Good pet health insurance?

danteshuman

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I’m just found out my 17 month old cat has tartar developing and slightly swollen gums. So I’m buying him dental wipes to try out. Still if in 5-13 years he needs tooth extraction I would like to be able to afford it. So my next goal for him is to get him some pet insurance in the next year. Will my vet accept any insurance? Or do I need to choose vet approved insurance? If I can choose what one would you recommend? I’m in CA, USA if it matters. Or is pet insurance just a waste of money?
 

Willowy

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Since he already has some dental issues, they may not cover it, as it would be a preexisting condition.

Pet insurance has nothing to do with the vet (unless it's through their company); you pay the vet, and the insurance company reimburses you. It's not like human insurance. So you do need to have a credit card with some room left, or some cash reserves, enough to get by until they send reimbursement.

As to whether it's worth it, that's the big question for any insurance, isn't it? But it can certainly give peace of mind if nothing else.

I have Healthy Paws insurance for my dogs. I haven't filed a claim yet but they seem nice at least.
 

reba

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I have Embrace, but as Willowy said, you have to get it well before anything goes wrong. If that diagnosis is now in his medical records it’s going to be pre-existing.

That said, 17 months with tartar? Did they give you an actual diagnosis or are they just telling you he needs his teeth cleaned. If it’s the latter, I would definitely get another opinion because that strikes me as absurd.

I’ve written about Embrace and Pet insurance several times on here. If you search for it you can probably find the posts. They’ve been great - they pay quickly and with no hassle. My premiums for cat under 5 years old, were about $13-$15 with a $1,000 deductible.
 

Tik cat's mum

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My insurance doesn't cover dental and is not through my vet. I have found that even if you go with the recommended unless it's a big bill you pay then claim it back. My vet claims directly for anything over 800 pounds if you go with who they suggest. I have never claimed so I can't recommend but before you decide check out the reviews online. And talk to your vet.
 

jen

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ASPCA has decent insurance from what I have looked into. We used to have comparison charts at work.

I feel like a mention of tartar at 17 months wouldn't be considered a pre-existing condition. That is pretty normal, esp if not brushing their teeth. If the cat was older and they mentioned gingivitis and infection and extractions, that would be pre-existing.
 

jen

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Also check if your vet recommends an insurance company. They are 3rd party though so you can go to any vet since you pay the bill upfront and insurance reimburses. Also carecredit.com can be a good resource to help pay for the bigger bills and to tide you over for the insurance to reimburse.
 

drelocks

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We have Nationwide whole pet with wellness. Monthly cost is what some may think expensive. When we had 2 cats was $32 a month for each cat, $250 deductible.

But when Cashew got sick it saved us. Yes we had to pay up front, but after meeting deductible they paid us 90% of almost everything. We spent almost $8000 trying to save Cashew and could not have done it without the insurance.

Now Walnut has issues so again, insurance worth every penny.

Now our cats are rare. Very young cats with big health issues, but I'll never be without the peace of mind insurance gives ever again.
 

cataholic07

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I have trupanion and I love it. I got it for my first cat when she was 10 years old. It doesn't cover dental cleaning, but it does cover dental removal which can be insanely expensive (some places as high as $4,000). They do direct billing, cover illnesses lifelong not yearly like other insurances and I've rarely had any issues with them. The only issue I have had is when they upped my first cat's monthly $20 which was insane.. but then again she would have cost me over $23,000 the last 4 years of her life soo, in reality, I saved money. Sometimes dental issues can be genetics, my one-year-old cat Fynn has gingivitis.. but FeLV and FIV cats have dental issues to.

I would honestly recommend doing dental cleaning every 2-3 years. Dental disease can cause a ton of health issues and it makes them miserable. If you do a dental cleaning it will help prevent having to pull teeth which is where it gets stupid high at some places.
 

fionasmom

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I have ASPCA for Jamie and have been happy with them. So far they have paid exactly what they should according to the plan which I selected. I insured Jamie as a tiny foundling as I was right in the middle of the melanoma/ amputation/immunotherapy for my GSD and it was a financial disaster. The irony is that I had contacted one of the pet insurance companies about the dog and they wanted a premium of $100 a month excluding everything that he already had and I thought that was preposterous; however, I still would have saved thousands if I had insured even at that rate.

I would never have a pet again, meaning a newcomer, who did not have insurance. Insuring an older animal can be done, but it will be higher and anything documented by the vet will be excluded. Even now, I am considering insuring an 11 year old cat who has been healthy so far...I think that they wanted about $400 a year in premiums which is like one vet visit around here.

Only point to consider is to make sure that you get the policy you want and/or to verify with the company what happens if you change any portion of the policy, such as wanting a higher deductible. In most cases that creates a new policy and make everything that happened before that time preexisting.
 

emmily1987

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We have Nationwide whole pet with wellness. Monthly cost is what some may think expensive. When we had 2 cats was $32 a month for each cat, $250 deductible.

But when Cashew got sick it saved us. Yes we had to pay up front, but after meeting deductible they paid us 90% of almost everything. We spent almost $8000 trying to save Cashew and could not have done it without the insurance.

Now Walnut has issues so again, insurance worth every penny.

Now our cats are rare. Very young cats with big health issues, but I'll never be without the peace of mind insurance gives ever again.
Hi! I have a question for you if you don’t mind, you said you spent $8,000 on cashew, so did you have to pay it up front and they reimbursed you? Or that’s what it cost you with insurance? Or that was the total bill and you got reimbursed part of it?

I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s worth it. Our kitty had knee surgery last year, luxating patella suspected due to injury ( he was about 1.5-2years old, we adopted him only a few months prior 😬), cost us about $4000 in total by the end. We did not have pet insurance and now I’m starting to wonder if maybe we should get it because it could help if something like that happens again but I’ve seen a lot of stuff saying it’s a scam because there’s so many caveats and things it won’t cover or that you only see the value if it’s a big emergency and my husband thinks we don’t need it since he apparently already had his “once in a lifetime fluke extravaganza” but I don’t know because he’s still so young more could go wrong and...
My this got really long. Anyway, if it’s not too much prying, how did the insurance actually work when you encountered the $8000k vet bill.

Thank you in advance for your time! And no worries if the question is too invasive and you don’t want to answer.
 

fionasmom

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I just insured my two new babies, Alice and Elise, with ASPCA as well. Sticking to what I said about any young newcomer having a policy.

I am not telling you to go with ASPCA. My coverage is $250 deductible, $5000 limit per year, 90% reimbursement. They have paid exactly what the policy states. Just make sure you ask any company if changing the policy later will change the conditions of insurance and listen very carefully. In most cases, if the change is in your favor, it creates a new policy which means that any condition already treated is now preexisting.
 

drelocks

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Hi! I have a question for you if you don’t mind, you said you spent $8,000 on cashew, so did you have to pay it up front and they reimbursed you? Or that’s what it cost you with insurance? Or that was the total bill and you got reimbursed part of it?

I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s worth it. Our kitty had knee surgery last year, luxating patella suspected due to injury ( he was about 1.5-2years old, we adopted him only a few months prior 😬), cost us about $4000 in total by the end. We did not have pet insurance and now I’m starting to wonder if maybe we should get it because it could help if something like that happens again but I’ve seen a lot of stuff saying it’s a scam because there’s so many caveats and things it won’t cover or that you only see the value if it’s a big emergency and my husband thinks we don’t need it since he apparently already had his “once in a lifetime fluke extravaganza” but I don’t know because he’s still so young more could go wrong and...
My this got really long. Anyway, if it’s not too much prying, how did the insurance actually work when you encountered the $8000k vet bill.

Thank you in advance for your time! And no worries if the question is too invasive and you don’t want to answer.
It was $8000 total of months of care/treatments. We do pay up front and turn in claim and they pay back 90% of everything they cover, which was a lot on our plan.

You have to be careful of preexisting conditions, those won't be covered. We got the insurance for them as soon as we got them.

I get the once in a lifetime thing, but then 2 months later his brother Walnut had pancreatitis, then constipation, then not eating and liver failure!!! All this before age of 5 for both! It's still helps with Walnuts monthly blood work and meds.
 

emmily1987

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It was $8000 total of months of care/treatments. We do pay up front and turn in claim and they pay back 90% of everything they cover, which was a lot on our plan.

You have to be careful of preexisting conditions, those won't be covered. We got the insurance for them as soon as we got them.

I get the once in a lifetime thing, but then 2 months later his brother Walnut had pancreatitis, then constipation, then not eating and liver failure!!! All this before age of 5 for both! It's still helps with Walnuts monthly blood work and meds.
Yea see i wish we had insurance from the start because they won’t pay for his other knee if he needs surgery down the line which is worrisome, but if he gets cancer or something it will help so 🤦🏻‍♀️I don’t know.

Oveshare alert- I suffer from pretty severe anxiety that’s gotten worse recently. Ever since he had to have surgery and the grueling recovery (tons of complication) I have so much anxiety all the time around him. I thought maybe if I could get the pet insurance it might help ease the financial side.

I knew pets could be expensive-we had a Golden when I was growing up that had cancer treatments that were $4,000 over two year, but I wasn’t expecting $4,000 after a few months. I had looked into insurance for him when we got him but had a little trouble because he was an adult cat, we didn’t know but thought he was around 1-1.5 years but didn’t have a lot of history on him. I was still researching when he started limping. 🤷‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway- getting him has actually made my anxiety so much worse because I love him and so I’m scared all the time somethings wrong.
 
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danteshuman

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I like the ASCPA kind of plans but I dislike the ASCPA (euthanizing healthy animals & those guilt ridden annoying commercials!!! They forever ruined that ‘in the arms of the angels’ song! Not that it was my favorite but still. 😑

So I will keep looking. My mom suggested I just open a savings account for him and put 25-50$ in it every month. Crazy amounts of vet care is not in my budget.
 

reba

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It's stressful enough even with the insurance. We don't buy car insurance hoping we get our money back because someone totals the car. Same with fire insurance for our homes. Damn! The house didn't burn down and now I've wasted all this money on premiums.

What you're paying for with pet insurance is guaranteeing the most you'll have to pay out for for a serious illness or accident.
What you're paying for is being able to stand in the emergency clinic and make a decision solely on what's best for your pet and not how much it costs.

The hard part for some is having to pay upfront front for some people. I get reimbursed within two weeks with Embrace.

As far as the savings account, that usually doesn't work. Something else comes up or it's too hard to save $5,000 to $10,000 grand and too tempting to spend it if you do.

My advice is to get the insurance early and get a credit card you don't use. If you can't do the latter, then get the insurance and sometimes the vet will work with you to verify the insurance and have them pay the claim directly to them. I think Embrace even has a list now of vets who've signed up for this arrangement. I do know that now the vets will submit all the claim forms directly for you.

That's my two cents (actually over $10K in reimbursements so far) for what it's worth.
 

CFD-JTZ

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Has anyone ever used PAWP? They provide an emergency fund up to $3000/year for emergencies even if its related to a pre-existing condition. $19/mo membership and covers up to 6 pets. I'm thinking about signing up. My 14 year old just had a stroke :( We found he has high blood pressure and hyperthyroidism and have to get those back to normal levels before testing for kidney disease, cancer, etc.
 

reba

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I don't know, but I'm very skeptical that almost nothing gets classified as 'emergency' and your on the hook for the bill. Don't you think any regular pet insurance would cover 6 pets for $19.00 a month if they could?
 

CFD-JTZ

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Its doesn't seem to be an insurance company though. I think it could be a good thing to have in combination with pet health insurance. Although I was drawn to it because of the opportunity to get financial assistance for what all the insurance companies wouldn't cover because of his now pre-existing condition.
 

CFD-JTZ

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Also I have 6 cats so having insurance on all of them would be outrageous $$$
 
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