Pet Insurance - Do you have it?

[Queenie60]

Hello: Please tell me about your experience with Pet Insurance. Do you have Pet Insurance? If yes or no, please tell me why? I am getting a puppy in a few weeks and want to be well prepared. I appreciate your input.

 

[Mekp]

We just got a puppy and decided to get pet insurance. Ultimately we decided to get it because my mom's dog has had some bad luck, including a bowel obstruction and requiring ongoing medications for hypothyroidism. My mom has used her insurance a lot.
The reality is while I can comfortably take on a bill of a few hundred or even a couple thousand, I'd be scrambling if something happened which required tens of thousands of dollars.
So we just did it for the peace of mind.
We went with Trupanion.

 

[OdetteOdile]

Yes, we have Healthy Paws. My sister highly recommended it because so many of her friends have had major (expensive!) issues with their dogs. So far we have not had to use it, but it does make me feel better knowing that it is there should we need it.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

No because I couldn't be bothered making the claims.

I also wasn't sure where I stood on treatments like cancer etc (whether I wanted to make them go through it) so I figured I could cover any expenses. I always had a huge sum of emergency money for them when they were young. We used to joke that when they passed we'd empty their "trust funds" and be rich.

There wasn't much to spend on until they were fairly old and by then we wouldn't have put them through any huge operations that warranted claiming anyway.

Here's my 11 yr old Lil Nugget on her day bed

 

[YadaYadaYada]

As someone who used to work in insurance, I have never gotten pet insurance. I worried that there would be too many exclusions or claims would be denied in some roundabout way. Let's face it, that's what happens with auto and home insurance so I wouldn't think pet insurance would be any different.

 

[SandyinAnaheim]

As someone who used to work in insurance, I have never gotten pet insurance. I worried that there would be too many exclusions or claims would be denied in some roundabout way. Let's face it, that's what happens with auto and home insurance so I wouldn't think pet insurance would be any different.

I agree. I have heard TOO MANY STORIES from my clients of rejected claims when they needed it most. However, I have heard that Nationwide has excellent pet coverage. I also KNOW that you should never ever EVER go to Banfield or buy their insurance package. Banfield is a corporate entity that models itself after large HMO organizations, and the very last thing of importance to them, is your pet. Their number one priority is profit. They are whatever is under the dregs of the pet insurance world.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@SandyinAnaheim, my neighbors have insurance through Banfield for their bull terrier, they haven't had any complaints but I've always thought it to be a huge conflict of interest.

We have a Care Credit card which we got years ago when our dog needed very expensive surgery to remove bladder stones. It works for us because we just pay the balance before any interest but for the more expensive procedures you get 6 months or a year to pay without interest.

 

[SandyinAnaheim]

@SandyinAnaheim, my neighbors have insurance through Banfield for their bull terrier, they haven't had any complaints but I've always thought it to be a huge conflict of interest.

We have a Care Credit card which we got years ago when our dog needed very expensive surgery to remove bladder stones. It works for us because we just pay the balance before any interest but for the more expensive procedures you get 6 months or a year to pay without interest.

Yes, I have Care Credit too for my Lola's knee surgery - but that is not insurance. Care Credit is a credit provider that allows you a period of time to pay a balance off interest free for medical purposes.

The problem with Banfield (a franchise) is that corporate requires their veterinarians to sell X amount of vaccines, dentals, surgeries, etc. per day in order to maintain their franchise. Plus, they don't allow veterinarians to exercise their judgment. So if your pup comes in at the end of the day and Banfield's quota hasn't been met, guess who's getting the unnecessary shots??? YOU ARE!! Do they care about the effects on your pet? NO!

There is research out there that proves that much like children, pets inoculated against rabies have a lifelong immunity against it. Do you know why most if not all cities, counties and states require rabies vax every 2 to 3 years? Because animals are STILL considered property, like a mug or a broom. They are not considered beings worthy of humane treatment. Banfield doesn't give a FF about pets, they just want to over-vaccinate your pets and make money, regardless of the cost.

Here is an eye-opening account of how Banfield conducts its business. BEWARE.

 

[rocks]

We don’t have pet insurance. When we brought our boy home we asked our vet what she thought about it. She didn’t see much value in it. She is of the view that if you save the premiums, you will likely have what you need in the case of illness. It’s worked for us.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@SandyinAnaheim, interesting about Banfield, I didn't know since we don't use them and we never will now!

Also sorry for the confusion, Care Credit is not insurance, I should have said that!

 

[yssie]

We don't.
There's an upper limit to how much treatment we're willing to subject our animals to, given how little they can understand. A treatment or procedure that costs $20,000 is most likely not a treatment or procedure that we would be comfortable putting them through.
Even if it was, though, we're extremely fortunate to be able to just pay for whatever they need when they need it. Alex's rendezvous with cancer has been our most expensive adventure (thus far), and if we calculated that we'd have about broken even had we paid for insurance for the past ten years.

But we're the sort of people who wouldn't get auto insurance either if it wasn't required.

 

[Queenie60]

Thank you everyone. I feel that I will pass on pet insurance for now. I appreciate all of your input.