# Pet Health Insurance-- Why do or don't you have it?



## RubyRuby (Nov 7, 2011)

Huxtable, I am in the same boat as you. The trial insurance that my puppy came home with expires at the end of this month, so if I'm going to get insurance now is the time to do it. I want to have insurance because I want that safety net in case something did happen to my puppy, but the monthly premiums are definitely not cheap, even with a higher deductible. I could see the cost of insurance being equal to or even exceeding the cost of paying vet bills out of pocket over time, especially when you consider the things that aren't covered by insurance, like exam fees.

That being said I will still likely buy insurance, for my peace of mind while my puppy is young. I've read good things about Trupanion, so I'm probably going to go with them. I'm very interested to hear other people's experiences with Trupanion and other companies...


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## Arcticfox (Dec 12, 2011)

I have health insurance with trupanion and I am so grateful for it. How "worth it" pet insurance is for you is going to depend on a lot of factors, like how many pets you have, which insurance company (some of them are horrible), how well off you are financially, how old your dog is, etc.

My plan covers 90% with no maximum, but doesn't cover taxes, and routine care costs like exam fees, spay/neuter, vaccines, flea prevention. There is a $300 deductible per condition (you can choose between $0 and $1000 in increments of $50, it will affect your premium), and covers all illness or accidents except pre-existing conditions and illness caused by preventable parasites like worms or flea treatment if you chose not to use prevention. My premium is around $38 per month.

My dog was sick and hospitalized for 6 days in April this year. The bill for the ER vet came to $3600, the bill for my regular vet for the diagnostics was $550. Trupanion reinbursed 90% of the bill, excluding the $300 deductible and the examination fee from both vets, and the tax on the bill. She's been getting regular bloowork done every 2 weeks which is $86 each time (blood draw plus lab fee), and Trupanion reinburses $75 (that's $150 per month, close to 4 times what my premium is). They have enver given me any trouble over filing a claim, and usually processed it within a couple days, I get the check in the mail a week after I file. They were able to work with the ER vet and set up direct deposit so I wouldn't have to pay that fee out of pocket first (no way could I have come up with $3600 on such short notice). Their website has an automatic estimate system so you can see what your premium would be, and they often have associates available for online chats so you can get questions answered. 

I'm sure there are other great companies out there but I haven't done much research about the other ones once I settled with Trupanion. Their main selling point for me was that they have no payout cap at all, while the other ones my vet recommended had caps at $2500 or $5000 or (for a super high premium) $20,000. So if she ever need something like bilat ACL surgery and physio afterwards, I'd be kinda screwed if they capped at $2500. 

There are lots of people who instead of buying insurance, put a bit of money away every month into an emergency savings account. That can work well if you are fairly financialy stable to begin with, but for me, I only had Tesla for about 6 months before she got sick. Even if I put away $100 dollars a month, I'd still only have $600 to cover a $4100 bill, plus follow up care. If you had a couple thousand to start with though, you'd probably be fine to do that. 

Also if you have multiple pets, buying insurance for all of them would get pricey very quickly, and it wouldn't be very likely that all of them will need expensive vet care so a savings account plus carecredit or something might be a better option.


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## Tonjad (Mar 12, 2012)

I've been thinking about this for a while too. I just looked at Trupanion and Healthy Paws website . They seem just about alike but I think I like Healthy Paws the best. I think I may sign up with them for the poodles........


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## Arcticfox (Dec 12, 2011)

Tonjad said:


> I've been thinking about this for a while too. I just looked at Trupanion and Healthy Paws website . They seem just about alike but I think I like Healthy Paws the best. I think I may sign up with them for the poodles........


I just checked out the healthy paws website, it looks pretty good from the brief read. It looks like they are only available in the States though, wont let me enter a Canadian zip code


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## Siskojan (Mar 13, 2011)

I've chimed in on this before and my opinion remains firmly for Trupanion. My experience is very similar to Arctic Fox.

ER vet + bloat. $2000
Gastropexy. $2400

Knowing I can say "yes go ahead with all your expensive tests" priceless


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## Huxtable (Feb 19, 2012)

Thanks Arcticfox your experience makes me heavily lean toward toward Trupanion, $38 isn't much at all.... for 90% coverage. I've seen a lot for much more than that... closer to $75, but maybe thats with 100% coverage? 

I'll also check out the Healthy Paws Tonjad mentioned


Does anyone know if there are any plans that cover routine visits?


_(I'm in the US btw)_


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I don't because my fiance is a vet.  lol, I have gotten ridiculously spoiled with free vet care, free emergency vet care. Although I do have to say that he hates my mpoo enough that he has me pay for his routine care.... but I work at the clinic so I get it 50% off anyway. 

Before I got into this nice arrangement, I did not have pet health insurance, but I did set $2K aside for emergency vet bills. It averaged $500/year for emergency charges, although I did have one dog need emergency surgery for obstructed bowel and that was $1,800.


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## Huxtable (Feb 19, 2012)

wow, lucky you... must be nice getting free vet care!


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I did the math on some plans a few years ago and for the first year of having a dog when the bulk of the shots and spay/meuter stuff is done, it cost the same for insurance or paying the vet. After those are done, it costs more for the insurance. 

If you have a little financial cushion to work with, I think it is better to save your $38/month in a separate account or stash towards vet care. Lifetime expense for insurance will be around $7K. The chance that you'll spend more than that is pretty slim - even if you do have an emergency surgery or chemo or something awful like that happen to your dog.


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