Pet insurance

I saw on-line pet medical insurance which was $6/mo for a dog. The rule was $200 a year deductible and then you pay 20% thereafter. The insurance is capped at $10k.

I would not spend $10k to save my dog, sorry to say, but I would spend $1 or $2k in a situation where there was a reversible trauma or illness that would give the dog reasonable quality of life.

For normal vet bills, I'm lucky to have a good job and can just pay those.

What I don't have time for, though, is getting so-called insurance and then finding out that there are all kinds of ifs-ands-or-buts. Example: I stopped getting tire insurance when when I was told that my sidewall blowout "wasn't covered." Also it seems that when you buy a used car and get repair insurance to go with it you're basically buying a ticket to argue about what is and is not covered, and then lose.

So I see myself getting pet insurance and then finding out it only covers the vet's time, and that xrays and medicines aren't covered, etc. A particular horror situation is authorizing $10k in treatment and then getting reimbursement turned down, or trimmed way down with this excuse or that, after the money is spent.

But it would be nice to think that I had a policy that would enable me to leverage my own $2k up to $10k, in some situations, that would make a difference in the decision to treat or let go.

I'd like to know what people's experience is. Needless to say there are a wide variety of plans out there and unfortunately I'm only interested in the ones that are pretty cheap.

Greg N

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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on March 6, 2012 at 3:11pm

Personally, I didn't opt to get pet insurance. For me it made more sense to just set some money aside each month into a savings account. If something should happen, then that is the money that I tap into. It has the benefit of earning interest and also does not go to waste should nothing happen (unlike an insurance premium.)

If you are worried about not being able to cover a Vet bill fully, you could always apply for Care Credit or work out a payment plan with the Veterinarian. Most are willing to work with you a bit if you're socked with a huge bill.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on March 6, 2012 at 4:03pm

What plan was $6/mo? My guess is that one as a lot of "that's not covered". My experience (and what I have found by polling clients at work) is that if you just put the monthly payment in a separate account each month you will actually likely save more money than what most insurance companies will cover. Petplan was by far the most recommended insurance company and the one that has more clear guidelines and no caps of how much they will spend on each issue. I have had the most complaints about VPI because they will only pay for a certain amount of money on each incident (for example a broken leg they will pay $250, well that won't even cover the first vet visit let alone any follow-up). Even with human medical insurance you have to be prepared to fight each claim so unless you are willing to do that I would just skip it and put that money aside specifically for a possible pet emegency