Your Pet Insurance Guide

Pet Insurance Guide Podcast - Episode 10

In this episode, I interview Dr. Barry Kipperman, a board certified internist and founder of VetCare - a veterinary emergency and specialty hospital located in Dublin, California. Dr. Kipperman wrote an article for DVM magazine explaining why he believes veterinarians have a role in helping prepare their clients for the potential costs should their pet ever face a serious accident or illness.

We discuss:

• The desparity between what pet owners expect the costs of diagnosing and treating their seriously injured or ill pet will be and the actual costs involved in delivering the quality of care they expect and want for their pets. This is especially true when their pet needs emergency care or the expertise of a specialist.

• Average costs of various services that pet owners pay when visiting his emergency/specialty hospital.

• Options that pet owners have when it comes to paying for treating their seriously ill pets.

• Some ways that veterinarians and their staffs might broach the subject of the costs of their pet's healthcare with their clients.

• Why he is a proponent of pet insurance for pet owners and why relying on only a savings account to pay the bill for a seriously injured or ill pet isn't a realistic option for most pet owners especially during a recession.

• The usual response of pet owners who have pet insurance to his recommendations for the treatment and care of their pets.

• The changes he'd like to see from a specialist's perspective in the pet insurance industry today.

• Why he believes that referral to emergency/specialty 24 hours hospitals will continue to increase in the future and the costs of providing care to pets will also continue to rise.

• Why he feels so strongly that the affordability of veterinary care is important not only for pet owners, but is a premier issue facing the veterinary profession today. 

 

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Links to things mentioned in this episode:

VetCare

CareCredit

Pet Insurance Toolkit

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You can look at some claim examples that will help make you aware of potential costs when treating seriously injured or ill pets.

 

Pet Insurance For Adopted Rescue Pets

Today’s article is a guest post by Donna Baker, the Education and Community Awareness Manager for the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue (DVGRR). She is a subscriber to my blog and has adopted several older Golden Retrievers who were surrendered to their organization. She shares why she ultimately decided to purchase pet insurance and why she enthusiastically recommends pet insurance to all the new owners of pets adopted from DVGRR.

With the continued economic downturn, DVGRR (like many other rescue groups) has seen an increase in dogs surrendered because they developed an expensive medical problem that their original families couldn’t afford to treat. It’s heartbreaking to see a family give up a beloved pet due to financial constraints.

Pet Insurance Guide Podcast - Episode 9

This episode is Part 2 of the conversation with Laura Bennett, the CoFounder and CEO of Embrace Pet Insurance Company. I encourage you to also listen to Part 1 of our conversation. In this episode, we talk about:

• Details of Embrace's accident and illness policy.

• Embrace's Wellness Rewards program.

• Embrace's Dental Rewards program.

• How Embrace's medical history review can give pet parents peace of mind when it comes to a claim being rejected because of a pre-existing condition.

• Embrace's precertification program.

• Whether the model of paying according to the veterinary invoice vs. what is considered usual and customary or according to a benefit schedule is sustainable or not.

• What options are available to pet parents who find they can no longer afford their policy because of premium increases.

• Advice to pet owners who say they looked into getting pet insurance several years ago and decided it just wasn't worth it.

• The future of pet insurance.

• Tidbits from the North American Pet Health Insurance Association's recent annual meeting and what means for both pet parents and veterinarians.

 

Click the Streampad player below to listen to the podcast on this page.

 

Right click to download episode

 

Other things mentioned in the podcast:

Embrace Pet Insurance Company

Getting a Quote From Embrace Video

Pet Insurance Toolkit

PetPlan Pet Insurance Company

North American Pet Health Insurance Association 

Subscribe to podcast via iTunes

The Pet Insurance Guide Podcast - Episode 8 (Part 1)

In this episode, I interview Laura Bennett, the CEO of Embrace Pet Insurance Company. We talk about:

• Who should buy pet insurance.

• How she became interested in pet insurance and decided to launch Embrace.

• Why pet insurance has been more popular in the United Kingdom than in the United States.

• Major brands that may start offering pet insurance in the United States.

• Her role as the first pet insurance actuary in the United States and how pet insurance companies use actuarial data to design policies and set premiums.

 

 

Click the Streampad player below to listen to the podcast on this page.

 

Right click to download episode

 

Mentioned in this podcast:

Embrace Pet Insurance Company

Getting a Quote From Embrace Video

Pet Insurance Toolkit

PetPlan Pet Insurance Company

Subscribe to podcast via iTunes