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When is pet insurance worth it?
My fiancee and I are considering adopting a dog, most likely in the age range of 6 months to 2 years. I've read before that pet insurance is only worth it if you get the dog as a puppy, but I'm wondering what real people think, particularly for a dog that's 2-3 years old. Does anyone else have a pet insurance policy? Who is it with? How's it working out for you? Would you do it again?
I currently do not have any pets, but have had dogs in the past and had insurance for them.
My advice is to pay very close attention to what they cover and do not cover. In my experience, the policy would not cover anything deemed "typical for the breed." For example, our dogs were 1/2 English Mastiff, 1/2 Rottweiler. One of them required TPL surgery (kind of like ACL surgery in humans). Because TPL problems are "common" to Mastiffs, it was not covered by the insurance. Additionally, the policy did not cover anything cancer related.
What it did cover, and cover well, were accidents. Dog get hurt playing? Cut itself on a walk? Get injured in a car wreck? All of that kind of stuff was covered.
If you're going to get pet insurance, I would suggest talking to your regular insurance company to see if they offer any pet related insurance products. We did not do this, and wish we had, as our agent is a huge dog lover and would've advised us much better on getting the plan in the first place. Fortunately, we never need to use our policy for anything unforeseen, but would have if it had covered the (very expensive) TPL surgery.
Definitely this. We have two dogs, and one (chocolate lab) is nearing the end of life phase. The other is around 7, and is a husky/shepherd mix. The vet we go through provides it, though I'm not sure it covers anything outside of that specific vet.
So because the older one is old, he doesn't have lots of stuff covered - but it covers enough of his monthly steroid shot to help him walk better to pay for it. Additionally, it covers most of his regular checkups, teeth cleanings, etc. My SO was getting him a pain killer at discount, but it didn't seem to help much so we quit that.
The other also lacks certain coverages due to her breed, but as pointed out above, abnormal/accident type things are great. She's been amazingly "safe" though, which is shocking. Her next door friend managed to get impaled on a stick, encounter a porcupine, and do all the things I expected her to do but hasn't... knock on wood
So ultimately, do the research and weigh the pros and cons.
It certainly wasn't worth it for me. I had pet insurance for my dog, I had to pay out of pocket up front and submit the bill for reimbursement. When I went to the vet for a check up they told me that regular checkups weren't covered. so I canceled the insurance which had already cost me 300 dollars in payments on top of the 200 bucks I paid out of pocket for the checkup. If I have to pay out of pocket anyway I'm better off just doing that.
For me, pet insurance is not worth it because I set aside a large portion of every paycheck into savings, and I have enough savings to comfortably cover a major health problem. I didn't get dogs (even though I badly wanted them for years) until I had ample savings in the bank.
I also chose a dog breed that has very high genetic diversity and few health problems, and I selected a breeder I could trust. (If I lived somewhere with a lot of rescue dogs, I would have chosen a thoroughly well-mixed mutt instead. Backyard breeding and puppy mills are illegal here, however.)
Good preventative care also greatly reduces the risk of an unexpected vet trip: good dog food, regular vaccinations and checkups, plenty of exercise, dental care, flea and heartworm prevention, etc.
Depends on the plan. My dog has been insured since we got him at 11 months old, a plan that would pay up to £6,000 per year, with limits on certain conditions. It started out very cheap (~£120/yr) but now that he's getting older it's getting a lot more expensive (latest renewal nearly £700).
A few years ago he needed surgery on both knees that blew past that £6,000 cap, and every year he needs a dental surgery that loses him more teeth and I get a few hundred back. We've still received far more than we've paid them, and because it's the same policy nothing is excluded as a pre-existing condition like it would be if we switched provider, so we're kind of locked in now. That latest renewal figure has me wondering when it will no longer be worth the payments, though. He could potentially live another 8 years, and the rate of increase has been exponential the last three years.
It's been a while but I had two dogs covered by insurance their entire lives. I did my research and picked a company that covered just about everything as a flat percent coverage of cost, optional annual maximum, and ability to change the copay percent to adjust premium price.
When they were young, the plans were fairly cheap, maybe $350/ year. But what I hadn't factor in is that since these were term plans on a 12 month basis, each year the price went up as the dogs got older. Ultimately they went up to about $1,100/year. I would have preferred a policy that was higher in the beginning but more stable overall, but I'm not sure what the market offers.
Overall I was satisfied, though I spent far more on premiums than the policy ever paid out. My dog's were healthy, and I choose a higher flat copay before coverage kicked in too have lower premiums but high annual coverage of they did kick in. I want worried about a few hundred dollars, but several thousand dollars.
It was nice in their later years, high annual premiums aside, because when the big unexpected illnesses did come up, cost was never a factor. We lived by a vet teaching hospital which offered excellent care, but correspondingly high prices. So with insurance, an expensive procedure wasn't an issue and we could focus on quality of life.
If you are the kind of person that would bettetr yourself to pay for your pets, then I do recommend coverage for catastrophic coverage. I would just pay attention to the details. Read the fine print before committing.
We have pet insurance, and even switched insurance carriers once our dog was around 3 for a better policy for us. The thing that sucks most about pet insurance is that you have to pay upfront and then get reimbursed afterward.
For us it's worth it because our dog is just as accident-prone as her momma. It's helpful for us to be able to at least get some money back, and that, combined with our vet discount plan, we save a lot of money taking care of our pet every year. Last year, we had 5 vet visits, including an ER visit for an allergic reaction.
I wish my dog was insured. She had a back injury when she was 5 and has had it tweak about yearly ever since, and therefore is basically uninsurable because the cost is prohibitive now that she has a pre-existing condition. Instead, I have a discount plan with her vet that includes office visits, dental care, and once-yearly x-rays. It's paid monthly.
If she was insured, we would have coverage for all the stupid things she's done to herself recently: smacking her foreleg on something, requiring pain meds while the swelling and limping went down; random diarrhea requiring diagnostics; tweaked her back again; created a hot spot on her foot... just dog things. Thankfully her office visits for these are covered by the discount plan. She may someday require more extensive care if her back issue worsens and requires MRIs or surgeries. However, she's reaching seniorhood, so those decisions are much more likely to be made relative to her chance for continued quality of life, rather than financial burdens.
Aside from her, we have had two cats who I wish had been insured. One developed diabetes and had it for 3-4 years before passing away due to complications with a bladder infection and her diabetes. Care costs were wild. Her littermate passed away a few months later after a sudden onset bone marrow disease (we and the vet think; it happened so fast it was hard to pin down other than an issue with his blood cells). Both were very expensive and we weren't able to save either, despite spending over $10k on their care.
Our newest addition (cat) has been insured by Lemonade (bundled with my renters insurance) since he was 8 months old - when we got him. He also has a discount plan at the vet. After the stuff we've been through, it gives me peace of mind that he is insured, even if we never use it. It covers accidents and illnesses with a $250 deductible and pays 80% up to an annual limit of $50k. There's some fine print, like "if he has a history of eating the same thing multiple times, that's really on you," (in more formal terms) but he hasn't ever been to the vet for anything other than a checkup, so he should be covered for just about anything dire, including cancer. I would much rather have him be insured and have that for financial backup than deal with the stress of a situation like we did with our cats again. We would still probably get a credit plan to pay for care in the short term, but being able to file a claim and get some of the treatment costs back would have dulled the financial sting. If you're considering it and it's reasonably affordable, I think it's worth it. I'll probably be insuring all my pets from now on in case we end up at the emergency vet for any reason.
(Also sorry if this post seems melodramatic... this stuff has been dramatic to live through! )
Does anyone here have a perspective on cat pet insurance? I have had cats my whole life and never had insurance. People are talking about spending 6000£/year and having it still be worth it. In my previous cat’s entire life, we only had one surgery over 5000$, and after the doctor saw them in person, they decided it wasn’t necessary anyway. I just don’t see how it could ever make sense for cats, at least in my experience.
I made a top-level comment in this topic about it, but our household had cats who both went through what started out as treatable but ended up being life-ending illnesses due to complications. Each cat cost more than $7000 in end of life care. One cat had diabetes for multiple years and got human insulin without insurance, so her care costs were astronomical. If they had been insured from the start, their expenses would have been mostly covered and we honestly would have made back the premiums several times over, due to their ages and the amount of the expenses. Each cat was 7 years old when they passed. I'm pretty sure all new additions to our household will be insured from now on, if they're eligible. Baby cat (now two) is insured.
(@JCPhoenix since you were also curious)
Thanks for pinging me. I suppose that's the point of having insurance: not just for the regular maintenance checkups (as we tend to do with human health insurance), but for the emergent and potentially catastrophic events that can happen. Hmm, definitely something I need to look into more. Appreciate you sharing your perspective and experience.
Wondering the same. I've briefly looked into pet insurance for my cat; the vet chain I go to offers it, and even my employer-provided health insurance offers some kind of pet insurance. But it just didn't seem worth it, especially for a house cat that never goes outside. My cat is turning 9yo this year, and still pretty spry and active. Every visit, vet says he's in great shape.
So far, the only major expense I've had for him was when he was a kitten and I had to bring him to the emergency room since he wheezing, having trouble breathing, and had snot dripping from his nose. Luckily, it was just the equivalent of a cold. I think that cost me $600.
Annual visits + required shots (if needed) only run me like $100/yr. So I can't imagine paying even $20/mo for pet insurance. If I had to pay $5000 out-of-pocket in some emergency, I could. It would hurt my wallet big time, but I could do it. Might even be able to set up a payment plan. So Idk.
Extremely unpopular opinion: a pet is not a family member, and there is a point at which it doesn't make sense to financially continue to have said pet.
Anecdotal: when we adopted this kitten she came with insurance coverage for the first year. Our first and only claim was denied. Insurance sounds like a waste of time and money: either we have the cash on hand to pay for treatment, or we don't and that's that.
I mean, it's an oddly black or white take. Pets can bring a tremendous amount of joy into a person's life; of course it makes sense to take care of them to the best of one's ability. Insurance can help smooth out financial bumps along the way. It makes sense for lots of things, animate and inanimate. I insure my car. I insure my dog. Hardly surprising either way.
I agree with all your statements, and perhaps the difference is in how much I trust the pet health insurance industry. I fully expect them to charge me every month and then somehow deny care for my pets when I actually need them. Either I have the money right then and I'll get them care or I won't and that's super sad but a more black and white reality. I agree insurance is supposed to smooth it out, but am suspicious of it being the case.
I think the best course of action is to set aside a big chunk of money when one adopts a pet, and add to it every month instead of paying the industry. The controversy is that I believe those who can't afford insurance nor big chunk of money, they should still be able to enjoy the love and companionship of a beloved pet. So many are guilted into buying insurance or somehow providing chemo for a pet or home reno's for a disabled pet that they can ill afford.
Worth menting Embrace (and I assume other pet insurers as well) offer basically this, under the name of Wellness Plans. Basically, you pay in, say, $25/month, then you get $300 through the year to spend on pet care at the vet. It's basically a savings account, but with the perk that they give you a little extra bonus money to use throughout the year, and with some vet services at a discount.
I get dog insurance through Embrace. Since I started with a pup, coverage is quite inexpensive (less than $40/month). The first claim I made, for some ear medication and a vet visit, was denied as a pre-existing condition, their excuse being that Maggie as a puppy needed her ears cleaned (she was a rescue from a ranch, and pretty dirty when I got her). This pissed me off, but as the amount was really not that much over the copay anyway, I let it go after writing a letter expressing what I felt was bullshit reasoning.
Later, Maggie got in to a bad fight with a raccoon, and I had to take her to the emergency vet on a Sunday night. (She's ok now, thankfully.) The total cost was around $1k, which I could have covered in cash, but it would have really sucked. As it was, I had ~$700 transferred in to my account within 24 hours of filing the claim. So when it comes to emergency coverage, it was no hassle at all.
So I'm keeping it for now. It's a nice feeling knowing that if something really serious comes up, I don't have to worry nearly as much about the cost as I would otherwise.
Interested in this well. I'm due to getting per insurance for my cat Juniper. We had pet insurance through healthy paws with my last cat Batman and the insurance ended up paying like 80% of end of life care and euthanasia. Which was great, but at the end of the day emergency pet bills are expensive. I'm not going into details how much we paid, but Healthy paws paid more than we paid into the insurance since she ended up dying fairly young. Pet insurance allowed us to make decision on her care without too much financial constraint.
However Batman and my current dog is under the old plan and policy. In order to register my newest member, I would have to open another account because she would have to be enrolled in a new pet policy, which is not as comprehensive as the old plan/policy. I'm shopping around for now since end of life pet care is expensive.
Ah I remember you posting about fresh Juniper!
That's too bad Juniper can't somehow....take over Batman's old policy. Is it possible to sign up for one and then keep shopping around for better rates like one does with car insurance?
Kinda, I think the idea is that if you're a long term customer, you get better rates when they get older than enrolling them later in life. I'm deciding between Healthy Paws again or Embrace right now. I have a few months before I should decide. Since the rates are gonna be the same now at 7 month old vs 12 month old cat. I don't see the need to enroll her right now as a kitten.
I didn't check the validity of the claim, but a friend recently told me they had an experience with a pet insurer who considered anything over a year old a preexisting condition and would not cover related costs
I wonder if the insurance renewal each year is considered a new plan and thus anything before is pre-existing.
I think it’s worth it. My girlfriend and I have pet insurance for our dog. It’s $40/month, but it saved us when he got heartworm. $2500 covered out of the $4000 his treatment cost.
You may never need to use the insurance, but I’ve noticed that every dog or cat I’ve ever had has needed at least one expensive medical treatment during their lifetime. If you are at a place in your life where you can drop $4000 without a problem, you don’t need it. If your face turns white thinking about a $4000 emergency, you should get it.
It's all a scam.
The only time I bought pet insurance was when it was offered by an employer. It was relatively cheap (probably under $20/mo for 2 cats). There was no fine print regarding minimum duration, so I paid for maybe 2 months, took them in for a check up that was almost fully covered, then cancelled.
Didn’t make sense for my dogs - we had it for about a year after adopting them, in theory to cover anything major that popped up. The one thing that did come up wasn’t covered (dental surgery - pretty expensive). In my experience, you are far better off taking what you would pay in premiums each month and socking it away in a savings account. In our case, we are still well ahead of where we would be with insurance, despite a number of ER and urgent care trips for the dogs over the years (in addition to regular checkups, vaccines, etc.).
If you do get insurance, make sure you read it very carefully and understand exactly what it does/does not cover and what deductibles or coinsurance you’ll be on the hook for. I’d also recommend making a spreadsheet of expected costs, premiums, etc. to make sure it’s the right financial choice for you.
Reading the fine print is important, know what you are paying for and what is not covered. Overall, I think it's worth it, though an argument can be that pet insurance leads to higher cost. I read an item some weeks ago where a hedge fund is buying small Vet clinics to take advantage of the upside of all the care that people have on pets. Just my 2 cents.