Pet Insurance

[HGoat1]

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with Pet Insurance?

I've heard some mixed reviews. A friend who is a Veterinarian did not recommend it because he says the pet insurance companies often deny legitimate claims. Have another friend who's dog had 10K in vet bills and 90% of it was re-imbursed by pet insurance.

My dog ate a part of a plastic water bottle and had to have it removed via endoscopy. Between his overnight stay, several x-rays, and anesthesia, it was a quick $5,000 vet bill. Thankfully he has recovered and is 100% Ok.

 

[Urbandale2013]

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with Pet Insurance?

I've heard some mixed reviews. A friend who is a Veterinarian did not recommend it because he says the pet insurance companies often deny legitimate claims. Have another friend who's dog had 10K in vet bills and 90% of it was re-imbursed by pet insurance.

My dog ate a part of a plastic water bottle and had to have it removed via endoscopy. Between his overnight stay, several x-rays, and anesthesia, it was a quick $5,000 vet bill. Thankfully he has recovered and is 100% Ok.

My philosophy is just self insure. I’d generally be able to pull from somewhere else cash flow wise so why send a company money.

 

[legi]

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with Pet Insurance?

I've heard some mixed reviews. A friend who is a Veterinarian did not recommend it because he says the pet insurance companies often deny legitimate claims. Have another friend who's dog had 10K in vet bills and 90% of it was re-imbursed by pet insurance.

My dog ate a part of a plastic water bottle and had to have it removed via endoscopy. Between his overnight stay, several x-rays, and anesthesia, it was a quick $5,000 vet bill. Thankfully he has recovered and is 100% Ok.

I don't remember the details because it's been few years but I do know that having the insurance helped us save significant amount of money. It was through Petsmart.

 

[Cyclonepride]

We have Pets Best (Progressive) and pay about $35 a month for our two pups. Haven't had to use it since we got it, but we've had a couple pups that ran up bills in excess of $3000, so we mainly have it for the big issues that we could encounter.

Edit: on the downside, I am quite sure that the more popular this becomes, the more expensive veterinary care will become.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

Nationwide has a really nice Pet Insurance product that's worth looking into.

 

[simply1]

We have Pets Best (Progressive) and pay about $35 a month for our two pups. Haven't had to use it since we got it, but we've had a couple pups that ran up bills in excess of $3000, so we mainly have it for the big issues that we could encounter.

Edit: on the downside, I am quite sure that the more popular this becomes, the more expensive veterinary care will become.

They’ll raise rates when they get old enough to need it more, substantially.

 

[wxman1]

We have a dog that needed knee surgery this year, would have been nice then.

 

[simply1]

We adopted a dog with Healthy Paws covered condition, they’ve been amazing. His med is about the cost of the premium.

 

[NickTheGreat]

As indicated in the other thread, I'm not a big proponent of any insurance. But anybody I've know who's looked into it or had it hasn't had a good time. Any sort of "pre-existing condition" was excluded. Which makes sense, but then something like surgery for treating hip dysplasia was not covered, since it happened before the dog was born.

I could see it covered acute injuries like a car accident or the water bottle thing. But obviously they are in it to make money, and don't make it by paying out.

 

[carvers4math]

We have a dog that needed knee surgery this year, would have been nice then.

Our vet referred us to an orthopedist but there is a long wait to get in.

We thought we had a few years to wait on the insurance since dog barely three, but nope. Apparently large dogs are very prone to this.

Partially torn CCL jumping at a squirrel on a fence.

 

[wxman1]

Our vet referred us to an orthopedist but there is a long wait to get in.

We thought we had a few years to wait on the insurance since dog barely three, but nope. Apparently large dogs are very prone to this.

Partially torn CCL jumping at a squirrel on a fence.

Yup, ours was our seven year old golden that was just chasing the other dog around the yard. Thankfully there is a good and reasonable vet nearby (Anamosa) that did the TPLO surgery the next week.

 

[cyfan21]

I used to have Nationwide pet insurance and just switched to Pumpkin pet insurance, per my vets recommendation.

 

[cmjh10]

Yup, ours was our seven year old golden that was just chasing the other dog around the yard. Thankfully there is a good and reasonable vet nearby (Anamosa) that did the TPLO surgery the next week.

Not saying they are bad, but my GF grew up down the road from the Anamosa vet. Her parents use Monti.

 

[throwittoblythe]

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with Pet Insurance?

I've heard some mixed reviews. A friend who is a Veterinarian did not recommend it because he says the pet insurance companies often deny legitimate claims. Have another friend who's dog had 10K in vet bills and 90% of it was re-imbursed by pet insurance.

My dog ate a part of a plastic water bottle and had to have it removed via endoscopy. Between his overnight stay, several x-rays, and anesthesia, it was a quick $5,000 vet bill. Thankfully he has recovered and is 100% Ok.

We looked into it but opted not to buy for many of the reasons stated in this thread. At the time, we had two dogs that were getting up in age.

What I learned:

• All pre-existing conditions are excluded. One of our dogs was on an $80/month med but since he was diagnosed prior, a new policy would not cover it.
• Premiums were going to be ~$50/month total for our dogs (this was 2019-ish). While we had semi-frequent vet visits, it didn't add up to $600/year.
• It seemed like it was truly meant for the catastrophic, external-type injuries: hit by car, attacked by another dog, etc. Even then, there was a $1000 deductible per dog so all it really did was help spread out any risk from those types of injuries.

 

[intrepid27]

I always operate under the assumption that EVERYTIME ANYONE wants too sell me any type of insurance they plan to pay me less than I pay them.

I carry enough to cover catastrophic events and the rest of the time I assume my own risk.

 

[simply1]

Healthy Paws and Trupanion don’t increase premiums based on age, but are more expensive up front.

 

[simply1]

I always operate under the assumption that EVERYTIME ANYONE wants too sell me any type of insurance they plan to pay me less than I pay them.

I carry enough to cover catastrophic events and the rest of the time I assume my own risk.

I think it’s safe to assume that every single company or person wanting to sell you something is hoping to sell it to you at a higher price than they paid. Not exactly earth shattering.

 

[cyfan21]

Has anyone had a dog with the new white lung virus? I haven’t talked to anyone that’s experienced it yet, but they seem to be on the news every night.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Our pet insurance has been great. Covered several surgeries (dog ate stuff and got impacted), as well as recurring allergy meds. We got it from the ASPCA.

 

[dahliaclone]

I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with Pet Insurance?

I've heard some mixed reviews. A friend who is a Veterinarian did not recommend it because he says the pet insurance companies often deny legitimate claims. Have another friend who's dog had 10K in vet bills and 90% of it was re-imbursed by pet insurance.

My dog ate a part of a plastic water bottle and had to have it removed via endoscopy. Between his overnight stay, several x-rays, and anesthesia, it was a quick $5,000 vet bill. Thankfully he has recovered and is 100% Ok.

I personally see both sides but I also have had pet insurance for years and years and think it's 100% worth it.