Pet Insurance

I realize that there are numerous posts about pet insurance, so the mods can move this if it is better attached to an existing thread. Since there are often questions about pet insurance and whether or not it is worth it, I thought I would add my very recent experience.

When I rescued Jamie as a 4 week old kitten, I was in the middle of a huge medical issue with my GSD....Cushings and melanoma. As I took Orlando out to the Animal Specialty Group in LA I noticed a lot of brochures about pet insurance from many companies. I decided that I would immediately insure Jamie and chose ASPCA.....it seemed almost like guess work and I might even have picked them because they were the first alphabetically as I was so upset about the dog. Jamie's only event was tapeworms, which I sent in to be applied to the deductible; I did not take any wellness coverage. About 2 years later, which was last December 2018 he had a suspicious blood test indicating possible kidney issues and the vet wanted to do an ultrasound. We did proceed and it turned out that he was fine...nothing wrong with the kidneys. The bill was in the $800 range, partly because they had to knock the little prince out to do the ultrasound, plus a couple added expenses with other tests. They applied the $250 deductible and paid the rest to me. My plan has a $5000 per year limit (which I might add would never even start to cover the dog if he were eligible) a $250 deductible and I pay $260 per year premium. Ironically, I did inquire about Orlando the dog. This was right before the melanoma episode and they wanted $100 per month premium because of his age and the Cushings. I thought that was horrendous, but it would have been a huge help given that the melanoma would not have been pre existing at that point. So I think that the bottom line is if pet insurance works for you, it works, and if not, then you don't need to bother with it. I had no trouble with ASPCA, no funny business trying to make something preexisting which was not. I would have to say that ASPCA paid in a timely, but not overly prompt way. I paid the vet upfront for the services.

Thanks for that information. The more we know, the better we are!

I have Healthy Paws for all three of my cats. The only issue that I have had with them is that they don't cover any sort of dental cleanings/work unless the work being done is trauma related (ie, hit by a car or broke a tooth while chewing on something). It's upsetting because you think they would cover periodontal disease since it is, well, a disease. I'm having to pay for the dental out of pocket so I'm pretty bummed.

I have Trupanion and I'm pretty disappointed and frustrated with them so far. All her IBD and dental visits are denied because she had dental extractions and a couple of vomiting visits in their lookback period for preexisting conditions. She was hospitalized for 10 days earlier this year for dental issues but also liver/gallbladder. I'm guessing they'll deny it all saying the liver is just the hat trick of triaditis and point back to those vomiting visits. They have raised my premium and have yet to pay out for anything. The only reason I have kept them this long is for catastrophic expenses--like a 10 day hospital stay. If they deny this, I'm going to be chewing out one of their adjusters before I tell him what they can do with my policy and premium increase.

I can absolutely understand keeping it for something catastrophic which is what I do with my home warranty policy as they are another company that plays fast and loose with the denials. Despite my good experience with ASPCA, I still have my guard up on the whole idea of pet insurance and see dental as one area where it would be quite easy to fight a claim. I only have one other cat who could be eligible for insurance although she is older because she has had absolutely no health issue of any type. The other cats have health issues for which they are being treated and there could be way too many preexisting issues if they started to dig.

I also have healthy paws. I chose the higher deductible option (cheaper) because I'm only using it as somewhat of a lifesaver. I understood wellness including dental will not be covered and that is fine because I can deal with that on my own no problem. I just don't want to be slapped with a $5k bill for a life extending or saving procedure. Now that is hard to swallow and that's where insurance would come into play. I think it is totally fine for my purposes since it will cover me in the event of a big health problem. No limits on benefits either. Personally I feel that this is how pet health insurance should work. People should be saving up and paying for wellness visits, regular dentals and minor illness treatments on their own anyways. If you take your cat for his dental regularly from the beginning then you wont be slapped with a ridiculous dental bill due to extractions.

I completely agree on maintaining dental and wellness as routine for any pet. After the last two financial disasters that were my GSDs, getting teeth cleaned does not seem like a huge expense. And yes, angels mommy , I have always felt that I had to try to help any pet I owned.