opinions on pet insurance purchase

briar14

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Getting a 13 week sealpoint bicolor ragdoll kitten on the 26th. Would appreciate input from members regarding healthypaws  coverage. have inquired for estimate and offered  $20mo with $250 annual deduct and 90% pay out 
 

stephenq

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Hey there,

Healthypaws is the single best reviewed pet insurance that's listed at the user reviewed site http://petinsurancereview.com/

Reviews at http://petinsurancereview.com/reviewStart.asp

I used http://petinsurancereview.com/ to find my company (petplan which I like very much) which I got before healthy paws showed up.

The good companies don't have max payouts per condition or disallowed procedures.  All they have is a max payout per year (although I think Healthy paws is unlimited) with a deductible and a co-pay between 0% and 20%, your choice.  None of them pay for annual health exams or if some do, you pay extra for that.  None pay for pre-existing conditions and all have at least a 14 day wait period between enrollment and your first claim.  All requires your vet to give them all records.  Premiums go up slowly as your pet ages.

Many of the best known companies have the worst reviews.

I hedged my bets with our cats when we got them and didn't insure them until about age 9 on the theory that most cats get expensive illnesses later in life not sooner.  By taking that risk i saved 9 years of premiums, which amounted to a lot of money.  In my case the risk paid off, but of course some cats will get sick earlier so how you manage that risk speaks to your own comfort level and finances.  Most companies have a cut off on enrollment age, and I can't blame them as they deserve at least some premiums before the pet gets ill.

All insurance companies requires you pay bills upfront and you get reimbursed later so make sure you have at least one credit card that can handle the amount of coverage that you obtain.  In other words, if you pay for a $20,000 per year payout coverage but your credit card has only $10,000 credit, then either your paying for too much coverage or you need another credit card.

If you have a lot of discipline, you can put $25/month in a cookie jar, over the years you will collect a lot of money and if later your cat dies of something inexpensive, you've saved thatmoney for another use or another cat. But, the jar only accumulates money slowly over time, and some cats may require more money than is in the jar.

Congrats on the new cat!!!
 
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