Pet Insurance

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Ask yourself this question “If I had to write a $20k check tomorrow to save my dogs life could I without flinching” if the answer is yes you don’t need insurance . If no , you should probably get it .

In most cases it will never pay for itself . But in rare cases it will save your pets life.

Nothing insightful here I know , as that is how insurance works

In theory, that should be the decision. The problem is too many exclusions and things like fee schedules make it questionable whether they'll actually approve your claim, or pay a smaller portion than anticipated.

You could very easily find yourself in a position where you go ahead with a $10k procedure thinking you are covered, only to have the claim denied.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

In theory, that should be the decision. The problem is too many exclusions and things like fee schedules make it questionable whether they'll actually approve your claim, or pay a smaller portion than anticipated.

You could very easily find yourself in a position where you go ahead with a $10k procedure thinking you are covered, only to have the claim denied.

All that means is you have to be cognizant of what your policy actually covers.

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have pet insurance.

[photon]

Costco has pet insurance.

https://www.costco.ca/costco-services.html

[bdubbs]

Originally Posted by wretched34

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.

I also have Trupanion for my guy and it has paid for 90% of his recent CCL surgery as well. For me it was worth every penny as he also developed skin allergies and insurance covers his medication / treatment as well.

[pylon]

I’ve been waiting for a relative thread to post in since I was reinstated. And this one is good, because I just went through having to make some tough decisions with my dog.

As many of you know, I used to be in Finance in the car business, and part of that was selling insurance products. I was at a training course about 12 years ago, and they were going over all these closing lines to help sell more life and disability insurance. The most simple one of all, was one that really hit home with me, and is essentially my Mantra with insurance products, and probably why I’m so over-insured:

“Would you rather have the coverage and not need it, or need the coverage, and not have it?”

That simple argument, sold me so many life and disability policies, it was ridiculous. I never once had a customer complain or be in distress about buying the coverage. I also had more customers than I ever wanted in distress because they waived loan protection. And it goes to another analogy which is pretty hard hitting:

“There is no bigger believer insurance, than one who needs it, yet it’s too late to buy it.”

I was on a Pet Secure plan. Little Molly the Weiner dog had developed cancer at 14. The policy covered around $3500 in treatment and cremation, and an urn etc. Had I been in a tough financial spot, there was no choice. Having it would have given me some time to explore options.

Regardless of if I had the insurance or not..... I still would have paid, as money isn’t an objection at this point in my life. 14 years ago when I got her and bought the policy..... it was, and it would have been a very difficult decision.

All in all for me, over the life of the policy, I pretty much broke even on what I put in, and what I got out. But there was a few times, it was a relief not having to strap myself over a big vet bill. Almost like a hidden savings plan. Our Golden Doodle Charlie is insured and Molly 2 whenever I have the heart to replace Molly 1, will be as well. Things are good now, but nobody knows what life will throw at you, and our dearest most loyal companions deserve the certainty they have a fighting chance to survive, just as we do with universal health care. The worst case scenario is you’re out a few grand over 10-14 years for the piece of mind. Which is a small price to pay for some one your love, adore and brings joy to your life.


If the 50-60 bucks a month is a bit inconvenient to your finances, where will you be if a vet throws a $5000 live or die vet bill at you? Most people can scrape together the $50, a lot of people just don’t have the $5000.

Anyway, I’m a vote for Pet insurance. Myself and my folks, and quite a few people I know, have definitely benefited from it. I do know a few people that have also had to make heartbreaking, irreversible decisions because they didn’t.

Hope this helps you with your decision.

[SportsJunky]

Holy #### it's pylon.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Holy #### it's pylon.

Why not? It is 2020 after all.