Why Pet Insurance is Important
When you pick out a pet, you know you need to provide essential needs. You understand that your pet will have many of the same needs that other members of the family do. You look for healthy pet food, keep the water bowl clean, and make a commitment to train, exercise, and play with your new friend. In many ways, your pet becomes a member of your family.
But are you prepared for high medical expenses if your pet is sick or injured? You probably provide health insurance for your spouse and children. But many pet owners are astounded by the price of medical care for pets. Even routine car is expensive, but if your pet needs more critical medical care, the price can run up into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Well meaning pet owners, who have a sick or injured pet, do not always have the money to cover treatment. So an unexpected illness or injury can become a heartbreaking situation that can affect your family for years.
Pet insurance is an affordable way to make sure your pet get the best possible medical care, and it is very easy to obtain an insurance quote online. You make a monthly or annual payment, and know that you will be able to afford routine medical care and major medical services. Pet insurance rates are usually very inexpensive, so this is an affordable way to protect your family and pet from a heartbreaking experience.
A common pet insurance plan will cover any licensed veterinary office in the US. Participating vets may be included, and these vets will offer to process the insurance claims so you only have to pay for the deductible and copay at treatment time. So you can choose any pet medical provider, but may choose to use the participating offices because they make payment easier for you by handling the claims processing. Some pet insurance rates plans may only allow you to use participating vets, or they may give you incentives, like lower copays and deductibles, if you use their network of pet medical providers. So before you purchase a plan, make sure you understand how the coverage works with the veterinarian you choose. It is especially important to understand how your pet insurance works in case of an emergency, because you will not have time to read through your policy when you need to seek treatment right away.
You can find different levels of coverage, depending upon your own pet’s age and breed, and of course, your own budget. Some plans cover routine checkups, up to a specified dollar limit. Then they provide medical treatment for accidents or injuries with a set deductible, and they may also have a maximum coverage limit per incident. For instance, if your dog breaks her leg, you may have to pay a $100 deductible, and then a percentage of the bill for a copay.
Let me give you an example of pet insurance coverage to make it easier to understand. This was a very affordable policy, and it helped reduce the bill by hundreds of dollars. A young dog broke his front femur. The owner needed to pay for an emergency visit, follow up surgery, and a boarding fee while the dog recovered. The whole bill came out to about $2,000. But the $150 boarding fee was covered under the insurance policy. The policy paid 100% of the medical bill with the exception of a $100 deductible. So the owner only needed to write a $100 check, while the insurance company paid a claim for $1900!
No different policies will have different coverage levels, deductibles, and copays, so it is important for you to compare plans. Balance out the coverage with the amount you can afford to pay every month for your policy. Again, it is very simple to compare insurance quotes and plans online.
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September 1st, 2008 at 5:30 pm
The Vet Clinic I work at has been filing quite a bit of pet insurance claim forms. The outcome has been pretty good for both the pet owners, and for the practices.
If this trend continues insurance claim forms may overtake cash transactions.
It should make billing a lot easier.
Good post.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Pet insurance is a very important concept to owning a pet today. But there are more option then a pet insurance company. Happy Tails is a pet insurance alternative that offers extremly low fixed rates for all pets. Even pre-existing conditions are accepted without charging you an arm and a leg. So when you decide to get pet insurance make sure you look at it from all angles. You can visit the Happy Tails website at http://www.happytailsmembership.com
September 9th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!
September 15th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I think it is important to have pet insurance. This way you can be sure your pet will have help when an expensive operation or medication is required. They should have the chance to live the same as you.
Norma
http://www.heavenpeturns.com for great pet cremation urns
September 16th, 2008 at 10:47 am
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October 7th, 2008 at 2:24 am
When pet insurance was first introduced in 1982 it was only for dogs and cats. In the United States today there are over 150 million dogs and cats owned as pets and since there are just a little more than 500,000 pets insured it stands to reason that the market potential for dogs and cats is huge. Horses are also popular animals to insure especially if you race your horse or show it in any competitions or horse shows.
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stella
Guaranteed ROI
October 8th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
There was an article a few days ago about how advances in pet care have made possible lifesaving procedures that before wouldn’t have been possible.
Of course the problem is pet owners (especially now) cannot afford to pay for the procedures causing significantly more guilt then they should endure.
Pet insurance is available as you say, but I’ve yet to find any that are not complete rip offs. You would do better to set aside what the premiums would cost you per month into a seperate savings account and use that money to cover bills.
As part of our emergency fund we have allocated a certain dollar amount that my family has agreed on (i will not mention the amount)to be used for a pet emergency surgery.
It is a good idea to have this discussion with your family before a major medical issue happens with your pet.
My brother in law had a good experience with “care credit” which offers loans for pet care, but going into debt for a pet in these troubled times may not be in the best interest of your family long term.
Just my two cents!