Pet Health Insurance?

[JAJ2010]

I'm looking to adopt my first greyhound (just got our app approved) and am wondering about pet insurance. Does anyone have it? If so how does it work? How much does it cost? is it worth it? Thanks for any information!

[Guest DeborahL]

I'm looking to adopt my first greyhound (just got our app approved) and am wondering about pet insurance. Does anyone have it? If so how does it work? How much does it cost? is it worth it? Thanks for any information!

 

 

Hi

We do not have it for our beautiful boy Morgan who we adopted in May however if you are able to aford it you should consider it. My husband and I have just discussed this ourselves. Morgan is still recovering from leg surgery for the removal of a large growth that pathology has confirmed will not affect him long term however in the almost 5 months since adopted him we have spent almost $700.00 in vet fees. At the time we got him it didn't even occur to us to consider insurance however if we had most of the costs would have been covered. Its not oftern you get any dog that has a vet free existence.

You should look into how it works and the costs in the area you live in. lts possible fees would vary slightly for all of us.

Deb

[Bevd]

Hi and welcome

 

I would say that if you can afford NOT to have insurance, that's great but if you are in any doubt about being able to lay your hands on hundreds if not thousands of dollars at any one time, without warning, then you really should consider taking out insurance.

 

I'm in the UK so our insurance companies and how they work etc are different to the USA (which is where I am assuming you are from) so I'll leave the details about good companies/policies to those in your own country

[MP_the4pack]

I would say the best thing to do is do a search on this site for pet insurance. Lots of people ask and there are lots of answer.

 

Personally, I have it. And VPI probably wishes I didn't. Onyx just starting being a profit for them. She's 13.

Pearl....they probably hate that name by now. She has heart disease and hypertension. She has maxed out for 3 yrs i a row.

 

One word though. Don't wait. If you're going to do it. Do it. Because if you take your pup in for stitches, a tummy ache, a booger in her eye........those items will be exempt.

 

 

[JAJ2010]

I would say the best thing to do is do a search on this site for pet insurance. Lots of people ask and there are lots of answer.

 

Personally, I have it. And VPI probably wishes I didn't. Onyx just starting being a profit for them. She's 13.

Pearl....they probably hate that name by now. She has heart disease and hypertension. She has maxed out for 3 yrs i a row.

 

 

Is VPI the best choice out there? They seem pricey. Honesty insurance confuses me! lol It takes a large effort to sit down and search through all the details of every company

 

[Guest Greensleeves]

We don't currently; when we first got our pack, the premiums were so high we'd have spent more money on the insurance than we'd ever expect to use in actual medical care (that's for eleven dogs, though. Most people don't have quite that many to insure! ).

 

Now, though, my vet has suggested we look into a newer program from Purina, which she heard about at a conference (she also has ten+ dogs). I haven't had a chance to do any research on it yet, but I guess the website is www.purinacare.com

[JAJ2010]

Now, though, my vet has suggested we look into a newer program from Purina, which she heard about at a conference (she also has ten+ dogs). I haven't had a chance to do any research on it yet, but I guess the website is www.purinacare.com

 

 

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[MP_the4pack]

A lot of people have VPI because they were one of the first. I don't change because I have senior dogs. But definitely look around, there are a lot more companies now than there were 10 yrs ago.

 

[Guest Koalalou2]

I think it also depends on where you live. We have two young dogs (just adopted a senior less than a month ago) and it wasn't worth it to us. Our vet visits are $35 and the insurance only covers above $50. We have very reasonable vet prices here and would pay more for the insurance than we would for regular visits plus anything that comes up. However, if/when we move back to New England, we will definitely get it. And we will also get it when our pets are older (6-7 years) to make sure we are covered for those years when things come out of nowhere.

My MIL who lives in MA has pet insurance and is so glad she does! She adopted a puppy mill mamma dog who had quite a few problems when she came in and the insurance covered most of her expenses, making it easy for her to go in to the vet if she was unsure about something or was just worried. She likes not having to think twice about going to the vet for something that could turn out to be nothing (which was often the case since she's a bit paranoid!!).

[gracegirl]

A bit of advice: if you are going to do it, do it immediately. As in the first day. Right away. Waste no time. EVERYTHING becomes a "pre-existing condition" with the insurance folks. You'd want your new pup covered right away with no exemptions down the road.

 

If you type "insurance" in the greytalk search field, you'll see lots of topics on this already.

 

I thought about it but did not get coverage. I recently did the math. I'm actually ahead financially calculation vet costs paid out of pocket vs what the premiums plus deductible would be. Not by a whole lot, but I also have not had any major catastrophes.

 

One thing to keep in mind is the following example. Let's say you take your dog to the vet for a bowel/poo issue. Say the total bill is $150 (making this up!). You pay $150 that day to the vet. You then submit the forms to insurance. But the insurance might only cover $50 even though your total bill was $150...based on their payment schedule. So now you have spent your monthly fees plus what they won't cover ($100 in this case). It's a gamble. The insurance company bets your dog won't be at the vet often. They usually are right.

Edited September 25, 2008 by gracegirl

[Guest GreytMuse]

We use PetsBest insurance on the recommendation of our vet, and it has already paid for itself.

[JAJ2010]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm still waffling about the idea, we do have $ in the bank for emergencies, but probably wouldn't be able to afford an unexpected 10-15k surgery! decisions decisions....

[Bevd]

I'm such a bore when it comes to pet insurance

 

One thing to consider if you have cash put aside for emergencies is that say the emergency cost you $3000 and you paid that. If the emergency resulted in the dog needing expensive medication for life, you need to be able to cover that too. And each accident/illness which occurs before you take out insurance will definately not be covered by the time you do decide to take it out. So. My take is that if you can afford the x amount of dollars each month for a decent policy, take it out today. You may as well do it whilst the dog is healthy and whilst nothing is excluded rather than wait and wish you'd done it much earlier.

 

My fear (not for you personally of course but in general terms regarding dog ownership) is people finding themselves in a situation where their dog gets diagnosed with some god awful ailment and they just can not afford to have the treatment offered so they have to go for the euthanasia option.

 

As I said, I am a bore when it comes to this topic

[Guest HeatherDemps]

I've never had insurance for mine... I adopted my greyhound 9 1/2 years ago and I don't think I ever even knew then if there was pet insurance. By the time that I was aware of it, I think it was pretty expensive for a dog of his age. Would have loved insurance when we went through cancer, amputation, and chemo this past year! Now, I just have a 6yo IG but honestly, I just set aside money for pet emergencies and handle it that way. I think I have enough trouble figuring out my own health insurance.

[Guest janiesmom]

If you are a $ saver then ok, but surgery could cost in the thousands..do you have that much set aside? I am not a good saver and since we were meeting weekly for fun runs I thought this possibly could be an accident waiting to happen.those skinny legs and thin skin!.. then the premium was only about 36/mo. so I got vetinsurance for my girl when she was 4. At age 6 she suddenly developed epilepsy and her meds cost me approx. 350/mo. I get 90% of that back thro my plan so each month I submit my bills and I get a chq. back within a week. Sure glad I got insurance or else I don't know how I could afford her meds! I am retired now too! I guess I would just have to keep working if I didn't have the plan. Whew! My premium has since gone up but still well worth it.

Heather and Janey

Vernon, B.C.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

W have it; and (knock on wood) have never had to put in a claim; so yeah, they are making money off us! But, back when I opened the policy, I wanted to know that if something major would happen, it would be covered. I did get it when Frank was pretty young and no pre-existing conditions, and yes, we have been paying on the policy for over 4 years; but I know just one major owie can add up fast and really quickly make me glad I have that insurance for him. I am not someone who is good at saving money and earmarking it for specific causes, say, a vet bill fund. I do have some general savings but I can't guarantee that some other catastrophe won't pop up and drain that. The VPI just gives me some peace of mind.

[Guest brit1]

I thoroughly researched insurance last year and found out that your best bet is getting coverage for up to $10,000 with a $500 deductible and a 20% co-pay for instance. This way its relatively inexpensive yearly and you have real coverage for calamities which are usually the problem. I don't need coverage for little stuff but in view of the fact that my little dog that went to the Bridge cost me $7,000 in vet fees I wish I had been able to insure her, unfortunately she had a pre-existing condition so you need to get them insured asap before anything happens I highly recommend embracepetinsurance.com a lot of the other companies only pay up to $2,500 per incident which doesn't get you very far if something serious happens

anne

[JAJ2010]

I highly recommend embracepetinsurance.com a lot of the other companies only pay up to $2,500 per incident which doesn't get you very far if something serious happens

anne

 

Thanks I just decided on VPI 10 minutes ago. lol Off to research this new company.

[JAJ2010]

OK the decision is to go with VPI, with their standard coverage plan. We will be covered for any medical emergencies (cancer, xrays, prescription meds, etc), and can pay for regular vet visits ourselves. A little over $100 a year and well worth the peace of mind.

 

Thanks everyone for their advice!