.

That $92 included:
microchip
spay
iv fluids
pain medicine
follow up vet visit

That's not a bad deal for $92! Especially considering the microchip was forty something! :eek2:

Then I have heard that some insurances pay for "some" of your yearly shots. My yearly shots aren't so bad that I need an insurance for that, either.

For some people it is probably good though, and for the people that do use it I am glad they have it. I am sure it has helped a lot of people, but it's just not for me.
 
I got pet insurance for both mine when they started competing in dog sports. My insurance has an excess of $500 per year per injury/illness (and pays up to $15,000 per item and 100%). For the life of my dogs, in current terms, the cost is about $6,000. Shelties are alot cheaper to insure than retrievers.

So being bureaucrat I did a cost-benefit analysis on getting the insurance.

I would sell the house if my dogs had a major incidnt but would rather not. If someone doesnt expect to spend big bucks on vet fees then its probably not worth the cost. But if you would spend anything then I recommend at least consider injury insurance.

I worked out what I would most likely use insurance for. I thought the most likely problems were currently snake bites, tick paralysis and cruciate ligaments, car obsessed Deska being run over and Tully being swiped by a roo, and cancer treatments in the future. The cheapest to treat would be the bites at around $2,000-5,000, which is close to the annual lifetime fee.

Now Deska has DJD the insurance has paid for itself, and I'm afraid I am one of those people the insurance companies hate. In the future when he needs elbow replacement surgery I wont need to sell the house.

I personally dont think routine care is worth it. And I havent insured the cat yet.
 
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I do all my own vaccines on all adults. Always a vet exam for puppies first visit (I bring my vaccines and they administer them, and sign off that the pups are tip top.) and rabies.
My big expense is geriatric blood work that I have to do after the dogs are 9. I do this as a baseline going forward. This along with an abdominal xray, to ward off any surprises. Geriatric care, ie dental cleanings, and aches and pains, are never put off.
I save money on heart worm blood tests by keeping them on heart worm medication year round.
OFA and CERF are just part of owning breeding show dogs.
I guess I just take it as it comes....c-section or whatever.
 
I seriously considered pet insurance for Bentley and Lexi.

But, I wanted it to mostly protect against serious injury, especially because of agility, but haven't found a plan that fits what I want.

A lot of plans don't cover some serious sports-related injuries. I wish I could back that up with some kind of quote or data, but I looked into it about a year ago, and I can't remember now. But I remember specifically being frustrated about that.

I'm lucky enough in that I know if something were to go seriously wrong, and I didn't have the money, my parents would be more than willing to lend it to us until we could pay for it. Hopefully we'll never have to worry about that.
 
My insurance also has paid for itself. I insured Pixie and Barkley as puppies (thank goodness, before they had issues!) and between Pixie's seizures and Barkley's recurring Lyme disease I've been very happy -- but with my latest insurance, not my first company, which was VPI and denied nearly everything. Those claims it did pay were such a miniscule amount that it was ridiculous.

Now I have PetsBest and I can highly recommend them. The claims I've had have been paid very promptly and exactly as the policy promised. I don't have wellness care either, just medical.
 
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