Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Vets in my area Don't take Pet ins. & those that do Still make you pay the bill in full Before you can send in a claim. Insurance I have seen Does Not cover routine shots S/N & your Best Insurance against Accidents & illness Beware of things that can hurt your dog.
There are a few pet insurance providers who will the pay the veteriniarian directly, I think. Pet insurance has helped us on several occasions when we would have been really stuck to get our dogs the treatment they needed.
You know, there's another thing about pet insurance. Actually, about insurance at all, for that matter. Here's what that is: insurance is just a common pool of money. Follow along with me for a bit.
What happens when you buy insurance is the insurance company is now, in essence, a giant savings pool. Your money is part of that pool. When Joe's Kat gets sick and has a vet bill, the insurance company pays that out of the pool. And, the insurance company also has to pay salaries and profit out of that same pool.
Joe's neighbor, Jill, also signed up for the insurance, for her Boopsie. Boopsie has been healthy, and hasn't needed anything other than an annual checkup. But, the point is, the insurance money pool is made up of lots of people like this. Some have a lot of costs, some don't. And the insurance company has to balance the two, or they don't make a profit. If they don't make a profit, they go out of business.
Now, odds are in favor of you being more like Jill. And you have to consider cost over time. Joe's big cost came up front - he hadn't put much money in the pool. But Joe continued to buy pet insurance over time. Eight years later Joe has put as much money in the insurance pool as he spent - and then some. And now Jill's Boopsie has a big cancer surgery. So Jill has a big cost. She's been paying premiums all these years, so she has covered her overall cost - and then some. Now, if Joe's Kat died, and he quit paying for insurance, obviously he is no longer contributing to the pool. So the insurance company has to find other customers to pay premiums - to keep the big pool full.
Some people in that pool pay more in than they get out. Other people get out more than they put in. The people who put more in will always outnumber the people who get more out, because the insurance company has to cover costs AND make a profit. So the insurance company will adjust either payments or coverage to make sure they will still make a profit. It's just like Las Vegas - the casino ALWAYS wins. Always. You got the $80 million jackpot? Lucky you. That means the casino got $90 million from other suckers who hoped they would be "Lucky You". Insurance is the same.
Sometimes insurance companies can adjust profits by adjusting cost. This is like for auto repairs, where insurance companies dictate what kind of parts they will pay for, because they want the better deal. Or like medical insurance, where the insurance companies negotiate what the hospital or doctor can charge. Obviously, in real life, it gets complicated.
But the simplest picture is still accurate: a giant pool of money. With pet insurance, that pool isn't so giant. So, the terms are not as good as medical or auto insurance.
You will also note that I am looking at this as though it was an either/or alternative. As in: either Joe and Jill paid insurance premiums, or they put that money away into savings. Almost nobody does that (but we all know we should). That's why auto insurance is required in most states - because when you need it, the expense is so large you are almost certain not to have that amount in savings.
So, with pet insurance we get the discipline to put money away on a regular basis. And, if we happen to not have put enough money away yet, the insurance pool will cover it. The insurance pool WILL get it back in the long run, you betcha! But for that big bill TODAY, they provide convenience and confidence.
That's why, for pet insurance, I'm still thinking that the best individual financial option is either a personal pet emergency savings account, or a credit card. The personal pet emergency savings will provide the softest "landing" financially in the long term, so that's how I'm doing it. I may have to supplement that with credit for a very large expense - like a TPLO.
If one needs the convenience of someone saying "You have to pay your little bit of money TODAY", and saying that every month, then insurance is a better fit. It may also be a better fit if one only has a little money, and if they got hit with a big expense BEFORE they had put that amount into their savings. For a lot of people, they would be put in a bad spot if things happened that way. Although, personally, in that case I would prefer the credit option - but sometimes that isn't available.
That's why, for pet insurance, I'm still thinking that the best individual financial option is either a personal pet emergency savings account, or a credit card. The personal pet emergency savings will provide the softest "landing" financially in the long term, so that's how I'm doing it. I may have to supplement that with credit for a very large expense - like a TPLO.
Yes! And in case anyone's interested, here is a similar, relatively recent thread on which we've agreed about this in the past! (The thread has other info on it, too, that someone researching this might find useful.)
We never had it in the past but our last dog was became diabetic. The 1st time he got sick the bill was somewhere around $7,000 which we had to pay. 2nd time it was in the thousands again. We are lucky at that time I was still working and we were able to pay the bills.
Fast forward, he is not gone and we adopted 2 dogs. This time we bought pet insurance. The 1st year we had them one got very sick. They had no idea what it was. Thought poisoned and they flushed out system. No not that. We spent thousands of dollars trying everything. Thankfully he pulled thru. We had a deductible of about $250 and the insurance paid 90% of the bill. Glad we had the insurance.
We never had it in the past but our last dog was became diabetic. The 1st time he got sick the bill was somewhere around $7,000 which we had to pay. 2nd time it was in the thousands again. We are lucky at that time I was still working and we were able to pay the bills.
Fast forward, he is not gone and we adopted 2 dogs. This time we bought pet insurance. The 1st year we had them one got very sick. They had no idea what it was. Thought poisoned and they flushed out system. No not that. We spent thousands of dollars trying everything. Thankfully he pulled thru. We had a deductible of about $250 and the insurance paid 90% of the bill. Glad we had the insurance.
Next time I write that little dialogue, I'll use you, mrsstats, instead of "Joe"!
I have it. I didn't even know about it. It was hidden in my benefits package from work.
Never needed it before October of 2021, but now that's all changed. (I gotta dog.)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
