Pet Insurance?

[kval07]

I hope there isn't somewhere else I should put this. Please let me know if I am wrong!

I have an extremely energetic yorkie puppy. I would like to get pet insurance for him. I did my research before I got him, so I know that I could potentially have a lot of money OOP for his care. He has already broken his foot. (My in laws were "watching" him and he jumped off the 11 foot high deck.:shrug7:) I love him so much that I want to be able to get him any care he may need. And he is already showing me that he will require insurance because he is very hyper.

So-does anyone out there have pet insurance for their pet? Any company you recommend? What should I look for when looking for pet insurance? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

[amy s]

check out VPI...if you cannot find it, PM me....

[kval07]

Thanks so much. I'll check it out!

[cbgo]

I have pet insurance for my St. Bernard. I have it with ASPCA pet insurance. They pay out 80% of the average charge for the specific service in your zip code after the deductable. They also will pay directly to your vet. All other pet insurance companies reimburse you after you pay the vet. If the vet will accept the insurance payment, ASPCA will lower your OOP.

I had a previous dog insured through VPI. The pay more like an HMO. They decide what a service should cost and pay you a percentage of that. They also have very strict preexisting condition rules. They will not pay for anything that happens to his foot that was broken ever again.

My dog who was insured through VPI got very ill and eventually died of an autoimmune disease. The total bill was $6,500. VPI paid me $2,500.

My dog insured through ASPCA was allergic to the stitches that she got when she was spayed. It ended up costing $5,000. ASPCA paid $3,700.

My advice is to look very closely at the fine print. VPI has a list available of what it will pay for each procedure. You can take that to your vet and see if it matches up with what they charge.

Also, good for you for looking out for your dog!

[kval07]

Thank you. I checked this out and it looks like a better fit for me than VPI.

[Liz]

Just make sured to check the exclusions of the policy. I thought of purchasing insurance for my Saint Bernard, but went against it. Why? Because all except one company exclude the hereditary defects, which was the main reason I was looking to insure the dog. Hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, entropin, and sometimes even bloat are excluded. Further, in such a breed, the bill can easily exceed the per incident maximum.

For the average dog, it isn't worth it to get pet insurance. Even Suze Orman says the best idea is to "self insure," by putting the money you would be sending to these companies into a separate bank account earmarked for the dog's accidents (or even invest it as you see fit) and withdraw it when something happens.

Even the ASPCA insurance listed above is $80-100 a month, and with its exclusions, I'd only recoup the money if say my dog was hit by a car--and most likely even not then. I have a very sick cat--renal failure and diabetes--and even with the massive vet bills over the last 3 years, I am still clearly coming ahead by self-insuring than had I been paying a pet insurance company.

[kval07]

This is also a good idea. I would need to summon some major will power to do it on my own. :shrug7:

Just make sured to check the exclusions of the policy. I thought of purchasing insurance for my Saint Bernard, but went against it. Why? Because all except one company exclude the hereditary defects, which was the main reason I was looking to insure the dog. Hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, entropin, and sometimes even bloat are excluded. Further, in such a breed, the bill can easily exceed the per incident maximum.

For the average dog, it isn't worth it to get pet insurance. Even Suze Orman says the best idea is to "self insure," by putting the money you would be sending to these companies into a separate bank account earmarked for the dog's accidents (or even invest it as you see fit) and withdraw it when something happens.

Even the ASPCA insurance listed above is $80-100 a month, and with its exclusions, I'd only recoup the money if say my dog was hit by a car--and most likely even not then. I have a very sick cat--renal failure and diabetes--and even with the massive vet bills over the last 3 years, I am still clearly coming ahead by self-insuring than had I been paying a pet insurance company.

[WoodyDU]

I am a physician, so I scrutinized deciding what pet insurance to buy for my fiance and I for our little cockapoo. Trust me, after hours and hours (days actually) I decided to go with PetPlan USA. Check them out at (I think) www.gopetplan.com. I will not start a ten page discussion, but after everything I did - and I did a lot of research into coverages, deductibles, etc - petplan is by far the best. I am sorry, but IMHO VPI is horrible. But trust me, my type A personality would not let me just join any plan. hope this helps

[cultrby]

VPI is horrible!!! I had VPI on my Rottie for 8 years and finally got so mad about how they reimbursed that I just dropped it. I would have to submit claims three and four times in order to get my money. Everytime I needed to have any major surgery on my girl they would find some way to not have to pay for it. Most of the time their excuse was..."oh that is a sickness that is common to that breed and we don't cover breed related diseases". I had to pay out of pocket for eye surgery which cost me $5000.00 and they paid nothing even though I had insured her since she was a baby and they had recieved more than enough in monthly premiums to cover it. I was so mad that I just cancelled it. I highly suggest to stay away from this company.

[mythreeiggys]

I have Pets Best. I did some research on the bigger name companies and they seem to be ripping people off. My friend has VPI and it is horrible. I don't think they have ever been able to recover their monies worth. I have had Pets Best for about a year now and I really haven't been able to use it. Everytime I go to the dr. it is never over $100 and that is what my deductible is! I adpoted by pup and she is older so I feel it is best to keep it.

I would just recommend reading reviews and checking out the policies before hand. If there is any question in your mind about anything, call the insurance company!

We have 5 pups and it is a little expensive to insure all 5 but when I get rid of my car payment this January, I plan on it. About 2 years ago my one pup got really, really sick and it would up costing us about $5000 for surgery and dr. visits! You just never know! We never would have thought in a million years that she would have gotten that sick. She had a bacteria (helocobacter~sp?) in her stomach and the muscle that allows the food to go into her stomach closed up. No one, not even the specialist knew the problem, so that had to do exploratory surgery at the tune of about $3000 and the rest was in tests and dr. visits!