Pet Health Insurance

[rconstan]

I know there is a lot of love on this board for pets, doggie stoke, kitty stoke, hutash frequently being summoned to offer his expertise (much appreciated by the way), etc. We have a relatively new Newfoundland pup, he is now 6 months old, got him at 10 weeks, and have had to deal with typical puppy issues. He recently snagged is right front dew claw on something and dealing with it required a shot to knock him out, nail removal, the antidote to the anesthetic, meds, bandages, two "cones of shame", which were both broken within 6 hours. Anyway, my wife and I had considered pet health insurance for our pup, but hadnt gotten around to doing anything about it. Now after another large vet bill and his impending neuter we are strongly considering insurance. Just curious if any of you all have pet insurance and if so what company is it with and whether you like or dislike them. Anyway, just curious, discuss. As for some doggie stoke, here is Otto posing calmly (which is rare) at about 4 months. He is a growing boy, put on 5 pounds in the past 10 days and our vet thought he still looked thin.

[Ernest Hemingway]

Wait, pets can be insured like a Chevrolet or a race horse?

A rain barrel or a .22 caliber Colt Woodsman are no doubt cheaper and have the advantage of being multi-purpose.

We bought a poodle once for our friend Andre the painter. The war had scrambled him and he wasn't quite the same as he was before the mortars but the dog seemed to do him some small bit of good. But then he developed pancreatic cancer and the dog could smell the discharge from the cancer because dogs can smell these things. The dog started avoiding Andre even though they shared a tiny apartment.

Finally it became so heartbreaking, we gave the poodle to a Negro boxer who was visiting from Toronto. It would sit on the ring apron while he trained or do roadwork with him in the mornings around the reservoir at Menilmontant.

[The Reverend Floater]

^^^^
Breaking the "trying too hard" barrier.

I have VPI for my hunting dog, Steve. I got it because I went through hell with my previous hunting dog, and had to make some tough choices with financial implications. While I always ended up spending the money, I wanted to remove that factor from my future decision-making process with Steve and know that if his health meant $$$, it would be covered. I have cashed in twice on it but I have to say, they don't make it easy: Both times required multiple submissions, multiple trips to the vet for clarifications, etc. If I wasn't friends with my vet, he probably would have punched me in the face for all the docs he had to provide them.

If you choose to do it, think of it as disaster insurance.

[hutash]

First and foremost make sure the insurance covers contraception...wouldn't want Rush calling her a slut.

All insurances are different and cover at different levels. There is no one best company that I know of, but VPI has been around the longest, but the founder left and started Pet's Best. I don't deal with insurance directly, just charge the client and fill out their claim form, and they get reimbursed by the company. You still need to come up with the cash up front, at least that is they way most of us around here do it. I occasionally have to submit medical records, but usually the claim form is enough for the company, and they seem to pay without any hassles.

They way I present it to my clients is if you are going to spend the money anyway, then insurance is a good thing. Often times there is still a big out of pocket expense that some people can't won't pay, so the animal doesn't get treated, and then the insurance is useless. Insurance doesn't always cover all that you expect. Also look careful at what is covered. Things like developmental or genetic disease may not be covered and is a loophole they can drive a truck through.

[Jer]

Why full pet health care isn't provided by the government for free is beyond me. I guess it's just further proof that America sucks. 100% serious.

[yentna]

We use Petcare, 70% Gold or some such. Not super expensive since it has a deductible, but we had to use it once and they were decent to deal with.

We really consider it as there only for massive things though, and the $30/month is worth it for peace of mind should JL need surgery / get cancer / get some other major illness.

[liv2ski]

I hope this info helps. http://www.healthypawspetinsurance.c...parePlans.aspx

[Buke]

We used to have petcare insurance for our dog. I think we had the 70% coverage version. He had two knee surgeries. I think the insurance paid for itself. Payout was easy. It is catastrophic insurance, as it should be.

Ultimately, as he got older and our situations in life changed, spending the $30 a month didn't make sense. I'm sure that in the next 5 years we'll have to make some painful decisions that might have been easier if we still had the insurance.

Our thoughts were that when he was a puppy, spending money to fix an injury was a good decision. Now that he's old the decision making process is different and it's not such a clearcut decision...

[haydukelives]

Remember,insurance companies are there to make a profit,not to pay your bills. And they take 30% or more off the top or more. and there is no regulation or appeals.we had it once and it was less than useless. And what is $30/month for 15 years?

[mtngirl79]

I have been looking into pet insurance for Murphy, and it seems like Healthy Paws that liv2ski posted is the best deal.

It seems like one injury, illness or other unexpected doggy thing would make it worth while to have... it costs 25-40 bucks a month depending on where you set the deductible and if you choose 90%, 80% or 70% coverage.

https://www.healthypawspetinsurance....e%20Policy.pdf

[splitinbend]

I have it. After a $1500 overnight stay bill, I have my dog covered.

[KQ]

I had all my show horses insured for major medical and mortality. Def. worth it You think dog and cat vet bills are expensive. Seems like large animal vets charge by the pound!

Our thoughts were that when he was a puppy, spending money to fix an injury was a good decision. Now that he's old the decision making process is different and it's not such a clearcut decision...

With the horse insurance as the beast got older and his career shorter we often would drop portions of the insurance.

[old goat]

here's a link to an article on the subject http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Oli...&view=ZW50aXR5
no personal experience, but from the article seems like VPI might be one of the better ones.

[mtngirl79]

I had all my show horses insured for major medical and mortality. Def. worth it You think dog and cat vet bills are expensive. Seems like large animal vets charge by the pound!



With the horse insurance as the beast got older and his career shorter we often would drop portions of the insurance.

In some cases horse bills are worse, but the last time I had horses (2010, I think the went off to a new home) I had two vets, one for serious stuff that was in Yakima and expensive, and then this local younger female vet that just worked out of her truck. She was just out of vet school, but super good and I really liked her but she didn't have a clinic or very much good equipment, yet. Her farm call was 40 bucks.

She stitched up a leg for me once for 150 bucks. A friends dog got less stitches for 600 bucks in Seattle. She would come out and do teeth and vaccines in the spring and I don't think it was more than 125 per horse, The yakima vet you wouldn't be getting out of there for under 400 for just one horse, and that was taking them into to the clinic. The local vet was also really cool with just giving me drugs without being a PITA and demanding an appointment when it was obvious what was up.... LOL she was also going to teach me how to inseminate my mare, kinda funny story, and she did teach me to give IV injections.

Seems like small animal vets are way more uptight about stuff, but then people with horses are usually a different sort when it comes to dealing with stuff.

As for the dog insurance, VPI has a list of what they do and don't cover and how much. Healthy Paws pays what the vet charges, and the VPI list seemed low on some things.

[crackboy]

We used to have petcare insurance for our dog. I think we had the 70% coverage version. He had two knee surgeries. I think the insurance paid for itself. Payout was easy. It is catastrophic insurance, as it should be.

Ultimately, as he got older and our situations in life changed, spending the $30 a month didn't make sense. I'm sure that in the next 5 years we'll have to make some painful decisions that might have been easier if we still had the insurance.

Our thoughts were that when he was a puppy, spending money to fix an injury was a good decision. Now that he's old the decision making process is different and it's not such a clearcut decision...

yea pretty much this. we had insurance for our lady since she was a puppy, she had a few operations and the insurance paid out so it was worth it,

[Hugh Conway]

You were looking for the "guns" thread.

[jackstraw]

Bump.

Looking into this because my puppy is batshit crazy in a playful way and I'm nervous he's going to blow out a knee or worse. Both dogs it's $99 a month thru Healthy paws. That is a lot of money. Upwards of 12k in a their lifetimes or more. Such a gamble. Bank it and hope for the best is where I'm leaning at the moment.

[SumJongGuy]

We did the full coverage for a hound dog and that dog was a medical money pit. Eventually needed both ear drums removed. In the end we recovered about 50% of the vet school bills.

I'd rank pet insurance above that after market car warranty but short of a human health care insurance plan.

[smmokan]

Having recently lost two old labs (one almost 12, one 14) in the last 18 months and incurring lots and lots of expenses as a result of cancer treatment and other issues, we decided to get pet insurance for both of our newly adopted labs. For both combined, it's $85/mo and we do the 90% coverage, $250 deductible plan.... so about $1k a year.

We didn't have pet insurance for either of our last two labs mentioned above, and I bet we EASILY spent $20k in treatments between CCL surgery, internal issues, and cancer treatments... and that's not counting all of the smaller issues that come up. So yeah, I get that it all "depends", but we're going the safe route this time.

And in case anyone wants a referral link, here you go: https://refer.healthypawspetinsurance.com/MokanS

[jerlane]

Bumping this up again. Our eight year old lab may have a partial ACL tear. He gets pretty gimping if he runs too much. Usually bounces back the next day. We might consider surgery if it would allow him to continue to run freely. With that in mind, it would sure be nice to have help with the bills. I’m not sure how it works signing him up and trying to work around preexisting conditions. I did mention it to his vet at his last checkup. Anyone have any experience with this. Hutash, do you know how this works?

[Cono Este]

I doubt you can get coverage without at least a waiting period. And even if so, there is a cap. Read it carefully and you’ll probably see there it’s not worth it.

I know a guy who runs and trains search and rescue dogs and he had to raise hell to get reimbursed and no longer buys pet insurance.

[liv2ski]

Bumping this up again. Our eight year old lab may have a partial ACL tear. He gets pretty gimping if he runs too much. Usually bounces back the next day. We might consider surgery if it would allow him to continue to run freely. With that in mind, it would sure be nice to have help with the bills. I’m not sure how it works signing him up and trying to work around preexisting conditions. I did mention it to his vet at his last checkup. Anyone have any experience with this. Hutash, do you know how this works?

My Malamute gets gimpy for a day or two if I take her to the beach, where she runs around like a loon. No idea what the issue is, but since giving her a supplement called Myristin, she doesn't get anywhere close to as gimpy as without it. I buy it on Amazon.

[hutash]

Most plans exclude preexisting conditions, so having a gimpy dog when you buy it will likely not be covered. If you mentioned the gimp and your vet didn't find anything, and it's not in the medical record, you could get away with it. If the record says limping right rear leg, even if the vet didn't find anything, and then pup blows his right knee, they will likely not pay the claim.

In 30 plus years I have never had to directly deal with an insurance company. The majority of the time I just fill out a form with the diagnosis, treatment and cost. About one in ten times I get a request for a copy of the medical record. I dont di any billing for insurance...client pays me my usual fee, and they deal with insurance for reimbursement.

Not a huge fan of insurance, but am seeing it more and more. Word for a few vets who deal with it more is Trupanion is a good company.

[Rock Knocker]

I looked into insurance when our corgi boy was 7, did the math and thought that the $45/mo payments didn't make financial sence. Four years later he needed an laminectomy and I ponied up $10K out of pocket.

So it would have made sence, but back then I didn't think I would ever spend that kind of money on a dog (or be in a postion to either). It was the best investment I ever made and I never for a second have second thoughts.

[dan_pdx]

Our mutt has been insured by Healthy Paws since we got him, I think our premium is around $40 / month. They are by the book on pre-existing conditions, and you can be assured that anything excluded in your contract won't be paid out. The one that was relevant for us was any ACL injury before coverage counts as pre-existing ACL problems on _both_ sides. E.g., if your dog had a left leg ACL tear before it was covered, a subsequent right leg ACL tear is not covered.

However, they have been great and smooth to work with on all our claims, and pay recognized claims promptly. Our dog (pound mutt) has had some health surprises and we are probably coming out ahead on our policy. I would use them again for our next dog.

My sister just pays $40 / month per dog into a separate savings account which she uses to cover vet bills, you might think about that if you don't like the idea of playing the odds with pet insurance.