Healthy Paws Massive Rate Increase

[Here4thedogs]

Hey guys another Southern Californian here with Healthy Paws. Searched Google for premium increases and found this forum. I own a couple Dobies and feel your pain when it comes to rate increases. Just like seeh20 I've experienced almost identical rate increases over the last three years. Started out as only 10-15% increases until last week I was notified of a 36% increase going from $165 to $221 for two Dobermanns. I've had many claims for both over the years and am convinced it's because of that on top of overall health-care costs increasing nationwide.

However, their explanations as you've seen on here are less than satisfactory. As I've explained in numerous emails to them I'm just trying to forecast future costs to ensure I have proper coverage for the remainder of their lives. Their ages are only 3 and 5. I actually wanted to insure our other 4 pets, but will avoid doing so until I get further clarification from them. Here's what "Ren" said in his last email when I questioned him on everyone in CA is getting hit with the same increase:

"Every policy owner within California did experience an increase, but the percentages may have varied SLIGHTLY as we also go as specific as the zip code that you and your furry friends reside in. Your rates don't change due to you filing a claim."

 

Sounds like bs to me as I've referred two of my coworkers over the years who live in the same city and same zip. One saw an increase of 13.8% for three dogs (with claims) since Jan 2019 while the other saw an increase of 15% for his two dogs (with claims) since July 2017.  The fact that I'm seeing a 36% increase in the SAME area in CA just doesn't add up. It's one thing to pay astronomically high health insurance for our pets when you know what to expect, but it's another to blindly raise rates and lie saying it's due to the area I live in and not because of the breed/previous claims.  After seeing your posts I sent another email out Today providing them evidence that's contrary to what they've been telling us. I'll share my response if I receive one. 

 

[turbotaina]

I am getting my massive rate increase this year. My premium is going up by about $50 a month.  When I asked, they gave me the same “catching up with local rates” spiel and the fact that H is turning 11 this year.  I’ll keep it, because the alternative isn’t better.  We didn’t even meet the deductibles last year for either of them (which is good, from a health stance  ).  But after having gone through a $16k crisis, I won’t be without health coverage for my dogs again.

[turbotaina]

Also, Here4thdogs, Ouch!  I know dobies have more health issues than greys, but ouch! Even with my premium increase, I’m under $200 a month for the two of mine (I think it’s like $180) and they’re 11 and 8.  I’m not in CA, but I’m in the metro DC area, which is just as expensive. Ugh.

Edited January 20, 2020 by turbotaina

[GreyTzu]

Danny's jumped up by 25.00 this year.  HealthyPaws.  :(

[racindog]

I noticed that the policy 80%/$250 deduct for my 9 yoa Belgian Malinois is $51.42 and

                         the policy for my 4 yoa greyhound 90%/$250 deduct is $59.43.  I think maybe it just cost more to insure a greyhound hound?

Yesterday I signed up a 80%/$250 policy for a 8 week old Belgian Malinois puppy and it was $48.64.  Same breed, same policies, and only ~$3 difference between a puppy and a 9 yoa.

So I don't have a clue how the rates are calculated. I would be afraid to even try to guess.

[Rickiesmom]

My guess, depending on when you enrolled the 9 year old, is that the rates were lower then, and have increased gradually.   Your new pup has been assigned the current (and therefore higher) base rate. 

I first enrolled dogs with Trupanion in 2009  (Healthy Paws is not available in Canada) and their rates now are much higher than they were then as well.  In fact, looking at what people are paying for HP, even with the increases, it looks cheap to me, and that may be why their rates are climbing so quickly - the revenue pool has not been enough to cover the current cost of care.

As a sidebar, I love, love, love Belgian Malinois <insert envious emoticon here>.

[racindog]

5 hours ago, Rickiesmom said:

My guess, depending on when you enrolled the 9 year old, is that the rates were lower then, and have increased gradually.   Your new pup has been assigned the current (and therefore higher) base rate. 

I first enrolled dogs with Trupanion in 2009  (Healthy Paws is not available in Canada) and their rates now are much higher than they were then as well.  In fact, looking at what people are paying for HP, even with the increases, it looks cheap to me, and that may be why their rates are climbing so quickly - the revenue pool has not been enough to cover the current cost of care.

As a sidebar, I love, love, love Belgian Malinois <insert envious emoticon here>.

That sounds logical! And yes mals are pretty special too. They are soooo loyal; they'll work until they drop for you and try to hide their true condition so they can! You've got to watch them very closely that they don't work too hard/much. My K9 REBA grins at me sometimes but I haven't been able to get a pic of it. I get the camera on and its gone. I picked up a new SAR puppy over the weekend- meet TURBO

Edited January 22, 2020 by racindog

[racindog]

Turbo and greyhound Octane have really hit it off!

[Rickiesmom]

[seeh2o]

On 1/16/2020 at 11:51 AM, Here4thedogs said:

Hey guys another Southern Californian here with Healthy Paws. Searched Google for premium increases and found this forum. I own a couple Dobies and feel your pain when it comes to rate increases. Just like seeh20 I've experienced almost identical rate increases over the last three years. Started out as only 10-15% increases until last week I was notified of a 36% increase going from $165 to $221 for two Dobermanns. I've had many claims for both over the years and am convinced it's because of that on top of overall health-care costs increasing nationwide.

However, their explanations as you've seen on here are less than satisfactory. As I've explained in numerous emails to them I'm just trying to forecast future costs to ensure I have proper coverage for the remainder of their lives. Their ages are only 3 and 5. I actually wanted to insure our other 4 pets, but will avoid doing so until I get further clarification from them. Here's what "Ren" said in his last email when I questioned him on everyone in CA is getting hit with the same increase:

"Every policy owner within California did experience an increase, but the percentages may have varied SLIGHTLY as we also go as specific as the zip code that you and your furry friends reside in. Your rates don't change due to you filing a claim."

 

Sounds like bs to me as I've referred two of my coworkers over the years who live in the same city and same zip. One saw an increase of 13.8% for three dogs (with claims) since Jan 2019 while the other saw an increase of 15% for his two dogs (with claims) since July 2017.  The fact that I'm seeing a 36% increase in the SAME area in CA just doesn't add up. It's one thing to pay astronomically high health insurance for our pets when you know what to expect, but it's another to blindly raise rates and lie saying it's due to the area I live in and not because of the breed/previous claims.  After seeing your posts I sent another email out Today providing them evidence that's contrary to what they've been telling us. I'll share my response if I receive one. 

 

What do you think of getting Californians who have been hit t with these big - inconsistent - increases and as a group, reporting it to our state insurance commissioner? I know a number of people in my greyhound group and at work who have been hot with huge increases and are not happy about it.

[Here4thedogs]

I'm unfamiliar with the state insurance commission and what authority they have on mitigating rate increases, but let me know how I can assist.

 

[racindog]

Well!!! I hate to say this but it is time to search yet AGAIN for a decent pet insurance company.    I sent HP the med records on the new pup I signed up and THEY LISTED IT AS A CLAIM!!!!!!!!!!! And I had even sent an email along with it making it VERY clear that I was NOT filing any kind of a claim that I was just complying with their request to provide the records for a new dog prior to making any claim.  I even reminded them that the new dog is not eligible for any claims until Feb 5.  So what did they do? They submitted all the shot, microchip and other charges that we all know is not eligible in the first place and listed it as a claim!!!!!!! And the dog is not even eligible yet for coverage on those charges that were made Feb 1 because he is in the waiting period for new dogs !!!!!!! So clearly they want to make it look like a maximum number of claims are being submitted to justify jacking up the rates even though the dog isn't even eligible for actual coverage yet via the waiting period.  I know they 'say' the # of claims doesn't impact rates but I also know it does. So I sent 3 or 4 more emails to them demanding an explanation for these hi-jinks and got NO REPLY.  So then I went to their FB page and what do I see? Posts from people saying that HP won't contact them; and one saying it had been 30 days and they still had not received their claims check and again no response from HP.  Clearly the new owners are just as terrible as their reputation that preceeded them. Now, where do I go for insurance and one of the dogs is 9 so I'm probably stuck at HP for that one or else if HP isn't going to be honest might be better to cancel all together anyway and risk it on my own. Why pay for coverage if they arn't going to provide it anyway? What a mess. Why do all the good companies get gobbled up and RUINED by the cheap crooked companies?

[seeh2o]

Try Prudent Pet. I jumped ship and signed up with them. A friend did it, too, and she just submitted her first claim. Had a very very good interaction with customer service when she had a question. Customer service is not outsourced and the person actually listens to you and responds appropriately, not from reading a script.

[racindog]

10 hours ago, seeh2o said:

Try Prudent Pet. I jumped ship and signed up with them. A friend did it, too, and she just submitted her first claim. Had a very very good interaction with customer service when she had a question. Customer service is not outsourced and the person actually listens to you and responds appropriately, not from reading a script.

Wow. Thanks!

[ShebasMom]

10 hours ago, seeh2o said:

Try Prudent Pet. I jumped ship and signed up with them. A friend did it, too, and she just submitted her first claim. Had a very very good interaction with customer service when she had a question. Customer service is not outsourced and the person actually listens to you and responds appropriately, not from reading a script.

I had an estimate done with Prudent Pet and the estimate for 12-year-old Sheba was more than this year's increase from Embrace so I'm sticking with embrace.

[seeh2o]

On 2/4/2020 at 9:12 AM, ShebasMom said:

I had an estimate done with Prudent Pet and the estimate for 12-year-old Sheba was more than this year's increase from Embrace so I'm sticking with embrace.

Yikes, good to know.

[blam89]

Hi everyone

A fellow CA resident here who just received notification from HP that my golden retriever's premium is going form $58 to $72 per month. This was after raising rates by 12% last year. 

I wish I could say I was successful in getting them to change my latest rate hike, but I also just got the generic vet costs going up response. However, I do have one piece of good news:

Healthypaws is now facing a class action lawsuit for abusing rate hikes!

[MP_the4pack]

I'm getting a new young'un in a couple months.  You can bet HP is not getting her. I just don't know which company I'm going with. 

[rsieg]

Given how old the last post in this thread is, I guess I'm one of the last still with a hound on HealthyPaws. Just got an email that in sixty days the monthly premium will go up from $57 to $102. I will be canceling when I get home tonight. 

What I'm kicking myself over is, I got Logan at just past 3 years old, and he just turned 10 1/2 two days ago. Never had a reimbursement from HP (thankfully, Logan has been healthy, the few expenses he has had were below the deductible). So, that is about 7 1/2 years or 90 months. Granted, the premium started out lower (I think around $30 or so initially), but if the average premium over that time was even $40 then If I had skipped the insurance and simply put aside the premium amount each month, I would now have $3600 set aside for any medical expenses as Logan enters his senior years.

As it is, once I cancel I have zero set aside for any medical expenses -- which I'm sure is why HP feels comfortable doubling the monthly premium on a senior dog.  

Anyway, rant over...

[MP_the4pack]

I want to insure my third dog with someone other than HP. But because I have 2 others on HP their premium is 1/2 of any other insurer.  And because one girl is 11 and the other in renal failure,  I can't move them.  So right now the 2 year old is not insured. 

[NeylasMom]

On 4/8/2020 at 6:20 PM, blam89 said:

Hi everyone

A fellow CA resident here who just received notification from HP that my golden retriever's premium is going form $58 to $72 per month. This was after raising rates by 12% last year. 

I wish I could say I was successful in getting them to change my latest rate hike, but I also just got the generic vet costs going up response. However, I do have one piece of good news:

Healthypaws is now facing a class action lawsuit for abusing rate hikes!

I just got mine. Last year I got the notice of a massive rate hike and then mysteriously I got an email saying it had been a mistake and my premium wasn't changing. It was around the time they were having the issues in Washington so I thought maybe they were backtracking for fear of getting in trouble, but then others didn't get the same notice. 

I guess they're making up for lost time because now it's going from $108 to $148 a month, a 37% increase. 

I'm glad to see the lawsuit. I figured it was only a matter of time and I will happily jump on the class action lawsuit bandwagon. 

It's a shame because they've been absolutely wonderful otherwise, including recently covering an Assisi Loop lounge for Violet, which was a big expense. But I signed up with them over other companies based on promises they made about rate increases that they not only haven't kept, but have abused to the nth degree. And they all know that once you're insured with them it's really difficult to leave because of pre-existing conditions and age constraints. 

[JRT]

 

I have been a healthy paws member since 2015. My rates have changed substantially based on which state I’ve lived in. We recently moved back to WA and had a big drop in our rate. Our monthly premium has been $118 since our move last summer. I just received a notification that my rate is now increasing to $252 for the next year. This is more than double our current rate! Similar to what others have said, their CEO is calling me to discuss. I highly doubt I’m going to find anything he says satisfactory. We have also contacted our local insurance commission. In Arizona, I think we had a 30+% increase in our rate in one year. I’m feeling pretty done with Healthy Paws. When I initially signed up in 2015, I had picked them because I thought they didn’t do “birthday” increases for enrolled pets. If that was the case, it doesn’t appear to be anymore. I’ll probably just sock away the $252 a month I would have given them into a savings account. Just ridiculous. Makes you wonder what the rates will be a couple of years from now. We plan on getting a puppy in the next year and I definitely won’t be using healthy paws. Probably Trupanion given that they don’t do the birthday increase (at least that’s my understanding)

[AKD]

I was just notified my Newfie's premium is going from $69 to $169 next month. We haven't filed a claim in years. I cancelled immediately, they are crazy to think people will be okay with this. The rep asked me to talk to one of their executives before I cancel. No thanks. :(

[riverbosun]

Yup my policy just went up over $50 dollars which represents a 25% increase.  Will be researching other alternatives.

[MP_the4pack]

I might try Lemonade. I'm seeing good reports.

Anyone have it?