What are people’s experiences with Pet Health Insurance?
Pet Insurance
Question by Leland Beas: What are people’s experiences with Pet Health Insurance?
ASPCA sponsors one and there are other companies as well. We’d like to know how successful–or unsuccessful–buying health insurance to cover your dog’s health has been.
Best answer:
Answer by debijs
~~Our animal shelter gives you one free month when you adopt. It was wonderful, our dog came down with Kennel Cough and it paid the entire bill. What I noticed (and why i decided to not keep it) was the premiums really jumped for each year old. I have had dogs all my life and I have only had one dog be sick (nothing serious) and so it wasn’t worth the cost to me.
If I had purebreds who are apt to have hip problems, etc. I would sincerely consider it. I have good ol’ mutts and as long as you keep vaccinations current, they just never get sick. So, the insurance does work, you have to weigh the cost of the premiums, versus how apt your dog may be to have problems.~~
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Tags: Animal Shelter, ASPA, aspca, Health Insurance, Kennel Cough, Mortgages, Pet Health Insurance, premiums, Vaccinations
Pet insurance isn’t like human insurance. It doesn’t pay the vet FOR you. You always have to pay the vet first, THEN submit the bill, and hope to get reimbursed.
It’s not regulated, there’s no “appeal”. It doesn’t cover preexisting conditions, and many plans don’t cover things that are breed specific – like back problems in doxies.
I’ve done cat rescue for years. I own cats, and a dog. I don’t buy pet insurance for my pets (although they have the option of purchasing it when they adopt one of my rescues). When *I* look at what’s covered, vs. the cost, it’s cheaper for me to just pay out of pocket.
mbrcatz is right about the fact that you get reimbursed by the pet insurance company. I personally have pet insurance with Trupanion and the claims process is that when you have a vet bill – you have the vet fill out the claim form, you submit it to the company and then they either approve it or not and then they send you a check for the percentage they owe. I personally had some successful experience with Trupanion so I would recommend taking a look there. Also take a look at pet insurance review websites and read other people’s stories. That helps in making a decision for a company.
…at the time I was considering it, it wasn’t available for pets older than eight years. Since at that time all of my animals were over that age tghat made it an easy decision. That has changed, but there are still a lot of exclusions. For example, VPI excludes hip displasia and a number of breed-specific illnesses. For a Shar-Pei for example, this includes Amyloidosis, Lens luxation, Synovitis, Shar-Pei fever, and Mucinosis, and for Chows, Dermatomyositis, Myotonia, Sebaceous adenitis, and Seborrhea (very common here in south Texas).
Other excluded conditions include:
Elective and cosmetic procedures
Expression or removal of anal glands or anal sacculitis
Breeding or conditions related to breeding
Special diets, pet foods, vitamins, mineral supplements, boarding or transporting expenses, grooming costs
Diseases that are preventable by vaccines
Behavioral problems
Diagnosis of, or treatment for, internal or external parasites
Orthodontics, endodontics and removal of deciduous teeth
Diagnostic tests and treatments for conditions excluded or limited by the policy or complications arising from conditions excluded or limited by the policy
Routine examinations, vaccines, teeth cleaning and spay/neuter, unless the optional Pet Wellcare Protection? Coverage is purchased.
I also have multiple animals and the monthly cost of Pet Insurance would be very high.
Because my cats all live in the house and because my dogs only go outside the property on a leash with me, I have chosen to self-insure them. In essence I set aside the equivalent of the fees spent on pet insurance and ear mark it for use on the animals. I also have a maximum amount that I am willing to spend on a curative treatment of $ 1000. I have had to do that only once in many years of living with pets.
In addition, all but one of my animals have been mixed breeds, all apparently enjoying the proverbial hybrid vigor. They have had few health problems, which amazes me since all were rescues and, in some cases, vicitims of neglect or abuse.
In the vast majority of cases I have had to spend little beyond the routine annual exams and vaccinations until my animals get to be very old. At that point usually the biggest question is quality of life and whether the expensive treatments would still allow the animal to enjoy itself.
I do choose to buy premium pet foods and watch their weights carefully.
My current animals are four dogs, aged 3, 8, 13 and 15 years, and 8 cats ranging in age from 2 years to 15 years. We lost a fifth dog this year, a Shar-Pei, aged 9, to a very fast-moving lymphoma. Treatment was not really an option as it was too virulent, so pet insurance wouldn’t have helped much.
I do recommend Pet Insurance if you have an animal that is likely to be involved in activities where accidental injury could happen, such as a hunting dog or one that competes in agility or other type of activity. Also, I have found that pure bred animals sometimes have more health problems. Itis also easier to get if you have a young animal. And finally, if you only have one animal it could be quite affordable.
However, when I did the number-crunching, it turned out to not be cost-effective for me, but it might be for you.
Hello
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Really hope it was helpful for you