Insurance - worth it?

[carolina]

Originally Posted by purrrplej

That is a good idea, to start an emergency fund. I have decided to do that, as well, in addition to possibly getting insurance. Since I would have to pay any big vet bills up-front before getting reimbursed by insurance, anyway. Though my vet says they work with people on payment plans, etc.

I think I am going to try the Purina insurance plan. For under $15/month, they have pretty good coverage - no per-incident max, $20,000 yearly max, no lifetime max, provision for continuing care for chronic illnesses, etc. The reimbursement rate is 80 percent, and the $14.70/month rate is with a $500 deductible. They, of course, have plans for higher premiums with lower deductibles... This is one of the better plans I've found, in terms of cost and coverage.

$500 deductible? This means they will barely cover you for anything, really... Only if your cat has a surgery, or a very serious issue... But ir he/she has something on the 200-300-400s which is very common, you will be out of luck... Quite frankly, I would look elsewhere. I pay that for $100 deductible.

 

[petfindergal]

I sure don't want to rain on anyone's parade--if pet insurance is working for you, super! I just want to play devil's advocate for a minute and let you know (for whatever it's worth) that Consumer Reports doesn't fully recommend Pet Health Insurance. There's a link on my facebook page (Perfectpetfinder.com) to the full article, but basically, it says the pet policies they analyzed (VPI, ASPCA Pet Health Insurance, 24PetWatch QuickCarewere and Trupanion) were not worth the cost for a generally healthy animal. Here's a small excerpt:

"If you're unlucky enough to have a pet with a costly chronic condition or illness, or a young animal in need of major care, we found you could get a positive payout from pet insurance—if your pet develops the condition while covered... While it's impossible to predict your pet's odds of contracting a costly illness, you can take a number of steps to keep him or her healthy and minimize veterinary costs.

1. Save in advance for vet bills. Dog owners spent an average of $225 last year on routine vet visits and $532 on surgical visits; for cats, the averages were $203 and $278, according to the American Pet Products Association. Our preferred alternative to pet insurance is to add a couple hundred dollars each year to an emergency savings fund for pet care.

2. Spay or neuter your pet. Among other advantages, neutered animals are less likely to get into fights. And spaying reduces the risk of breast cancer.

3. Get annual checkups. Make sure vaccinations are kept current.

4. Shop with your eyes open. If you're considering pet insurance, download a sample policy and its terms and conditions from the insurer's website and read them thoroughly for limitations, exceptions, and co-payments. (If the site doesn't include a sample contract, call the company to ask for one.) We prefer coverage with simple, percentage-based payouts, and no reliance on judgments of what's "reasonable." Avoid riders for wellness care. If you plan to use the insurance for catastrophic coverage—say, $1,000 and up—go for the highest deductible you can comfortably afford.

What Bob and I have done, (our cats are still pretty young, though) is put away $20 per cat per paycheck. That's worked well for us. We don't tap into the account for routine checkups, but we do, sometimes, for more the expensive stuff like dental extractions. Hope I've helped, and not made your decision even more confusing!

 

[purrrplej]

Originally Posted by Carolina

$500 deductible? This means they will barely cover you for anything, really... Only if your cat has a surgery, or a very serious issue... But ir he/she has something on the 200-300-400s which is very common, you will be out of luck... Quite frankly, I would look elsewhere. I pay that for $100 deductible.

I think my rates might be high because of where I live or something. Or maybe because of my breed of cat (Siamese). Across the board, the rates I have found for $100 deductibles have been in the $20-25 range, at least. My purpose for insurance is for extremely costly emergencies that might crop up, such as UTIs (the one my cat had a few years ago cost me over $1900), so a $500 deductible is okay with me. Though I might decide to go with a $250 or even a $100 in the end... haven't made my mind up yet. I need to weigh the benefit of a lower monthly premium versus the lower deductible amount, for my needs and my cat's.

 

[kody's mom]

Your quotes do seem high to me--could depend on the age of the cats too. I only have it for the large stuff too--but my vet is expensive so it does seem to go up quickly.

My Kody is a Bengal 5 years old--as I said I have $100.00 deductible per covered illness or injury and then a 20 % copay. I got a discount, not sure if it was 5% or 10% for the microchip and then another 5% or 10% for the online enrollment. The most you can receive are 2 discounts I think. The premium for the Bronze coverage on him is $131.00.

My new, old cat is a DLH, approximately 6-8 years of age and his premium is 109.00--he is microchipped and there is a another discount for a 2nd pet.

Both of these are a yearly premium which is a little cheaper than if I paid monthly or quarterly.

I got Kody insured soon after I adopted him because my Sugar Ray had developed DCM and left us at age 8.5 years. We had taken him into emergency on Christmas Day 2007 and he made his last visit to the vet the day after Easter of 2008. My husband and I had said if there was any chance he could get better we had to try all we could. Since DCM could possibly be caused by a taurine deficiency & cured by Taurine if that was the cause we prayed for 3 months. He had to go in for x-rays ($100.00 a digital x-ray--needed 2 views each time) and bloodwork and to have his chest drained twice more after the initial visit, not to mention 3 to 4 medications. I never added it up, but it was between $2,000-$3,000 minimum. The medications ran about 200.00 a month.

I had someone close to me--not being heartless, just pensive--remind me of all the homeless cats and dogs I could have been helping with all that money, and I knew he had a point, but I could not let Sugar go. Once I realized that he would never get better, I knew I had to give him peace.

Bengals have a high incidence of HCM and digestive problems--I didn't realize this until I started researching them after I brought him home and loved him.

There is much to be said for "Peace of Mind." I don't understand why your premium quote is so much higher than mine--unless there is a big difference in age--location should not make that big of a difference. But then again, there may be some state regulations that we don't know about.

 

[purrrplej]

Your quotes do seem high to me--could depend on the age of the cats too. I only have it for the large stuff too--but my vet is expensive so it does seem to go up quickly.

My cat is only 8, so the cost shouldn't be too drastically different from yours based on age alone. Maybe Siamese cats are especially prone to certain illnesses? I heard they can get at least one disease, in particular, I forget which one...

I got a quote of $14-some with a $250 deductible, from Pets Best, but they don't cover continuing/chronic conditions except within the per-incident maximum of $2500, which doesn't sound like a lot of money to me for a chronic condition. Purina covers chronic conditions with no lifetime/incident maximum (just a yearly max of $20,000), for $18-some with a $250 deductible and $14-some with a $500 deductible. So I prefer Purina so far...

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by Kody's Mom

Your quotes do seem high to me--could depend on the age of the cats too. I only have it for the large stuff too--but my vet is expensive so it does seem to go up quickly.

My cat is only 8, so the cost shouldn't be too drastically different from yours based on age alone. Maybe Siamese cats are especially prone to certain illnesses? I heard they can get at least one disease, in particular, I forget which one...

I got a quote of $14-some with a $250 deductible, from Pets Best, but they don't cover continuing/chronic conditions except within the per-incident maximum of $2500, which doesn't sound like a lot of money to me for a chronic condition. Purina covers chronic conditions with no lifetime/incident maximum (just a yearly max of $20,000), for $18-some with a $250 deductible and $14-some with a $500 deductible. So I prefer Purina so far...

This plan you are talking about from Pets Best has a $100 deductible. The plan with $250 deductible has a coverage of $7,500 per incident and is more than $14/mo. They DO cover continuous/Chronic condition, as long as it is within the $2,500 per incident. When do you really need to worry statistically about this number? IMHO when your cat is a senior, in which case you can get a higher plan, that can go to $10,000 per incident. The vast majority of diseases and emergencies fall into less than $2,500 though, unless you go into senior cats.

 

[missymotus]

Originally Posted by purrrplej

I think my rates might be high because of where I live or something. Or maybe because of my breed of cat (Siamese).

Is he a pedigree cat? If not, he's a pointed domestic - perhaps changing to domestic will lower your rates?

For my situation insurance is not worth it, I do send all my kittens off with 6 weeks free Pet Plan insurance which the owner can either keep up or not. They seem to be an ok company just don't suit my personal needs.

 

[purrrplej]

Originally Posted by Kody's Mom

I have PetPlan insurance -- the Bronze Plan with $100.00 deductible per illness or injury a year and I have the 20% co-pay. I get a discount for microchip and on-line enrollment and I pay the yearly premium all at once which results in a small savings also. It is $130.00 for Kody and I just enrolled my new "old cat" (he is probably about 7 yrs. old--I had fostered him for a rescue group and he was returned after 5 years) last week. I added him on for 109.00 a year (2nd pet discount).

I checked out all the insurance companies and Pet Plan seemed best to me. I have had only good experiences with them. To me it is worth it for my peace of mind.

Hi - thank you again for recommending Pet Plan. I decided to sign up with them, in the end. Was going to go for PurinaCare, but I learned that at my cat's next "birthday" (age 8), the premiums would go waaaay up. I called Pet Plan, my second choice, and they said the increases wouldn't be nearly as dramatic as my cat aged. So I signed up for Pet Plan's gold plan (I wanted the higher per-year maximum, just in case), and I am happy with the choice. The sales/customer service reps I have dealt with have been very friendly and helpful. Hopefully I won't ever have to use the insurance, but in case I do, I hope Pet Plan will be a good option.

 

[carolina]

Congrats! I am glad you did!!