We use Trupanion for our Dog insurance.
We had an Olde English Bulldogge, who over his 6 years and 10 months had chronic ear infections, both rear CCL's done, and ultimately died following a splenectomy, that ran us near $25,000 in vet bills. In total, we paid the vets approximately $5,000, and (82 months @ $65.00/month) $5,330 in Insurance premiums. Insurance Saved us close to $14,000 in his lifetime, and gave us the ability to choose to attempt to extend his life, rather than giving up on him at a young age.
On the other hand, we have a mutt, who outside of regular appointments and vaccinations has had no medical issues, and has cost us $2,700 in premiums so far.
Pet insurance is like every other insurance, it may pay out, or it may not.
We found Trupanion to be the most upfront and easiest to work with. They direct pay the vets, and we never had issues with approvals. In fact the final approval for emergency surgery took less than 30 minutes, and it was for over $10,000.
Our policy covered 90% of costs, not including GST once the deductible (ours was $500) was met.
If you're willing to put away $50/month on your own for emergency funds, I feel you're better off just getting insurance.
Sure, if nothing goes wrong over your dogs 14 year life you have a nice chunk of change set aside, but in some cases (like our bulldogge) $50/month for 82 months wouldn't have even scratched the surface on his medical costs, in fact, it wouldn't have even paid for his first knee surgery, let alone the second, and our life saving attempt. He'd have been crippled by age 4, and we would have had to have chosen to let him die, rather than try to prevent it from happening.
I see pet insurance as a cost of owning a pet, much like home insurance or vehicle insurance, it's just a cost you should include.
Last edited by wretched34; 09-10-2020 at 11:35 AM.
|