dog/pet health insurance....

fawkese1

i have been thinking about this for a while now, i'm thinking of looking into some pet insurance. right now, i have credit cards that are my sort of "emergency fund" should one of my pets get sick... but i am considering insurance... so i thought it would be educational to ask you all for your thoughts/experiences. if you could vote in the poll, then maybe jot down your pros and cons or whatever about it that would be swell

thanks

Brittany

I have never had it or looked into it. We have always used our credit cards also. It will be interesting to see what everyone else has to say. Maybe I will look into it.

Mikey

We had it for a month after adopting Mikey.

In the US there are better better coverage options-there are only a few companies here that do it-and NONE cover rabbits (Which would have been nice this past December with Chucks four figure illness).

It is something I'm trying to decide on and really really necessary. Then you never have to say 'I don't have the money' and emergency vet bills can be HUGE. Many even cover yearly physicals and dental work and spay/neuter-but you pay out the nose for those options. I was reseraching them all to find a balance between good coverage, workable premiums and low deductables and havne't found it yet.

But my US friends on the bunny forum-well let me tell you they have had their lives saved with it. A simple GI episode (not common but not uncommon in rabbits) can run several thousands of dollars-and some bunnies are prone to them needing threatment 3-4 times a year. And rabbit dental is insanely expensive-and they often have teeth problems, abscesses etc.

So although we're not there yet-I'd recommend it

fawkese1

thanks for your responses so far guys

i am worried about the balance of paying the premium and getting my $$$ worth in coverage... i mean, i am even reluctant to have my own human insurance (my coverage SUCKS!) for the same reason, if i pay $100 per month (1 dog & 1 cat), that is $1200 per year, just for the premium, makes more sense to put that same $$ into some sort of account or something for emergency spending... but if the coverage did some portion of yearly stuff or something along those lines it would be more worthwhile.... at some point in the future i plan on looking into it some more, if i find anything interesting i'll post it here...

Mikey

Totally makes sense to put it into an account except for the off chance you have a 5 figure emergency vet bill lol

There are 'care cards' -so they are credit cards with no or little interest that can only be used at the vet office-with no limit. You could put the money aside to pay the balance and then use the card
CareCredit Veterinary Financing for Pet Care, Pet Surgery, Vaccinations & Other Veterinary Medicine Procedures

(I just personally know, I would not put money aside hahah )

fawkese1

lol... you would think that working at a bank, i would be able to myself, but... nope! lol... still, it is hard to pay that much on the off chance that i do have an emergency... *sigh* with my health insurance, the only good thing about it is that it comes with a special account that puts money aside from each pay check to help offset the cost of deductibles (i even have a deductible on my prescription coverage! ) anyway, i am still researching my options... hopefully in the next month or so i will come up with a good answer, i have thought about the card as well, that may end up being the route i take in the immediate future, then even when i have the other coverage, i can use the card to help offset the total cost... thanks for the link

Mikey

Ouch! WE do have free healthcare here-but prescripts are expensive-I didn't have coverage for a year and my 4$ a month became 85$

No prob. That's kind of where I am at. I know my parents will help if it's huge and if it's just big Dave will pay -but I still have to pay back eventually. That's where the lure of insurance is for me-aside from premiums and deductables-it could work out to a big saving. The card might be a good idea to have anyways-if you don't use it you don't use it you know?

GAH now you have me thinking about this and I'm trying to work on a project lol

fawkese1

lol...sorry, i just have so little money that i need to make every little bit count, so it is a serious consideration for me... the more i think of the card, the better i like that idea as short term piece of mind... that way i won't be spending until i need to spend... then i can take my time figuring out which coverage i really need and hopefully find something that saves money... i'm also bitter at insurance right now cuz mine sucks so much, so i don't want to give them any money.... lol... i'll teach them! okay, maybe not... anyway... thanks again mikey...

Mikey

Seriously insurance does suck. In most provinces our car insurance is gov't run. So if you get in a car accident, no biggie you claim it and it's over with. It's private here-you could literally have your granchildren paying off what your sued (above and beyond your coverage) on a fender bender. It DOES suck. And if you claim anything you pay a deductable and your premiums go up for years. It's absolutely awful.

I wish there were more options for pet insurance here-I think VPI is worth looking into Fawks-I think that's the major name I remember from friends using.

Maybe we all just get care cards, and then minimal insurance policies that only cover emergency bills-because really the rest can be planned for and saved for... I think...

natenqen

I was actually thinking about that. Never heard of insurance for animals before until this year. (boy, I feel like i'm a cave woman you know. tee hee hee) I actually never really needed the emergency money for my dog so I've been lucky, but I'm on borrowed time. (That's usually how it goes right?) So, I was wanting to look into that. I'm checking out the site as we speak.