Pet insurance: How much do you pay per year?

Albus

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I'm sure most people here will agree that pet insurance is a good idea. But the premiums I've seen so far (about USD300 for extremely basic coverage; at least USD700 for anything that looks useful) seem high to me.

So, those of you who have taken out insurance for your pets, how much do you pay, and are there any tips on what to watch out for? Any alternatives?
 

lavishsqualor

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daftcat75 daftcat75 would be able to answer this for you. I know having insurance for his beautiful girl Krista helped him a great deal. Hopefully he'll chime in. I'm interested in his take on this.
 

Willowy

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I don't have any cats covered. I have it for 2 of my dogs (1 is too old, the premiums would be too much) and it's about $60 a month for both (80% coverage, $500 deductible). Considering that any kind of emergency care will be at least $1000 I think it's fairly reasonable. Mostly I have it in case of hip/knee problems, because a hip replacement can easily run $6,000+.

The alternative would be to put the money into a savings account instead, but expect that fund to run out pretty quickly if anything goes wrong.
 

daftcat75

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Those premiums are very high.

For a sixteen year old (I had to enroll her before her 13th birthday), I was paying $75/mo for 90% coverage after $1000 deductible with Trupanion. At 13, I think that was closer to $45/mo. It’s reasonable to expect premiums to go up as the animal ages.

Krista had a vague “vomiting” vet visit in her preexisting conditions look back. This was us beginning to get her IBD diagnosed. What she needed Trupanion most for, she was excluded. However, the unexpected does happen. And twice Krista ran up nearly $10,000 in hospital bills unrelated to her IBD. Those two times Trupanion came through at 90% after $1000 deductible. For those two payouts, they paid back all her premiums and then some.
 

fionasmom

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I pay ASPCA $300 per year for Jamie and $270 per year for the two younger new adoptees, Alice and Elise. I have been very happy with how they have paid according to the contract. Having said that, I did not shop around because just as I rescued Jamie, my GSD had a huge medical episode which cost thousands to save his life. I was so upset that I just looked for the first policy that I could find that seemed legit for Jamie.

The catch with the dog is that because he has preexisting conditions and is ancient, they wanted $100 per month for his premium at which I balked. I am still kicking myself for not having enrolled him as it made me a member of the "$10,000 club" as well.

The only caveat I know is that if you change the policy to a plan that is in your favor it will create a new policy, not an amended one, and everything will be preexisting that was already treated.

Pet insurance companies are under the jurisdiction of the state insurance boards.

A friend in PA who recently purchased a champion lab puppy was told by the breeder that Trupanion is the best company.

My first GSD was named Ragnar, oddly enough.
 

cataholic07

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I pay $1300 canadian every year for my 3 for $200 deductibles. I already would have paid $1100 for my one boy who injured his mouth sooo it's been worth it. My first cat would have costed me $23,000 in a span of 4 years (FORL all back teeth removed, pancreatitis, mammary tumor removed, GI lymphoma and hospital stay/ surgical biopsy plus weekly to monthly checks up and medication) so I found pet insurance worth it. To me its like any insurance, you hate paying into it, but super happy you have it when you need it. I couldnt imagine having to euthanize because I couldnt afford the vet bills. I like trupanion in that they cover health issues life long, so anytime my first cat was vomiting or not eating, 90% of it was covered after the deductible was paid.
 
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