Pet Health Insurance...well worth it or another scheme?

Recently, I've gotten a request to write about Pet Health Insurance...friend or foe? Well, I've done my research and here is what I found:

Pet Insurance started in Europe, where about 25% of all pets are insured. Here in the US, less than 1% of family pets are insured.

I think if you do your research, pet insurance can be a great thing to have for your best friend. However, the best time to look into insurance is not when you're IN the vet's office or when your pet is already sick; try to be pro-active and look at it like just another business decision. With all the articles that I've read the general recommendation was to go with VPI Pet Insurance (http://www.petinsurance.com); they've been around for about 20 years and their plans are pretty comprehensive.

Even their most basic plans cover expenses for accidents, illnesses, and routine preventive care, including office visits, lab fees, X-rays, surgeries, diagnostic testing, prescriptions, hospitalization and much more. I calculated with their free quote and for my two pups it would cost about $75/month (for the two of them) and that is with their highest plan, which even covers Urinalysis or ERD (kidney test) (which is great because Brandi gets bladder infections quite easily), dental cleaning and spaying or neutering. All covered with a $50 deductible. It doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, but defines pre-existing conditions as those that happened at least 6 months ago or longer, and can be proven to have been cured with medications. It does have a (shorter) list of things not covered, which I would suggest you check out and maybe even talk over with your vet as to how big of a deal that could be for your specific pet.

I will say this: pet insurance is a business; they are in it to make money. Your primary thing to look for is that they have OTHER concerns as well. I'll never forget when my husband and I were in-between moves; I took Bailey to a "Big Box" Pet store that also had a vet clinic because I hadn’t had time to find "THE” vet. Within 5 minutes into our visit the vet was trying to sell me on insurance, and it was more than just: "Hey, we also offer this service, take this pamphlet home and check it out"; she was literally expecting me to sign up right there and then. Their plan only covered one blood work a year, which works fine IF your dog is only needing a heartworm test. Personally, I would only get insurance to help me plan for the unexpected. I consider heartworm tests as an expected cost; and thus something that I had already agreed to be able to afford when we got our dog. Vaccinations, getting the dog "fixed", immunizations, heartworm meds, etc. - none of these are cheap, but they are something that at least with us we have planned on being able to afford when we decided to get our dog. It is nice though that some plans will even cover these typical items, but there should be more BULK to the plan than the typical ho-hum's of pet care.

Recently, my grandmother's dog, Prissy, has become very sick with Renal Failure (story to follow). She went to this same store (different location) and they told her, after they had diagnosed the dog, to take out their insurance and everything would be easy, affordable, and they could take care of her "baby". Under this distress, my grandmother took out the insurance under what I think she would agree was an emotional situation, not paying close attention to what the plan entailed. She was just concerned with her baby, and the fact that she could more easily afford the monthly payments than the almost $700 bill that she had just racked up; never mind the fact that the vet knowingly had her take out a policy that technically she wasn’t eligible for since it was a pre-existing condition. She, in my mind, was preyed upon; and my grandmother is someone I consider to be very smart. Now, just about a month later, Prissy is back at the vet. Renal Failure, as I'll write about later, is a very long disease, but the health insurance plan that she has taken out only covers the one blood test a year! This is obviously, what I would consider an example of what NOT to sign up for.

I think that if you follow the simple rules listed above you will find yourself pretty happy with the policy you take out. Chances are, if your pet has at least one major medical event in it's life the policy will pay for itself and you'll be relieved that you took it out. But as always, this is just my humble opinion.