[rannmiller]

Does anyone here have pet insurance or any experiences with it? Is it worth it? Do they rip you off? Does it make you feel better knowing that if an emergency came up, the vet bills wouldn't kill you?

I'm curious!

 

[TippysMom]

We looked into getting it once & decided it wasn't worth the money. They don't cover everything, there's a high deductible / co-pay, and I don't think meds were included. Kinda seems like another scam to try to get what they can out of you....probably it balances out in the end, you either pay a lot for the insurance & don't need it - or you pay a lot for vet bills.

 

[rockymtsweetie82]

I agree. When we found out a long time ago that our Rotti had mange, we took him to the vet and found out we could pay in installments. So we did that. I like our vet now and $600. and a healthy rotti, I'd rather pay the vet monthly than some scam pet insurance. This way I know what my money's going to at all times.

 

[chowder]

We just went thru $7000 in vet bills this spring on two chows and neither ended up surving. I looked into the insurance after the first one and found out that almost none of the bills would have been covered. You have to really read the policy and look at all the exclusions. Almost anything can be called a genetic defect or preexisting condition or is just not covered. Unless they get flat out hit by a car, you are up a creek. It would probably be better to put the monthly fee into a piggy bank and save it up. But, maybe there are different policies then the one I was shown.

 

[BoxerMommie]

I agree with everyone else. And a friend of mine had it and her dog was an English Bulldog and almost none of her problems were covered because they were "breed specific" so basically they wouldn't cover anything that was typical of the breed (ie for her it was allergies). Personally I have a care credit credit card for a vet bill emergency (no interest for 1 year so you can pay it off over 12 months without paying anything additional) and we also put money into a savings account especially for the dogs just in case there is an emergency so we keep a few thousand in there plus have the care credit and that works just fine for us.

 

[rannmiller]

Wow, it sounds like human insurance! Pre-existing conditions and whatnot. Ok, I'll just start saving extra specifically for them in case anything ever happens.

Thanks for the info!

 

[BoxerMommie]

Wow, it sounds like human insurance! Pre-existing conditions and whatnot. Ok, I'll just start saving extra specifically for them in case anything ever happens.

Thanks for the info!

You can check them out and see if it would work for you. I believe VIP insurance is one of the better ones. Good luck!

 

[ILuvLabs]

I have pet insurance & have mixed feelings about their coverage. I took the whole thing, including wellness.

I find that wellness really doesn't cover much except a little bit on the office visit & some of the testing. Not sure that's worth it.

However, you can get just catastrophic coverage which covers the biggies & not much else. I basically got the insurance in case of something big that I just couldn't afford.

When something happens where you have several office visits for the same problem, then it's worth it because you only pay the deductible on the first visit & they do start to pay a little more on these bills.

So I've had good & bad experiences with this insurance. I did a little bit of shopping around & I think they are all pretty much the same......jmho.:wink:

 

[ChattyCathy]

I'm in the minority, I have pet insurance for 4 of my 5 pets. I'm ambivalent about it; however, for 2 of my pets it more than paid for itself one year. But, with the economy the way it is, I'm not sure if I will be keeping it. It's been on my mind alot lately and I'm not sure which way I'm going to go yet because this insurance has been paying out at least 1/2 when I've really needed it.

My son also has pet insurance and he loves it. It paid for two operations for his pet. However, the down side was he could only do one operation per year. (They were for his pets knees.)

Good luck with your decision!

 

[rannmiller]

I think if I just put my dogs in a sanitized, padded bubble so they can never get sick or hurt that'll be the safest way to go! Haha, I'm joking of course. My kids are all pretty healthy and I am very careful with them around traffic and other dogs and everything to make sure they don't get hurt. I feed them well and exercise them so hopefully they'll stay healthy and I won't need insurance or wish I had any later on.

 

[Rexandbaby]

I have had pets for over 27 years that I have had to deal with. I am dang lucky, nothing major has come up.
I don't think that insurance is worth the price for what the offer.
If something really bad happens, I may change my mind, especially with today's prices, but I still think that if we can keep our furkids healthy, and safe, that we don't need to spend that extra money.

 

[Oz'sMommy]

i have insurance on my furbaby. i have petcare the gold 70% coverage. i got it mostly for accidents (swallowing something, eating something bad, breaking a leg, etc). the deductible is only $100 and they reimburse 70% of the vet's cost.

thankfully i haven't had to use it but it does give me some peace of mind knowing it's there. and i'm actually thinking of increasing the coverage up one level which is only another $5 a month.