Your Pet Insurance Guide

Is Pet Insurance Worth Purchasing For Your Pet?

Following up on the theme of the last post, I found an article where someone had "crunched" the numbers and decided that pet insurance would be a bad deal for him and his pets. Of course, he was doing a "hindsight" evaluation. If some of you did a similar evaluation, you might reach the same conclusion that Bob did. That is, you would have paid more in insurance premiums than you would have been reimbursed by the insurance company. But some of you, after doing a similar evaluation, could say "I would have come out way ahead if I'd had pet insurance."

It's easy to come to these conclusions in hindsight - afterall, hindsight is said to be 20/20.

The article did mention several notable exceptions to Bob's conclusion:

1) If your pet becomes seriously ill early in its life before you’ve had the chance to stick the aforementioned money in the bank, insurance can be very helpful.

2) If you aren’t good about saving money (which isn’t a value judgement: it’s good to know your own strengths and weaknesses) then having insurance to mitigate risk may work out well.

3) If your pet belongs to a breed predisposed toward certain genetic diseases, it can be a good choice as well–even if the company sets different premiums for your pet and its relatives.

Notice the words I've highlighted. The word "if" usually implies something in the future. The problem is that none of us knows the future. The first two exceptions were covered in detail in my last post.

Regarding the third exception, from a veterinarian's perspective, what breed doesn't have one or more potentially costly to treat diseases and conditions that it is predisposed to?

In the article, Bob used the costs he incurred between 2002 and so far in 2013. The costs today and in the next 10 years to treat hereditary conditions (many that are chronic) as well as any serious injury or illness will likely be significantly higher. 

Here's a link to the fill article.

Consumer Reports did a similar hindsight study in 2011 and came to the same conclusions:

If your pet remains relatively healthy and requires treatment for only minor problems, you'd be better off putting money into a savings account. However, if your pet has one or more serious medical problems costing potentially thousands of dollars, you'd almost always come out ahead having insurance. 

Did they really have to do a study to reach these rather obvious conclusions?

So, if you could somehow know the future, it would be possible to easily decide whether pet insurance would be worth it. Otherwise, if you'd have trouble paying for a costly chronic condition or an acute and unexpected "worst case senario" costing thousands of dollars, you should consider purchasing pet insurance.

In the Pet Insurance Toolkit, I try to help you answer these two questions:

1) Should I purchase pet insurance?

2) If so, which company and policy is the best one for me and my pet?

 

What Is Pet Insurance?

I came across an article in a newspaper with the same title and my first thought was "This person gets it!" You'll see why I say that after reading this post. Here are a few excerpts and my comments:

Consumers take out insurance to transfer the risk of something happening to the insurer. For a fee, the insurer then agrees to pay the cost of certain events, giving the consumer peace of mind. Pet insurance, as the name suggests, is simply another form of consumer insurance, which pet owners take out to protect their animals.

Listen to this conversation I had with Dr. Carol McConnell at Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) about consumer attitudes toward pet insurance especially as it relates to the debate about pet insurance vs. a savings account (excerpted from Podcast)

Pet Insurance vs. Savings

Pet insurance is a relatively simply way to protect your pet’s welfare and your wallet. Veterinarian bills can be extremely expensive, and through no fault of your own, you may find yourself unable to pay for the cost of treating your pet. This could leave you in an unthinkable position. Faced with extremely high vet bills, some pet owners are forced to euthanize their pets, because they simply cannot afford the cost. Pet insurance avoids that dilemma.

This really is the bottom line. Pet insurance protects your "wallet." Consequently, it also protects your pet. Dr. Jack Stephens, the veterinarian who started the first successful pet insurance company in the United States 30 years ago, has said that the primary reason he did so was to decrease and hopefully put an end to "economic euthansia." Read the story that motivated him to launch a pet insurance company.

Dr. Kerri Marshall talks about this issue of "economic euthanasia" (excerpted from Podcast):

#2Kerri Marshall on Economic Euthansia

Dr. Barry Kipperman, an internist in California, weighs in on "economic euthansia" (excerpted from Podcast):

#3Kipperman - Economic Euthanasia

The author finishes the article with this conclusion:

If you are the sort of pet owner that is prepared to spend a lot of time and money looking after your animals, then pet insurance could save you a lot of money. It could also give you peace of mind and need not cost a fortune.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Here's the link to the full article.

Nestle Purina Sells PurinaCare Pet Insurance To Pethealth, Inc.

Pethealth has acquired PurinaCare's pet insurance business with an official closing date of May 1, 2013. In the United States, Pethealth offers pet insurance through 24PetWatch and ShelterCare.

Although the news of this merger came out in a press release about 3 weeks ago, virtually no details were offered about how it would affect current PurinaCare policyholders. The following details were obtained from a representative of PurinaCare pet insurance.

All current PurinaCare policies will remain in force until the expiration date of the current policy term. PurinaCare policies that are within 60 days of renewal at closing (those that renew between May 1 and June 30) will be able to keep their current PurinaCare policies for another year. 24PetWatch will handle all claims and customer service. 

Upon expiration of their current policies, PurinaCare policyholders will be offered the opportunity to renew to any 24PetWatch policy. It is my understanding that 24PetWatch is in the process of filing new policies in the states they are licensed to sell insurance that look very similar to the current PurinaCare policies.

It is also my understanding that any conditions currently covered under their PurinaCare policy will be covered by their new 24PetWatch policy and not considered pre-existing. This is good news as this is always a concern whenever a merger like this occurs. If your pet has one or more chronic conditions that are covered under your current PurinaCare policy, it may be worth sticking with a 24PetWatch policy when renewal time rolls around.

From all I've heard, this should be a relatively smooth transition. It will be interesting to see how many PurinaCare policyholders stick with 24PetWatch. To date, they have less than stellar review ratings from consumers. Current 24PetWatch policies are somewhat unconventional compared to the other pet insurers in the United States. Perhaps the new policies they are rolling out will be more attractive to consumers, especially to former PurinaCare policyholders. However, positive vibes from consumers usually boil down to customer service as much or more so as policy design.

If you are a current PurinaCare policyholder, how do you feel about this merger and what do you plan to do when renewal time comes, especially if your pet has any chronic conditions where it might be a disadvantage to switch companies, etc. I invite your comments.

 

Pets Best Pet Insurance: Claims Paid

I thought I'd continue the theme of giving examples of claims paid by pet insurance companies.

The Pets Best Insurance Blog recently did a series of articles on common toxins that affect pets. It's worth the read if only to make you aware of potential toxins that you probably have in and around your home so you can take steps to make sure your pet doesn't have access to them. Otherwise, you could face a rather expensive trip to your veterinarian or an emergency clinic for treatment of a preventable and potentially life-threatening condition. At the end of each article, several examples of actual claims that Pets Best paid for the treatment of that particular toxicity are given.

Coincidentally, my son called me Saturday night saying that his Border Collie had eaten a whole bag of Gobstoppers while they were away from home for awhile. Fortunately, the candy doesn't contain xylitol which is one of the toxins covered in the Pets Best series on pet toxins.

You might also consider listening to the podcast interview I did with The Preventive Vet, Dr. Jason Nicholas where we talked about some of these common toxicities that veterinarians see all too commonly. He also gives some excellent tips on things you can do at home to prevent these toxicities in your pet. Following his advice could potentially save you thousands of dollars.

Trupanion Pet Insurance: Claims Paid

I thought I'd finish out the week with another post about claim examples - this time from Trupanion. Trupanion has a page on their blog entitled "Claim of the Week" and it appears like there are over a hundred examples of claims they have paid.

Their policies have a 10% copay. Pet owners can choose a deductible between $0 and $1000. This allows you to manipulate the deductible to get a premium within your budget, but since Trupanion doesn't pay for examination fees and the deductible is per-incident, most pet owners try to keep the deductible as low as they can.  As you peruse these claims, notice how these factors affect the reimbursement the pet owners received.

We all can learn from these claim examples because they aren't theoretical, but real events that happened. Sometimes we tend to think, "That would never happen to my pet." I'll bet these folks are glad they were prepared and had insurance when these unexpected events occurred.

Afterall, health insurance isn't just for people anymore!

Embrace Pet Insurance: Claim Examples

A few days ago I had a post about claim examples from Petplan. Just today I found a page on Embrace's website where they have many examples of claims they have paid.

Embrace allows pet owners to select among several annual maximums, deductibles and copays. This allows you to custom design your own policy to get a premium you can afford. However, remember these guidelines when designing your policy.

Notice as you look at these claim examples how the annual maximum, deductible and copay that was chosen affects the reimbursement the pet owner received. I think it is instructional to read these stories because it can awaken you to the expense involved should your pet encounter similar injuries or illnesses. It also gives you an idea of how pet insurance can help you manage your pet's healthcare expenses.

Remember, health insurance isn't just for people anymore.

Petplan Pet Insurance Company: Examples Of Claims Paid

I get a newsletter from Petplan monthly called "Fetch." It always has an example of a claim that they've paid. I decided to visit their Pinterest page and found they had pinned a bunch of examples of claims they have paid.

Looking at these claims is insightful. It gives examples of real life events that happened to pets that resulted in a significant expense. It emphasizes that you never know what will happen or when it will happen as well as the potential expense involved in diagnosing and treating some of these injuries and illnesses. This can help you decide if you need to purchase pet insurance, and if so, how much coverage you should get.

I always recommend getting the highest annual and/or per-incident maximum you can afford. You can see from these claims that even with a normal surgery, complications can develop that are more expensive to treat than the surgery itself.