Hi,
I was inspired to do some research on health insurance for our two kittens after reading a recent thread here. I've checked out 24PetWatch (which I currently have), Pets Best, a few others. After digging around, the Trupanion company is looking like the best option. They have a web page where they compare themselves with other major companies (not including 24PetWatch, darn it).
With Trupanion, you must enroll before the cat is a year old, but your premiums won't increase as the cat ages. I like the fact that they have a $20,000 cap on coverage of any kind — a lot of insurers have a cap of $2,500 "per incident" or "per category," such as endocrine or heart issues. That would cover only about 2 years of our teenaged Persian's CRF quarterly blood tests, so those caps are too low, I feel.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience with this company. I like the fact that I can set my deductible. With a $75 deductible, a premium is about $20/month for any age cat. Then they pay 90% of accident or illness bills, less the exam fee, and the deductible. Also, they don't cover routine exams and shots, etc., because they figure you can budget for those — they don't want to raise premiums to include that. It's insurance for "unexpected illnesses."
It sounds good — so what's the catch?
Sometimes I wonder if it makes more sense to just put a sum of money aside in a "cat emergency health account" rather than paying almost $500 a year for emergency insurance on two cats. In 10 years, we'd have $5,000 (plus a little interest) in there, assuming the cats just needed routine care. That would be enough to cover a fair bit of care as they got older and developed issues. On the other hand, cats can get very sick at any age; insurance, ideally, should give us peace of mind that there's coverage for as much care as a cat would ever need.
I'm curious to know your thoughts. These companies have such different programs, coverage, charges, and exclusions, etc., and I'm confused. Thanks!
I was inspired to do some research on health insurance for our two kittens after reading a recent thread here. I've checked out 24PetWatch (which I currently have), Pets Best, a few others. After digging around, the Trupanion company is looking like the best option. They have a web page where they compare themselves with other major companies (not including 24PetWatch, darn it).
With Trupanion, you must enroll before the cat is a year old, but your premiums won't increase as the cat ages. I like the fact that they have a $20,000 cap on coverage of any kind — a lot of insurers have a cap of $2,500 "per incident" or "per category," such as endocrine or heart issues. That would cover only about 2 years of our teenaged Persian's CRF quarterly blood tests, so those caps are too low, I feel.
I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience with this company. I like the fact that I can set my deductible. With a $75 deductible, a premium is about $20/month for any age cat. Then they pay 90% of accident or illness bills, less the exam fee, and the deductible. Also, they don't cover routine exams and shots, etc., because they figure you can budget for those — they don't want to raise premiums to include that. It's insurance for "unexpected illnesses."
It sounds good — so what's the catch?
Sometimes I wonder if it makes more sense to just put a sum of money aside in a "cat emergency health account" rather than paying almost $500 a year for emergency insurance on two cats. In 10 years, we'd have $5,000 (plus a little interest) in there, assuming the cats just needed routine care. That would be enough to cover a fair bit of care as they got older and developed issues. On the other hand, cats can get very sick at any age; insurance, ideally, should give us peace of mind that there's coverage for as much care as a cat would ever need.
I'm curious to know your thoughts. These companies have such different programs, coverage, charges, and exclusions, etc., and I'm confused. Thanks!