As part of this process, I am interested in what viewers are doing to cut costs while providing the best care possible. Please vote if you have insurance for your pets, and post in the "comments" below any money-saving pet care tips you can offer as well as any questions you may have about pet insurance and wellness plans. Thank you and stay tuned for new info and money saving tips for our furry friends!
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Comments
As long as I can make the payments for my Pet insurance I will. But if it goes up then I will have to start looking around for a better price or just give it up. I now pay 34.00 a month and if it goes to 40 a month thats ok anything more then that and I will give it up.
I have Pet Insurance for both my dogs through Banfield Animal Hospital. It is associated with Petsmart. We pay $21.95 a month per dog. It is definitely worth it and they treat my babies as if it were their own. I highly recommend their plans to anyone.
I have VPI insurance for both my dogs. The insurance has always been prompt with their reimbursements and very pleasant when contacted by phone. Expensive, but worth it since in the past with other pets, I’ve had two with cancer, one with cardiomyopathy, one with diabetes and another with anemia–wished I would have had insurance with these pets!
I am a dog trainer and I have each of my student pet parent fill out a breed study. If they have a mixed breed we study all the breeds in their dog. They can then ask their vet what the average cost for the procedures for the illness or problem will be to them.I have them ask the insurance company if they cover the breed inherent illness. They can then consider if the payment(sometimes higher to cover that procedure)is worth the extra money.
I think a lot of us dog owners are looking for something that would cover catastrophic problems and a yearly physical exam. Maybe major illness or disease and medication. Just some suggestions, I don’t know are feasible. My dog is 6 yrs old and healthy. Thanks for trying to help. Insurance usually is too expensive.
Other than for a catastrophic illness/injury early in a pet’s life, IMO they are not worth it.
I suggest to everyone that they take the amount they would pay for the montly premiums and deposit that amount in a bank account. Every month following, deposit this amout. When you pay pet ins. and have no claim, you have nothing to show for it. However, if you deposit the monthly premiums in a bank account, it adds up and gets interest. At the end of a few years you can have a nice nest egg for a major vet bill in the future. Until used, the money continues to grow with the montly deposits and interest, for the time when it is needed.
Self insuring (Savings account) is PERFECT IN THEORY, however if you are not a “saver” please do not kid yourself that you will suddenly become one and have an account specifically to protect your pet. After 11 years with a financial planning practice working with clients on saving, it is tough enough to get them to budget and save for retirement, college, vacation, or any of the essential life events. Outside of the fact that even if you do start a fund it only is effective if your pet waits till you have saved enough money. Otherwise you are breaking out credit cards or using whatever means you have to save your pet.
A pure insurance option with a deductible that allows you to protect your decision making ability on your pets life in my opinion is most appropriate. I would make sure you are not capped on the per incident amount as I have had several friends with 3-5k bills.
I am going to buy insurance and will be seeking a low cost option that pays me back based on what I have paid out. I also am not caught up on the yearly limit as long as it is about 15k – 20k for the life of my pet. I also don’t want my rates going up as my pet gets older. I look at this like car insurance, LTC, or term life insurance. I hate paying them, but the flip side is not something I want to face!
After years of coverage and multiple policies for our 4 pups with the AKC Pet Partners Insurance the time came for me to have utilized it for our adored pup. He was sick – no question about that. I had insurance – or so I thought. Our sweet boy was hospitalized, required an MRI of the brain which indicated some sort of a lesion, then developed nephritis, later he came down with aspiration pneumonia and also had an emergency hospital visit as well. It ended much to my heart break with the loss of this sweet boy when I was told that it was medically necessary to euthanize him. I had thought I had credible coverage through the AKC Pet Insurance. WRONG! On the Wellness Plan (most enriched plan and very expensive) through the AKC they AKC denied medications, MRI, further diagnostics, medical treatment and hospitalizations.
So consumers BEWARE of such an organization. These were unrelated situations that the akc denied.
I had registered our pups with the AKC when they made the offer of this insurance upon AKC registration of our puppy years back – how could I go wrong with the AKC? In EVERYWAY!! I have dropped the insurance with this deplorable coverage offered through the AKC. I now have them insured with an honorable insurance provider that does not have the gimmicks the AKC Pet Insurance has to get out of paying claims.
CONSUMERS please check out www petinsurancereview com and see how many of us that patronized the AKC have shared similar experiences. This is a wonderful sight – they offer you information on ALL insurance providers.
I have VPI pet insurance for my beloved GSD, Culloden. I do not cover his ongoing routine care, because I save for this and it is expected. In the three years Culloden has been with us, he has once injured his paw to the tune of over $1,000, and once broken a toe to cost about $800 plus hydrotherapy afterwards (it was enjoyed by me as well). My friend, who owns my dog’s brother and littermate, told me that he “would have had to have his dog euthanized if he had hurt his paw for $1,000″. Euthanized? Please – because the dog injured his paw? That is just not acceptable. Now that Culloden is 3 years old, the insurance premium for Major Medical has just increased to $35 per month. I work at a medical school and would never consider leaving any other family member without health insurance. Culloden is a very much loved and appreciated family member – he gets treated like the rest of the family. I will go without health insurance for Cullie as soon as I’m forced to go without health insurance for my son (in other words, NEVER!).