Pet Insurance?

[Allison]

I don't know if this is the right place for this question. Does anyone here have pet insurance? If you do, what company have you used? Anyone that you really like or don't like?

As the number of critters we have continues to grow, my husband and I have started to think about the pros and cons of insurance. We rather like the idea of not having to worry so much about money when pets get sick. Thoughts?

[Barb]

I switched from the AKC plan because of price increase. I spent time researching and calling. I ended up with Healthy Paws. I was able to get a good plan and you can set your deductible and percentage, say 80/20 or 70/30. Be very careful about any pre-existing conditions as most pet ins will not cover that. I called and asked a lot of questions. The AKC plan (in fine print) did not cover Cushings, diabetes, etc. unless you had their primo plan. Healthy Paws covers all of that with their basic plan.
I have not had to use it yet but other people that have it are very pleased with them.
As with most pet ins you have to pay up front and then get reimbursed.
Hope this helps.

[Robert]

I'm in Australia so will only offer a general comment - sure it is different in the states the way it works.
I took chelle to the vet on about day 29 of a 30 day waiting period for illness cause of a lump on her head and was also advised she had luxating patella. Had argument re whether luxating patella was an illness - if your knees are popping out you don't go to the doc and say I feel I'll you say my knees are gone. Cancelled policy.
About two months later chelle got bit by snake and thank god survived but it cost me 3000 dollars. Would have cost me 600 with insurance. If had held off going to vet a couple of days pretty much the same finances apply yTo getting luxating patella fixed.
Have insurance again costing about 30 per fortnight and won't be without it again.

[Allison]

Thanks for the advice! My husband's research suggested that Healthy Paws was one of the best, so that is probably who we will go through. He also ran numbers of our past vet expenses and compared it to what insurance would cost. In doing so, we have decided against insuring our senior dog who already has many preexisting conditions. However, we do plan to insure our two young cats.

[mcdavis]

We had insurance, in the UK, for our previous dog and they were the only company that didn't refund any of the premium (would have been 10 months!) when we moved. :(
They were reasonably good at settling claims but the costs rose every year, stuff wasn't covered because it was classed as preventative, etc. so in reality the amount they did cover was actually less than we would have saved had we not paid the premiums.
Once we moved it was impossible to get cover as most companies only accept pets under 8 (or around that age).

When we got Henry I requested some quotes but the amounts were quite frankly ridiculous (and way more than we'd paid for the previous dog's treatments) so we decided to take a risk and not insure.