Pet Insurance - What to Expect Over Time

[reba]

I hope this is the right forum for this, my apologies to the mods if not. I just wanted to give people a real life example of the costs of insurance over a decade and what happens to the premiums.

My Insurer: Embrace
First Policy Purchased: 2013 For 3 Orphaned Kittens at 3 months.
Premiums 1st Year: Around $10/Month Per Cat
Deductible: $1,000
Reimbursement % - 90%
Coverage: $15,000 Max, Drug Coverage, Accident and Illness, Including Diagnostic Visits, NO Wellness Coverage
Discounts: Multi-Pet and the deductible drops by $50 per year if you have no claims for that pet.

Here's how my premiums have increased: Note: Male cats more than females because of the problems with crystals and blocking in male cats. So to give you an example, one of the male kittens is now ten years old and his premium is now $34 a month. However his deductible is down to $600 because I haven't filed a claim for him in 8 years. The female kitten's premium is now $26 a month at 10 years old. Unfortunately I lost the remaining kitten. He had a number of health problems, including blocking and severe IBD. His vet bills probably totaled $15-$20K before he passed.

I added a stray I took in last year who was 2-3 years old - Premium $15/month
Stray I just took in this year 1 year Old - Premium $12 Per Month

I also get a multi-pet discount of about $10 per month.

So my premium for 4 cats with the discount is $90 a month. This limits my maximum annual financial risk to $1,000 per cat + 10% of the bill.

Unfortunately, the insurance has paid off fabulously for me. I'd be much happier if I never collected a dime on it. Keep in mind that what you are paying for is a service that limits your financial risk with respect to vet bills. If you never filed claim, you still got what you paid for.

Personally I'd rather shell out $30 bucks a month then try and predict what I should save for catastrophic vet bills. My cat blocked twice two months apart and incurred $2,000 for each e-hospital visit. Then the there was a third time. Then the month after that there was PU surgery at a cost of $7,000. I never knew what these things might have cost and I didn't have to. All I know if the treatment cost exceeds $1,000 it's not my problem other than the 10%.

Anyway, that's my rant/rave about pet insurance. If you an afford it (and I understand many people can't) the benefits far outweigh the cost of the premiums.

 

[Furballsmom]

Thank you for this information, it's quite helpful especially this sort of thing, to look for;

the deductible drops by $50 per year if you have no claims for that pet.

 

[Furballsmom]

Sorry for the double post;
So, the deductible and this (the max amount) is for all the cats combined, or is it for each cat, ie you have $1000 deductible for one kitten who has a few things at the vet that they cover, and if you have something going on with the second cat at the vet that the insurance covers, that deductible is $1000 again?

Coverage: $15,000 Max,

 

[reba]

The policy is for each individual cat and only bills for that cat apply to the deductible.

You are correct, the max is really $4,000, but for that to happen every cat would have to have serious health problems at once. And even then, I can shoulder $4,000 if I have to and the risk of that happening is extremely low.

 

[Furballsmom]

Awesome, thanks very much

 

[reba]

Also: they will go over your vet records for any period before the insurance was issued and send you a letter of what won't be covered due to pre-existing conditions. So for example. I called because the vet because my new stary was limping about a month before I got the insurance. That was in the vet notes. So Embrace told me that they wouldn't pay any claims for six months related to the paw. Notice they didn't say forever. Meaning if he hurts it after six months they'll consider that a different injury. Actually shot myself in the foot there because the limping went away almost immediately.
.

 

[fionasmom]

My experiences with insurance are extremely similar and I agree that it is completely necessary to have it because it will allow for you to comfortably treat any cat who becomes ill.

Glad that you mentioned that some so-called pre-existing conditions may not be pre-existing forever. It is often only the major incurable conditions which will remain pre-existing.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Finding an ethical and caring veterinarian is the hard part these days.
One veterinarian technician told me when pet insurance is involved the bill is often higher and unnecessary tests are done more routinely — for obvious reasons.
I hope some day pet owners can do common medical treatments at home.

 

[lrosewiles]

I hope this is the right forum for this, my apologies to the mods if not. I just wanted to give people a real life example of the costs of insurance over a decade and what happens to the premiums.

My Insurer: Embrace
First Policy Purchased: 2013 For 3 Orphaned Kittens at 3 months.
Premiums 1st Year: Around $10/Month Per Cat
Deductible: $1,000
Reimbursement % - 90%
Coverage: $15,000 Max, Drug Coverage, Accident and Illness, Including Diagnostic Visits, NO Wellness Coverage
Discounts: Multi-Pet and the deductible drops by $50 per year if you have no claims for that pet.

Here's how my premiums have increased: Note: Male cats more than females because of the problems with crystals and blocking in male cats. So to give you an example, one of the male kittens is now ten years old and his premium is now $34 a month. However his deductible is down to $600 because I haven't filed a claim for him in 8 years. The female kitten's premium is now $26 a month at 10 years old. Unfortunately I lost the remaining kitten. He had a number of health problems, including blocking and severe IBD. His vet bills probably totaled $15-$20K before he passed.

I added a stray I took in last year who was 2-3 years old - Premium $15/month
Stray I just took in this year 1 year Old - Premium $12 Per Month

I also get a multi-pet discount of about $10 per month.

So my premium for 4 cats with the discount is $90 a month. This limits my maximum annual financial risk to $1,000 per cat + 10% of the bill.

Unfortunately, the insurance has paid off fabulously for me. I'd be much happier if I never collected a dime on it. Keep in mind that what you are paying for is a service that limits your financial risk with respect to vet bills. If you never filed claim, you still got what you paid for.

Personally I'd rather shell out $30 bucks a month then try and predict what I should save for catastrophic vet bills. My cat blocked twice two months apart and incurred $2,000 for each e-hospital visit. Then the there was a third time. Then the month after that there was PU surgery at a cost of $7,000. I never knew what these things might have cost and I didn't have to. All I know if the treatment cost exceeds $1,000 it's not my problem other than the 10%.

Anyway, that's my rant/rave about pet insurance. If you an afford it (and I understand many people can't) the benefits far outweigh the cost of the premiums.

 

[lrosewiles]

I agree with the previous posts. When you have a young healthy cat it seems the premiums are a waste of money-especially as mine increased to almost $30 a month each for four cats even with a small multi cat discount .But my oldest cat, a feral rescue and mother of two of my other cats, had the dreaded saddle thrombosis three years ago. She survived and recovered from that and another episode a year ago.Finally she had another attack over Easter and we made the difficult decision to have her euthanized, I just couldn't put her through that again. But pet insurance paid 80% of all her (very expensive) vet and cardio specialist bills and her meds after an initial $400 deductible,which was only once as it was a "chronic condition". This paid for all of her (10 years plus) premiums and more toward our other cats insurance. Between my vet's care of her and pet insurance that allowed me to afford the bills we had 3 additional years with our beloved Patience.So without touting for pet insurance companies, I'd say think long term for when your cats get older. And RIP my lovely Patience girl,she fought so very hard to live and gave us so much joy. We miss our "miracle girl".