Does anyone have pet insurance? Do you use it? I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it or not. We have 2 small dogs.
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I don't, although I just have 2 cats.
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I didn't know this was a possibility. Our vet has very affordable prices, so it's probably not something I'd buy.
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@Leialou: We spend a fortune at the vet. But the insurance we are looking at is for unexpected big issues. Ex: cancerous tumor, injury, etc.
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I have it. It's about $25 a month for my one dog. It doesn't cover regular visits but I did get 80% back when my dog had a cracked tooth extracted and a cancerous spot removed. It's been worth it for us in that we 've not lost money and we have peace of mind if something really bad happens. We use Pets Best Insurance.
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We didn't get it. Our dog has been healthy luckily, but we did pay a lot for allergy testing a treatment when he was little. We plan on getting a second dog after LO is a little older and I think we'd get the insurance then. It would be so worth it if he ever needed a surgery or had a big problem.
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I wish we'd gotten it - our shin tzu had to have eye surgery and it was pricey. We should probably investigate it again now!
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we have a policy right now that is $26/month for a lab. its a $100 deductible per incident and pays 90% after that. we got it because he is young, super active, and goes to doggy daycare a lot. i've always heard about labs needing major knee / hip surgeries so we really got it just in case he hurts himself in a major [$5000 dollar surgery] way. interestingly enough, since we got the policy last year he hasn't been sick once or hurt himself in any way! we'll probably keep it at least until we scale back the doggy daycare and/or the premiums become unreasonable [i've read that they increase a ton as your dog ages].
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It's probably one of those things, if you have it, you won't use it, if you don't have it, you will wish you did. I'm no help, clearly
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I was told that it's a good investment when you have a puppy so neutering/spaying will be covered. But, beyond that it's generally not worth the cost. My dog has constant ear infections and maybe insurance would cause us to go to the vet more but we don't.
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We don't have it. I looked into it about 8 years ago and it didn't seem worth it, although I think they might have better options now. Luckily we haven't had any major health issues with him, and even if something came up now, over the 9 years I've had him, I probably would have paid more in premiums than surgery would cost. We also finally found a nice and cheap vet!
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We do. My dog is 12 and we pay 30 a month for it. She's had surgery multiple times to remove benign tumors and fatty tissues so it's been worth it for me, I think!
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I've heard that getting reimbursed is so difficult. From the companies I looked at, anytime you make a claim, you have to pay yourself up front and then submit a claim to get reimbursed. I've had a lot of co-workers tell me their claims were all denied. I looked into it again when Chloe got Glaucoma and Cataracts. She eventually needed surgery. But when I called, even the spokesperson I spoke with told me her own dog had the same problem and she was denied all claims. She told me to save my $.
We have our dog on the Banfield Wellness plan, which is more like an HMO or Kaiser kind of health plan - preventative mostly.
It's very helpful, especially in the early years for all the vaccinations, and in the later years, like now my dog is 10 years old. All her office visits for any sort of issue are covered by the plan. We also get a discount for all medications and services. -
We do via Pet Plan. Our dog is 2.5 and so far it's more than paid for itself each year (our dog is prone to eating stuff she shouldn't and GI issues). They have been excellent about reimbursement and I usually get the check within a week. I've heard that statistically it's better to put the money you'd spend in an account each month, but it gives us peace of mind I'd something horrific happened we wouldn't be worried about money (we have a $200 deductible and 20k limit)
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We have VPI Insurance for our Newfoundland. We got it when she was a puppy after having repeated vet visit due to UTI. We haven't actually had to use it for anything major (except getting her spayed) but it is nice to get a portion of the yearly physicals/shots reimbursed each year.
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@Mrs Spoon: do you know if your policy has a Pre existing condition clause?@78h2o: @erwoo:
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we have it through VPI - we got it when she was 6 mo. old, and its just shy of $25/month. totally recommend it - it covers the majority of all of the ailments that she's had (she had a mast cell tumor removed, several small scrapes, and we're looking into whether her ACL is partially torn now)
i don't know about the pre-existing clauses, but VPI's customer service is really helpful, and they can tailor a policy to what you need
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@regberadaisy: Sorry, I don't know. I bought my dog's insurance when she was 8 weeks old and it was $10 a month then. Now it's $30 a month and she's 12. It's through VPI Pet Insurance and I just have the standard plan for her (no vaccinations plan). I believe you can get a quick quote online and it may even have information about pre-existing conditions. If anything, it's worth a phone call before you sign up and not able to use any of the benefits. Good luck!
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