Pet Insurance – Yay or Nay?
I’ve been thinking a lot about pet insurance. First I thought it was a great idea, then I did some preliminary research and found articles about how it wasn’t worth it. Then I spoke with some people, including my vet, and they said – do it, great idea!
I started researching different providers based on overall customer satisfaction, and below is that list. If you use any of them & are happy with their service, please answer the poll below.
Most seem to be in the $50 – $60 range with routine, breed specific & preventive included. You can go much cheaper without those.
As always, anything you want to contribute to the topic is welcome!!
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I remember looking into Pet Insurance when Maddie was a pup but found that it wasn’t worth it. This is a long time ago now though (almost 15 yrs). Also, we didn’t have anywhere near the range of services over here in Aus, as you guys do. I know one of the things that turned me off was if they needed surgery on something the second time (eg. if they needed a 2nd knee reconstruction) then it wasn’t covered. It’d be interesting to see if it has improved at all since then.
Yeah, that was my conclusion with Bandit, but there weren’t many option then as you said. There seem to be a lot more now, and pugs have some breed specific issues that Bandit didn’t suffer from.
Aaargh. They couldn’t be any worse than Boxers! They’re known for so many issues! lol! When Maddie needed eye surgery to fix an ulcer that wouldn’t heal, the vet referred to it as a “boxer ulcer” cause they’re apparently so common in Boxers. *sigh*
I can vouch for pugs being expensive! My boyfriend has a 10 year old pug named pudgy. When she was 2 yrs. old she suffered a stroke. After about $5000, she was (almost) good as new. I always say he should have had pet insurance, but then again if you take the monthly payment for pet insurance and multiply it by the number of years the dog has been alive, you have to figure if it was worth it. If he paid $60/month for 10 years, that would be $7200!
Fortunately I have NOT needed to use my VPI policy with either of my dogs, but it is such a relief to have it. My parents’ oldest dachshund had to have back surgery. She’s made a complete recovery but the procedures cost nearly $4000! Thank goodness they were able to afford this. I hope I’ll never face similar circumstances with my two dachshunds but I do feel good knowing I have VPI to help should the need arise.
I love VPI, they actually care about your pets. I have it for my dog-he’s mixed. And recently this year he had to have major surgery on his spinal cord because he had a slip disc. The insurance company proccessed our claim on time and gave us almost 75% back. They even went as far as to email me on how’s he doing since the surgery. I’m happy I got it!
I love it I upgraded mine to include flea drops wich cost a good bit but I just fax in my claim and the check arives shortly in the mail its just that easy! Not my current dog but one I had before spent a week in intensitive care that bill was thousands of $ the hardest part of that one was coming up with the money up front in order to get the remebursment ……. so unless you have a couple of thousands just laying around in case your pet needs it ….. better get insurance! If you ever have to. Fall back on it and know how it pays for its self…. cause how many pets get put down due to lack of money, not there is no need!
I’ve been going through this whole debate myself with having a new puppy. My parents also have a new puppy and they have pet insurance (Trupanion Pet Insurance, I think). They had a issue a few weeks ago where Cody , their pup, swallowed some things he shouldn’t have. They took him to the vet and $160 later he was ok. Pet insurance didn’t cover it because it didn’t cover exam fees plus the deductible was $100. Seems to me it’s one of those things where you only need it in case of emergency…for accidents, etc. Of course, if you have a breed of dog that can have medical issues it may be worth it. I have a mini-dachshund and they are prone to back injuries…so, I’m still debating it.
I have Trupanion for my dog with a $0 deductible, so it has covered the small stuff like eye drops and meds that she needed when she had GI issues, both under $100 claims, but it was nice to get the money, and definitely peace of mind in case something big happens!
I can’t really vote because I dont “love” any insurance company. but I DO recommend having Some type of insurance, esp Cancer coverage. My prior pup had cancer, and it cost $12 – 15K out of pocket for treatment and I didn’t have insurance back then.. So all my dogs now always have insurance.
I have VPI, which has a low deductible $50, cost me almost $600 a year.
My friend has Pets Best a $75-100 deductible .
with VPI its easy to file a claim.
however my gripe is they dont cover genetic or breed related conditions, where Pets Best and most others have started to cover genetic and breed conditions. VPI needs to step it up. When I got VPI there weren’t as many reliable options out there.
Also they change what they cover each year was is a pain. I always get the Uber Premium plan, and then next year they’ll come out with Uber Premium Deluxe, which cost $10 more a month, but has the same coverage that I had last year, and then my plan just got coverage items removed from it.
Quite annoying.. does this happen to anyone else at different companies?
The purpose of insurance is to prevent financial ruin, not spare you from spending anything. $160 isn’t much. There’s no sense spending $60 a month on a policy that will cover an occasional $200 vet bill. There’s a lot more sense in spending $20 a month on a policy that covers emergencies so you don’t have to use money as a factor in a life or death decision. However, if your occasional $200 vet bill becomes something more frequent, a $60 per month premium probably makes more sense, since financial ruin can very well happen over a period of time, too.
But if you’re going to be temporarily broke, there’s nothing better than sugars and fur to cure the no-money blues!
I had VPI with my previous dogs and vowed to never ever use them again. There was a minimum 30 days on getting money back from claims. Then, at the end of my dogs’ lives I had to constantly fight with them to get my reimbursement checks. I FINALLY got the checks 4 months after my dog had passed away. We’re talking thousands of dollars. The heartache of losing her and then the frustration with VPI just infuriated me.
I now have Pets Best and HIGHLY recommend them. I usually have a reimbursement check in my hand within a week of filing a claim. Plus, they’re customer service is soooooo much better.
I to switched from VPI to Pets Best and am thrilled with the change for all the same reasons as Kris. I have bassets and they are prone to having bizarre illnesses crop up. We had a rescue for 6 months and he ate carpet. Three surgeries and 11 days in the hospital he was able to come home. The bill would have been close to $7000 without insurance. With insurance we paid $1600. You just never know when something bizarre is going to happen that makes the insurance pay for itself.
I have Pet Plan for my two pugs and love it. I got the policies for catastrophes, not routine care. They both have hormone imbalances and require expensive blood tests about once a month ($648). That’s just the blood tests, not the actual treatment. Since March, they’ve both racked up around $3000 in bills. I absolutely would not be able to pay that without insurance.
I got insurance because I never want a lack of money to be the reason my pet dies. I volunteer in rescue and we have so many pugs that come into rescue because their owners can’t afford to pay for their health problems (broken bones, cancer, diabetes, etc.) and they choose to euthanize instead. My foster pug has cancer which cost the rescue over $2000 in treatments. After seeing how much his treatment cost, I knew that God forbid something happen to my girls, I did not want to be in that situation.
My policies cost $18.92 per month per dog. Even with a $200 deductible per dog, I figure that the money I have saved is worth about 6.5 years of premiums. So for me, absolutely worth it.
I vote “yay!” for pet insurance. I have had it for almost a year now from Trupanion, and have filed one claim thus far. It was super helpful to have a large chunk of our vet bills taken care of. Anyone with a pet should definitely take a look at all the companies. I am surprised to not see trupanion up on your list though, they are worth checking out too. It’s importante to shop around and compare to see whats best for your pet.
Wow everyone, thanks for all the great comments & opinions – it’s all helpful!! It’s also great that so many took the poll. Please keep commenting, I know this is a question so many pet owners mull over.
I’d never be without pet insurance again. I’ve seen too many friends and family members have to put down their animal because they simply couldn’t afford to treat it. I have pets best insurance for my chihuahua and for about $20 a month I never have to worry making a choice like that because of finances.
I used to work for Pets Best in the sales department. With that said, before taking a job from them I researched pet insurance policies and companies. To this day, I believe Pets Best is the best thing out there (I did not leave the company on good terms either, so this is not a favor for them this is the truth from a previous insider). When talking to friends and neighbors I still tell them to contact a pet insurance company and suggest to them Pets Best as a good starting point.
I have Pet’s Best and it has been a blessing for us. The pay back is fantastic as my dog Max has had some major issues in the last 3 years. I won’t own a pet without it. Thanks Pet’s Best.
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I have Rotties, and invested in their health care by getting insurance coverage. I used VPI for a few years, but coverage and reimbursement were not great. I switched to Pets Best, and it seems to fit our needs better. It even covered euthanasia and cremation. A colleague recently had to bring her dog to an emergency clinic (hit by car). The visit was simply to euthanize the dog, unfortunately. In a visit that lasted less than fifteen minutes, she was charged over $400. Talk about kicking someone while they are down !! I only wish she had insurance coverage, to soften the blow of losing a beloved pet.
We have a Great Dane. We had pet insurance company initially, they were great. Paid for everything. But found out that once you make a claim it would be considered a preexisting condition afterwards and they would not cover it. Plus they did not cover bloat which is a common problem with Danes. We went over to VPI, while for the most part we are pleased with it the biggest problem is that the reimbursement is based on the average bill for any condition your pet is being treated for. Great if you have a small or med size dog. Terrible if you have a big dog as their bills are substantially bigger. VPI recently rolled out a new plan that pays alot more. Once your deductable is paid they cover (as best as I could tell) 100% of your claim. The down side to the plan is your deductible is much greater as is your annual bill. Way more than we can afford. So we will not be changing over to the new plan.
Personally, I would like it if insurance companies paid a certain % for any given claim. That way it would be fair to all size pets. But that is just me.
Paula, my insurance (Pet Plan) pays a flat percentage of the covered bill after my deductible has been paid. I have the cheapest plan possible with an 80% reimbursement rate and $200 deductible. With Pet Plan, you can decrease the deductible and increase the reimbursement rates as well.
Also, if the problem was discovered while my dog was covered under the insurance, it is covered for as long as I keep the policy current. My dogs have hormone imbalances and will be covered for treatment as long as I pay the bills. From what I understand (could be wrong-haven’t dealt with it yet), I will never have to pay a deductible for hormone imbalance issues again either.
One thing that could be a problem with Pet Plan is that I have to pay the deductible per incident, not per year. So if I paid the $200 for hormone imbalance, but one of my dogs breaks her leg, that’s another $200 deductible. That could cost a lot if there are multiple problems. Again, I could be wrong, but I believe that if my dog broke her leg, then years from now developed arthritis because of that break, I would not have to pay another deductible for arthritis treatment. That’s a question to ask any potential insurer though.