Insurance - worth it?

I would want to know exactly what the insurance will cover, what the deductible is and how the claims are filed.

You need to know all that to make an educated decision on whether it's worth it. Also with most insurances you will have to pay for the vet bills upfront and they cut you a check for the amount they cover.

I have PetPlan insurance -- the Bronze Plan with $100.00 deductible per illness or injury a year and I have the 20% co-pay. I get a discount for microchip and on-line enrollment and I pay the yearly premium all at once which results in a small savings also. It is $130.00 for Kody and I just enrolled my new "old cat" (he is probably about 7 yrs. old--I had fostered him for a rescue group and he was returned after 5 years) last week. I added him on for 109.00 a year (2nd pet discount).

I checked out all the insurance companies and Pet Plan seemed best to me. I have had only good experiences with them. To me it is worth it for my peace of mind.

I have Pets Best Insurance, and it's been great! I have used many times and it has been a life saver - especially when I was unemployed! With them you have a choice of being reimbursed, which they pay very VERY quickly, or they also can pay directly to your vet, which is very nice. My deductible is $100 per incident, and they cover 80% of the cost. They cover everything - all tests, specialists, cancer, everything (not dental).... I have been covered for URIs, IBS, lots of testing, emergency vet, etc. They do not cover pre-existing conditions, but as long as your cat hasn't been officially diagnosed by a vet with a condition, whatever it has from the point you get the insurance plus 14 days it will be covered. For emergencies it is 3 days, I think.
I pay $14 for each of my cats, and it cover $2,500 per incident maximum - this is the most basic plan. This is per condition, so if they have more than one disease, it is that amount per disease, not combined.
I will never go without insurance - they proved themselves over and over, and give me a huge peace of mind... I never want to be on a corner of not having the money to treat my babies.

Insurence is a good thing if you GET it PRIOR to any diagnosises... as MOST to All will not cover a pre existing condition... a policy I read over last night was clear.. say two years ago one cat had a uti ( NO utis will ever be covered under the insurence)... For me care credit and working with my vets and a small monthly allowance works ... See all of my animals have something that would be excluded

I have been looking into getting pet insurance too. I checked what the cost would be for my dog, and according to the one I was looking at (Embrace, which my vet recommended) the cost would be between $28-80 per month for the insurance premium, plus a deductible between $200-500, plus I'd have to pay at least 20% co-pay. So that would come out to between $830-1160 per year plus I have to pay 20% of every vet visit fees. They have an annual maximum between $5000-10,000 depending which features you choose.

Only the most expensive plan covers dental and routine visits, so unless I went with the plan where I would be paying them $1160 per year, I also have to still pay for office visits, vacc/titers, routine bloodwork, dental illnesses/cleanings, and flea/heartworm preventive myself. If I did go with the most expensive plan it only covers $200 per year of 'wellness' and 'routine' stuff which means I'd still have to pay everything over $200 (which $200 would only be about enough for a yearly routine visit with vacc/titers.)
The other companies I looked at had similar rates, or in some cases less flexible and more expensive plans than that one. Unless I was very unlucky, it's likely I would end up paying the insurance company a lot more than I would have paid the vet if I didn't have insurance.

So for now I decided not to get insurance, instead I'll just keep putting money away in my own 'vet fund account'. If necessary if there is a high expense that I can't pay off right away, I can charge or borrow to cover it, or get a payment plan with my vet.

My insurance DOES cover UTIs. I called and double and tripped checked. I also checked that if it was cured, it will be covered.I am not sure about crystals, if it becomes a chronic issue, but UTIs, not a problem.

That would be under the MOST do exclude a lot ... You have a good plan but even it would have excluded 90% of why my kids go to the vet... I called and talked to someone ... Pet insurance companies like human PULL vet records, often at time of claim... Realize I have cats who have HAD MULTIPLE UTIs in their lives ...

I understand that... But I had read this here at TCS, and I specifically called them because I read this here, and sure enough it IS covered. And if the issue was deemed cured, it is COVERED again. Yes, I do have a very good plan, and that's why I chose them, and I am sticking with them... There are lots of plans that also don't cover URIs because of herpes... Mine does, and has covered... Bugsy has herpes, and has been covered for URIs... Just an example... The best thing to do is calling them and asking questions, which is what I did

Did he have the diagnosis PRIOR to the insurance covering him? Of course they will cover if it is not or has not been prior to insurance... That is my issue .... and according to the person I talked to more than one prior too being insured would not be covered... By the way I know your answer playing devils advocate

If the issue has been deemed CURED it will be covered (I verified this by calling them), even if prior to getting the insurance. If it is chronic (pre-existing chronic) , no, it will not.

This is not about pro or con pet insurance but an alert...
read the small print before you buy.

Some companies, if your cat never had an illness (example diabetes), developed it and the company paid for the treatment, when the annual renewal time came...
unless you purchased an extra rider, it would be considered a pre-existing condition and would not be covered the following year.

Some companies will not cover cats 10 years and older.

Don't assume anything, know what is really in the policy and you should be OK.

I agree you need to fully research what is covered. IMHO the two best I came across were the PetPlan and PetsBest--both had excellent ratings and reviews. But you must find the one that best fits your situation. I know PetPlan and I specifically checked on if conditions would prevent renewal if treated in a prior year--I had read about that with many companies.


But you must make sure you do get coverage before something can happen so a condition would be treated as pre-existing...that is why when my foster was returned to me last Sunday, I called Pet Plan on Thursday to purchase insurance. They require pet records from the last two years it says. So I have contacted his vet and they are filling out the paperwork today.

With Kody having come from a shelter I had no vet records for him, but that didn't present any problems--my vet just sent in what he had from his 3 day physical I took him for.

I've researched pet insurance in the past and found it isn't worth it in my particular case because I have one cat with a pre-existing condition (heart disease) and one who was already a senior kitty when I looked into it.
Most multiple cat owners I know have found that having a pet emergency fund (which is what I have and, thankfully, haven't had to use so far) - a savings account that they add a small amount to monthly, is actually more cost effective than pet insurance. Care Credit is another good option in the event of an emergency. I have it and tried it once just to use it.

No problem if you don't have prior records for Pets Best either - yes, they will get records, but they will get the records that exists, if there are no records, no problem... I went though the same thing as my cats are rescues... As far as renewing after a condition, no problems either - been there done that; the only problem you will have is if you become default in payments and your policy is canceled, and you need to buy another one, then you are out of luck for the pre-existing. Also, when renewing, say I have a cat with diabetes on your current plan which covers $2,500 per incident - I cannot upgrade the plan to a higher coverage plan to cover that incident with the higher limit. So, all the NEW diseases will have the higher coverage limit, and the old, say in this example, diabetes, will have the old limit of $2,500. In this situation it will still be covered, but for limits purposes it will be considered a pre-existing condition. I hope I make sense...

Another thing to keep in mind-- someone on a dog forum I belong to moved to another state, and they got a letter saying their pet insurance (PetPlan) was canceled and switched to a new policy. I guess because the rate and type of policy changes depending on where you live, when you move they start a new policy rather than just changing your rate!
This means that conditions could possibly get labeled as preexisting when they were from before your move, because their records will say that the policy was canceled and re-issued.

$500 deductible? This means they will barely cover you for anything, really... Only if your cat has a surgery, or a very serious issue... But ir he/she has something on the 200-300-400s which is very common, you will be out of luck... Quite frankly, I would look elsewhere. I pay that for $100 deductible.

I sure don't want to rain on anyone's parade--if pet insurance is working for you, super! I just want to play devil's advocate for a minute and let you know (for whatever it's worth) that Consumer Reports doesn't fully recommend Pet Health Insurance. There's a link on my facebook page (Perfectpetfinder.com) to the full article, but basically, it says the pet policies they analyzed (VPI, ASPCA Pet Health Insurance, 24PetWatch QuickCarewere and Trupanion) were not worth the cost for a generally healthy animal. Here's a small excerpt:

"If you're unlucky enough to have a pet with a costly chronic condition or illness, or a young animal in need of major care, we found you could get a positive payout from pet insurance—if your pet develops the condition while covered... While it's impossible to predict your pet's odds of contracting a costly illness, you can take a number of steps to keep him or her healthy and minimize veterinary costs.

1. Save in advance for vet bills. Dog owners spent an average of $225 last year on routine vet visits and $532 on surgical visits; for cats, the averages were $203 and $278, according to the American Pet Products Association. Our preferred alternative to pet insurance is to add a couple hundred dollars each year to an emergency savings fund for pet care.

2. Spay or neuter your pet. Among other advantages, neutered animals are less likely to get into fights. And spaying reduces the risk of breast cancer.

3. Get annual checkups. Make sure vaccinations are kept current.

4. Shop with your eyes open. If you're considering pet insurance, download a sample policy and its terms and conditions from the insurer's website and read them thoroughly for limitations, exceptions, and co-payments. (If the site doesn't include a sample contract, call the company to ask for one.) We prefer coverage with simple, percentage-based payouts, and no reliance on judgments of what's "reasonable." Avoid riders for wellness care. If you plan to use the insurance for catastrophic coverage—say, $1,000 and up—go for the highest deductible you can comfortably afford.

What Bob and I have done, (our cats are still pretty young, though) is put away $20 per cat per paycheck. That's worked well for us. We don't tap into the account for routine checkups, but we do, sometimes, for more the expensive stuff like dental extractions. Hope I've helped, and not made your decision even more confusing!

Your quotes do seem high to me--could depend on the age of the cats too. I only have it for the large stuff too--but my vet is expensive so it does seem to go up quickly.

My Kody is a Bengal 5 years old--as I said I have $100.00 deductible per covered illness or injury and then a 20 % copay. I got a discount, not sure if it was 5% or 10% for the microchip and then another 5% or 10% for the online enrollment. The most you can receive are 2 discounts I think. The premium for the Bronze coverage on him is $131.00.

My new, old cat is a DLH, approximately 6-8 years of age and his premium is 109.00--he is microchipped and there is a another discount for a 2nd pet.

Both of these are a yearly premium which is a little cheaper than if I paid monthly or quarterly.

I got Kody insured soon after I adopted him because my Sugar Ray had developed DCM and left us at age 8.5 years. We had taken him into emergency on Christmas Day 2007 and he made his last visit to the vet the day after Easter of 2008. My husband and I had said if there was any chance he could get better we had to try all we could. Since DCM could possibly be caused by a taurine deficiency & cured by Taurine if that was the cause we prayed for 3 months. He had to go in for x-rays ($100.00 a digital x-ray--needed 2 views each time) and bloodwork and to have his chest drained twice more after the initial visit, not to mention 3 to 4 medications. I never added it up, but it was between $2,000-$3,000 minimum. The medications ran about 200.00 a month.

I had someone close to me--not being heartless, just pensive--remind me of all the homeless cats and dogs I could have been helping with all that money, and I knew he had a point, but I could not let Sugar go. Once I realized that he would never get better, I knew I had to give him peace.

Bengals have a high incidence of HCM and digestive problems--I didn't realize this until I started researching them after I brought him home and loved him.

There is much to be said for "Peace of Mind." I don't understand why your premium quote is so much higher than mine--unless there is a big difference in age--location should not make that big of a difference. But then again, there may be some state regulations that we don't know about.

[quote=purrrplej;2936342] This plan you are talking about from Pets Best has a $100 deductible. The plan with $250 deductible has a coverage of $7,500 per incident and is more than $14/mo. They DO cover continuous/Chronic condition, as long as it is within the $2,500 per incident. When do you really need to worry statistically about this number? IMHO when your cat is a senior, in which case you can get a higher plan, that can go to $10,000 per incident. The vast majority of diseases and emergencies fall into less than $2,500 though, unless you go into senior cats.

Is he a pedigree cat? If not, he's a pointed domestic - perhaps changing to domestic will lower your rates?

For my situation insurance is not worth it, I do send all my kittens off with 6 weeks free Pet Plan insurance which the owner can either keep up or not. They seem to be an ok company just don't suit my personal needs.

Congrats! I am glad you did!!