That’s the money you could be saving if you had pet insurance. I must admit that I have a new perspective on human health insurance after watching Michael Moore’s Sicko last night. I’m still glad I have insurance, although I hope I never really need it. The comparison between human and pet health insurance ends right around there because pet insurance is NOT health insurance. It’s property insurance. That’s not an easy concept to wrap your head around if you, like most of my clients, treat your pets like children. But just like a service contract on your plasma TV or automobile can save you from a huge repair bill, pet insurance can do the same for veterinary bills. In these tough economic times, pet owners are constantly looking for ways they can save on veterinary care. This is especially true here on Long Island, where even a “routine” trip to the vet can easily cost hundreds of dollars. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would help you out?
That’s where pet insurance comes in. Sure you still need to pay for veterinary services up front, but with many popular insurance plans, you will get reimbursed 80% of the total invoice once your claim has been processed and approved (after any applicable deductibles). This allows you to concentrate on making medical decisions for your little friends based on your doctor’s recommendations, rather than worrying how to pay for the best care.
Veterinary insurance is much more popular in the UK than it is in the US. That’s because American dog and cat owners have grown a distaste for pet insurance based on the practices of one leading insurance provider. This company bases their reimbursements on an outdated benefit schedule and a limited number of diagnostic codes, rather than your real-life bill for actual services rendered. For example, this company proudly displays on their website that their total reimbursement for “Lola’s” cruciate ligament surgery would have been $1241.55. That’s not bad if you live in rural NJ -but on Long Island, this surgery can cost anywhere from $2500 to $5000, depending on the technique used and the size of the dog.
Aside from premiums and coverage limits, there are other big differences between the available insurance policies out there. You’ll definitely want to do some comparison shopping before signing up for a plan. In particular, look for differences in coverage for wellness care (vaccinations, heartworm testing, dental cleanings, etc.), congenital conditions (including hip dysplasia), and chronic conditions (e.g., thyroid disease and arthritis). For many pet owners, only minimal coverage makes sense -i.e., coverage limited to illness and accidents. For a few pet owners, insurance doesn’t make sense at all. Only you can decide.
A good resource to check out is www.petinsurancereview.com, an independent website that stores a database of testimonials about all the insurance companies available in the US.
September 16th, 2009 - 4:51 pm
Very good information for those who haven’t done research on pet insurance yet! I actually went onto that website and I found it very beneficial when I was researching the best pet insurance for my boxer. It was nice to read reviews of other pet owners and their experience with companies. I eventually went with Trupanion Pet Insurance for my boxer because even though they are a newer compared to other companies, I was able to pick my own deductible and their policy mirrored what I wanted. So far, no complaints!
September 17th, 2009 - 9:40 pm
Sorry, couldn’t really disagree more on the topic of pet insurance. :)
So, shouldn’t there be a great big huge link on http://levittownvet.com/index.html for this blog?
September 18th, 2009 - 11:01 am
@PJ: You’re welcome to voice your opinion on insurance here. Please share.
No link back here from the main hospital page mainly for seo reasons. But this site is easy to find, no?
September 18th, 2009 - 4:28 pm
The number 1 thing to remember about insurance is that the insurance company needs to make a profit. One can either be self-controlled and put the money aside for emergencies or pay more over the long haul to cover that profit margin. Yes, one might suffer a catastrophic expense and benefit, that merely means that everyone else has to pay even more to cover someone else’s catastrophe because that insurance company isn’t going to operate at a loss, not for long anyway.
Pet insurance is mostly a form of payment plan, up front or in arrears, and at an extraordinary usury rate at that. We in the US have been sold and bought (hook, line, and sinker) that we can finance everything and somehow come out ahead. That simply isn’t true for the average person who is ALWAYS going to pay more in interest (not even getting to late charges and all the rest that may get tacked on) than they get paid. The only way to get ahead is to scrimp and pay as you go while saving and EARNING interest (or investing, preferably somewhere other than Wall Street) instead of paying it out.
But it all comes back to the fact that the insurance company has to make a profit margin so it is impossible, on average, to save by purchasing pet insurance.
And to add insult to injury, you encourage making the best medical decision. Now we all know that means it’s going to be more expensive than if we have to reach into our own pockets. So, we’re going to make less conservative decisions than we might if we’re paying and there are no brakes on the system. Then premiums HAVE to go up. Then it’s the “I’m paying for it and it keeps going up so I better use as much as I can” and the cycle is off and running just like the human health insurance industry. We’ll be paying twice the premiums paid as in the UK and getting far less than they. That is at least until we make some far more fundamental changes around here.
It works in the UK because underlying it all is a sense of community that we don’t have, maybe never had but at least haven’t had since WWII. Everybody here has to get their share and those harmed in the scramble, well that’s just tough.
(PS: It wasn’t as easy to find as I thought it would be but then google would have done the job faster than altavista which takes a while to pick up new sites.)
September 19th, 2009 - 5:15 pm
i think i had a sentence or two about insurance companies needing to make a profit in my first draft of this blog… so yes, i agree with that 100% insurance companies are all for-profit companies. and i also agree that you can’t get something for nothing.
it’s a gamble: if i pay an extra $1000 for an extended warranty on my new car, i’m betting that i would have spent at least $1000 on repairs during that extended warranty period (after the original warranty expires but before the extended warranty is up). if the car has no problems, then i’m out $1000. if i have to replace the transmission and it would have cost $2000, but i get it for “free” with the extended warranty …then i come out ahead. obviously the people in charge of sponsoring the extended warranty have crunched the numbers so they can cover the major repairs for some car owners, but walk away with $1000 from some others. add up the number of people who pay for a warranty but end up not using it, and you have one very happy and wealthy ceo.
it’s the exact same gamble with pet insurance. let’s assume that i find a magical pet insurance company that has no deductible and reimburses 80% of all my vet bills. if i pay $30/month in premiums over the 15 year lifespan of my dog, then i’m betting that i would have spent over $6750 in veterinary bills over the lifetime of the dog. if i never take my dog to the vet, then i’m out $5400 in premiums. if my dog gets otitis this year, and breaks a leg next year and needs cruciate surgery the next …then i’m probably gonna come out ahead. of course, these are made up numbers and all insurance companies have deductibles, limits, exclusions, and increasing premiums each year, and so on and so forth…
so, yes it can come down to a matter of managing your budget and setting aside a rainy day veterinary account. but it can also come down to the comfort level of each individual pet owner as to the amount of coverage they need/want, balanced with what they can normally budget.
September 22nd, 2009 - 7:47 am
i try to be realistic as much as i can. with that in mind, i have a question. is it realistic to expect people to put aside money into a savings account for their pets medical bills? it’s smart, and in the long run a great thing to do, but is it realistic? and even if one would do that, not many would have the discipline to keep it there and ONLY use it for vet bills. we are a society of consumption and we comsume as much as we can. doesn’t make it right, but it is what it is. very few people even save for their own future/retirement these days. i say, do your homework, ask about tricky pre-existing clauses, and get some insurance. ’cause on thing i can guarantee is that eventually something will go wrong.
May 30th, 2010 - 9:31 pm
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