Pet Insurance

[de_sjiem 0]

One of our kitties got a little bit sick recently, and it got me thinking about Pet Insurance today, since i Know if it had been something major we probably wouldnt have been able to afford it Does anyone on here have pet insurance? is it expensive? Is it worth it? What companies are good companies? just wondering..

[babybunny 2]

I was thinking about it for my " poppa doodle"

the prices seemed reasonable.

[Kajikit 65]

We have pet insurance for our cats... it's costing us $30 a month for our three, and it's getting expensive! But not as expensive as it would be if one of them got seriously ill... we bought it after Silver had a furball and it seemed like she might need an operation to remove a blockage - fortunately she was fine with furball medicine, but it still cost two hundred bucks for the xrays!

[sparkofcreation 0]

Well, I would have gotten it, except I couldn't seem to find a vet that would accept it. Certainly none of the ones closest to my house would.

[ktun 0]

I think it is worth it. My 3 in the UK have it. Ours doesnt cover the annual check-up and vaccinations, but covers everything else. It is around 5GBP each so around $30 per month for the three of them. This is compared to a cost of several thousand if any of them needed an operation for anything. We certainly couldn't afford those kind of costs.

Pet insurance companies also seem to offer a certain amount to pay for the advertising if your pet is lost or stolen, and a central contact service if your pet goes missing and is microchipped.

Edited April 12, 2006 by ktun

[ladybutterfly 0]

What I would do is open up a savings account and the money you would put in a health insurance policy every month put in the savings account instead. Therefore, if thankfully you never need to use it you still have the money rather than the insurance company!

[Reba 2]

Well, I would have gotten it, except I couldn't seem to find a vet that would accept it. Certainly none of the ones closest to my house would.

Pet medical insurance is a "reimbursement" not a coverage, so any vet who says they "don't accept it" doesn't know what it is. All they have to do is sign the form for you to prove they performed a service for you. If an emergency or costly procedure is needed, you and/or the vet can contact the insurance company to work out a payment plan.

We had/have VPI http://www.petinsurance.com/ It was beneficial in our dog's first year, it covers neuter/spaying, and all the vaccinations. However, subsequent vaccinations/boosters are not always covered, and if you get the boosters or even a flea treatment one day before the insurance company thinks you should have, they won't cover it. Which is very similar to human medical insurance really. They'll cover only 6 months of heart worm and flea treatement, not the whole year. Here in the south flea and heart worm preventive is required all year long, and for our giants is really expensive.

We let George's lapse this last time, mostly because we didn't have the $300 to pay for the annual premium. Bruno's will expire next month, and we'll probably let that lapse too, and maybe buy it again as they get older, and get cancer coverage as well. In the meantime we'll just sock away some money in case of emergencies.

When any service is performed by the vet, we pay the vet, then send in the bill and a reimbursement form and the insurance company sends us a cheque. They do not pay vets directly, unless there is special circumstance of an emergency that the animal has definite chance of survival and you can arrange a joint payment plan. I never had to use that, so don't know exactly what would be involved.

Compared to medical insurance for people, its affordable. For our two Saint Bernards its just $300 per year each. Premiums are higher for larger animals of course, its much less for smaller dogs or cats than it is for giant breeds. Even genetic and breed specific defects are covered, like bloat, or hip displasia etc.