Do you have pet insurance? Is it worth it? (clean, vet, cleaning)

[Townandcountrygal]

After spending thousands of dollars on my dogs and cats over the years for routine vet care plus some emergencies, illness, and euthanesia, wondering if "pet insurance" really saves you money or are there too many non-covered expenses in the policies?

[HokieFan]

I found that there are too many non-covered expenses - pre existing conditions, routine care, dental cleanings were not covered in the policies I researched.

Just make sure you read the fine print.

[Threerun]

No.

[Katie1]

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.

[JONOV]

Think hard for a minute. Any insurance product has to collect more from you ("you," meaning the 10,000 or 10 Million people in their risk pool) than they pay out.

So, that being said, I have it for expenses I don't want to self insure through; the TPLO surgery, if he breaks a bone, etc...

Also, you need to shop around for vets sometimes. And, think about what they're suggesting, the cost/benefit to your dog/cat. Some people drop $4K on treatments when they know that they'll only extend the animal's life another 4 (sick) months.

[bassetluv]

No, I don't because I've found that pet insurance (when totalled over the years) is quite costly, even for the lower options, and often doesn't cover a great many basics. You can get policies that will cover more than others, but unless you have a pet who needs regular expensive treatments, overall it doesn't seem like it's any cheaper than simply paying the vet bill out of pocket.

My brother once adopted a cat from the local shelter, and the cat came with six months of free pet insurance. About four months after she was adopted, the cat began having some issues...and it was discovered that she had asthma. My brother started her on meds and then put in a claim to the insurance company, who promptly turned it down based on 'a pre-existing condition'. The vet even wrote them a letter to state that the cat showed no signs of asthma when she had her first wellness check, but they still stated it wasn't covered. (Apparently, insurance companies can even designate cancer to be a pre-existing condition.)

So no, I don't have insurance. I just try to keep enough money in my account to cover unforeseen emergencies and health issues.

[cleosmom]

No, not worth my money. Instead we have a charge card specifically for the dogs. To keep it active, I might purchase a bag of treats or supplement and then pay it off before being charged any interest.

[Dashdog]

I have never had it. With my previous dogs, Jazz and Dash with the exception of the bladder stone and UTI Dash had that did require surgery and a foxtail removal from Jazz they were healthy so outside of routine things I did not spend much money at the vets . When they got older they did both get cancer and at least back then pet insurance did not cover cancer without you having an expensive cancer rider. Jazz had two different cancers those last 2 years one was surgically removed the other got no treatment but did have a visit with the eye specialist and an MRI to find out it was a tumor in her salivary gland that was pushing her eye out but none of that would have been covered with the standard policy . I did sit down one day with all the bills over the years verses the cost of insurance and really I came out ahead. I have always had money in an special account to cover my vet bills including the CT and MRI so have never worried about where I would get the money if something did come up. Phoenix also did not run up any vet bills until she was old then it was the glaucoma in her eye which required a chemical ablation of the eye and at the end of life she developed pneumonia so was at the hospital a few days and then renal failure while not cheap , years of insurance would have cost more .

[hiero2]

My old vet, and still my favorite, now very retired, once told me he thought everybody was going to have to go to pet insurance because vet costs, just like medical costs, were going up. ARE going up. I've looked at it a couple of times, but I haven't gotten it yet, and haven't done a detailed cost analysis comparison to what I typically pay in a year.

BTW, the policies I've looked at had like 700 deductible. A lot.

it seems like we have some sort of incident about once a year. Last year it was the porcupine. About $1500 or so. This year (already) it was the skin tear - a big gash - between $1500 and 2k because she had to have it sown back together twice.

Teeth cleanings for the cat - minimum of $300 - with most vets in the area getting more like 5-700. That's only about every other year. And other stuff.

I don't feel at all like I don't spend much on vets - I feel like I spend a lot. But part of that is because vets are expensive around here. Although, based on previous threads about pet cost, my area vets aren't the worst for cost, but they aren't far behind. However, I'm still not quite convinced pet insurance would be a good deal for me.

[jencam]

I loved pet insurance when I had it and really got my money's worth, but the prices went up, and coverage went down. Now I give the same amount I used to give them to a 'pet savings account' and have care-credit as a back-up. I think that over the rest of my life I will come out ahead this way, though there may be times in the short term I feel the pinch.

I do not dip into the pet savings account for routine things. Pet insurance doesn't cover those. It's for illness/injury. If I have to use the cc card, I will pay it instead of pet savings until that is back to -0- and then resume paying the savings account.