Some Thoughts on Pet Insurance

I don't know exactly where to post this, but it might be helpful to people are new cat owners so here goes....

The hardest part of my reading here over the last year are the large number of posts from people who can't afford vet visits.  So before you need it please consider getting pet insurance.

I won't shill for any company, but I can tell you one of the best decisions I made was getting it when the kittens were about three months old.  I have a high deductible policy ($1,000) and it's very affordable - $10 bucks a month per cat.   Getting it early is also essential, all policies have pre-existing condition clauses and if you wait that condition won't be covered.  The key is to get it while your cats are young and healthy so there's no question when you file a claim that it's covered.

Anyway, this is on my mind because I just got more than 3 times my annual premiums back because of one hospitalization.  And I hope I never use it again, but it's nice that I was able to be able to make decisions based on what ideally I wanted to do for treatment rather than sweating bullets over the cost.    

So that's my two cents for what it's worth -  high deductible pet insurance policy coupled with a savings account for the deductible.   Mine covers drugs as well, but you can buy policies cheaper without that.

That's a very good idea. I think cat owners should either have a special emergency fund for the cat (with at least a few hundreds of dollars per cat in it), or pet insurance. I'll feature your post.

Thanks Anne, I hope people find it helpful.    

I've had pets all my life and never bought pet insurance. I recently adopted 3 rescues, a 3 yr old and 2 kittens. I bought pet insurance as well as wellness care. The wellness care has paid for itself. I hope I never have to use the illness and accident insurance but have peace of mind to know its there.

Great Idea! Everyone should have insurance for their pets. 

I have looked at getting pet insurance; but, working for a rescue, all of my cats have come to me with pre-existing conditions. The only thing that seems to be covered for most is preventative care and broken bones (though I have 3 that have orthopedic problems, so it's iffy what type of injury would be covered.)

I opt to have an emergency fund instead. I budget about $500 a month for vet care. However, if I ever got a cat that was healthy from the start, I'd certainly be all for the insurance!

From looking few years ago ALL require money up front to be paid to to Vet and then they give you back a portion, is there any that do not?  

Pet insurance is reviewed by users at http://petinsurancereview.com/reviewStart.asp

I used http://petinsurancereview.com/ to find my company (petplan which I like very much).

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 ($50-$200 typically) 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 require your vet to give them all records.  Premiums go up slowly as your pet ages, and with the good companies, they never go up because you make claims).

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.  In other words, if given a choice in plans, don't pay for a plan that you can't front the costs for.

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 that money 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.

catsallaround said:

 
From looking few years ago ALL require money up front to be paid to to Vet and then they give you back a portion, is there any that do not?  

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I think they all require you pay up front.  Petplan lets you choose 0% co-pay if you wish and a deductible as low as $50 (which is per condition per year) so for a chronic illness you will pay that deductible once a year every year.

I am not a big fan of insurance.

There has only been a couple years out of the last 10 that we would have used it, and even then, we spent less than we would have on premiums.

It's a moot point for me at this point, because all our animals are over 10 years old, and we have 2 who are on "lifetime" medications, one of which is relatively pricey. 

So, we budget, and we use credit cards, and sometimes our vet will work out a payment schedule with us, on account of our long relationship and good standing.

It will be different if you adopt a rescue cat from a shelter where there are pre-existing conditions but if you adopt a cat with clear vet records it could pay well to take out insurance if you can afford the monthly premiums.  That said, if you are really lucky and have a healthy cat where there are no health issues throughout their life you could pay out a lot of money for insurance you never use.  

The following is from my own experience with Pet Plan here in the UK. 

As has already been said, even with insurance you still have to be able to pay the vet bills and medication / treatment costs to start with.  In addition there is usually a basic amount / excess you have to pay towards the cost of each condition your cat has treatment for per policy year and if you have to pay out three or four small amounts (under the excess amount) for separate and unrelated conditions you can find your self out of pocket for both the vet fees and the insurance.   3 vet appointments and 3 lots of medication for a respiratory infection or  3 vet appointments and treatment for thyroid problems you could claim for with only one excess amount with most policies, but if you had 1 appointment and treatment for a respiratory infection, one appointment and treatment for an abscess, and one appointment and treatment for thyroid problems you would have to pay the excess amount for each condition you submitted a claim for.  The excess usually goes up as the cat gets older in the same way as the annual policy cost increases.   With Pet Plan I claim at the end of the policy year and look at the amount I've paid out as a savings plan for the year and when I get the cheque back from the insurers it goes in to a savings account for the next time I need to pay vet costs. 

Check what a policy will cover as some do not pay out for dental issues.  Some will pay for 'alternative' treatments and others will only cover recognized veterinary medical care.  You will probably find that none will pay out for what the insurers will see is routine care - and this will include daily oral care with appropriate toothpaste, claw clipping, grooming and such like.   E.g my cat has a tendency to build up plaque and tartar on his teeth - I need to use an enzyme toothpaste with him very regularly and feed him a special diet - neither the toothpaste nor diet food are covered by insurance.  Medication and veterinary consultation and examination are included and if he required surgery this should also be covered by the policy I have.  An annual dental cleaning would not be covered as that would be considered normal care.   As my cat probably has feline herpes - if he requires veterinary care and medications associated with that I can claim for these and with my policy I am able to claim for the L Lysine I give him if the overall costs for the herpes that policy year are above the excess amount.  There are some years I claim back several hundred pounds and others where it might be nothing or less than £100.  

Mouse is covered for any condition as he was insured from birth.    I took the risk of not insuring my previous 2 cats until they were around 4 years old.  By that time one of them had food sensitivities and bowel problems so a lot of her health issues were not covered, and the other had a history of urinary tract and bladder infections so anything related to those was not covered.     I made numerous claims as Pal got older and more frail and it made a big difference to feeling able to keep her comfortable and pain free until she was almost 22, far more than the annual costs of her insurance.   I never managed to claim back a penny for her sister who died just before her 18th birthday.    

Another thing to watch out for, even if you opt for the life time cover where all conditions that develop after you take out the policy are covered:   if the company you take out your policy with ceases to operate and you have to transfer to another insurance company - the life time cover and agreed history you had with the previous insurer does not stand!  I know a lot of people who chose companies who were new to the pet insurance industry and later decided to stop providing it.    Choose a reputable and reliable company even if it costs a little more than a new one starting out in the business would be my advice.  If I ever need to change who Mouse is insured with his clear medical history will no longer stand and a large number of the health issues he presents with would not be covered by an insurer as they could be attributed to his herpes infection.

One more thought:  insurance companies will require your cat to be fully vaccinated as per your region / county's recommendations, and to be examined by a vet regularly (at least once a year) for a general health check.   If you do not comply with these conditions then your policy will be useless.   In exceptional circumstances some insurers will consider cover but only if you have a written confirmation from your vet that such contact with them and administration of the vaccinations would be contraindicated for the cat's health and it would be necessary to have this letter in place and agreed by the insurers at the start of the policy year.   I was able to maintain cover for one of my previous cats despite her not being seen by a vet unless she was acutely ill and not being vaccinated after the age of about 6, but this was only after an explanatory letter was provided by the vet.   

It might come across as though I am not a fan of insuring pets, and yes you can pay out a lot of money to the insurers and get nothing back.  While getting costs back is not a guarantee it is more likely you will be able to afford vet bills if your cat is sick with insurance than without it.   It gives me a peace of mind that I wouldn't have without the insurance, esp now I don't have an income where I can save easily or have cash at hand ready to pay significant, unanticipated bills.  I can have a savings account set aside for cat health care and if I need to dip in to it there is a fair chance some of the money will get paid back in through insurance rather than me having to replace all the savings my self. 

Whether you choose to insure or not, there is one thing for sure and that is assuming responsibility for any animal takes money and you need to think carefully about how you manage this because no one knows what the future holds.

sounds like a good idea, I never really thought about getting pet insurance, but I might be doing just that after my cat gets over this little ordeal he went through and we switch vets.

I used to be a fan of the "save the money you would otherwise pay an insurance company" idea, but after having my emergency savings wiped out by just a few vet bills this year, I decided to get insurance. The fact is it takes me far too long to build up enough savings to pay a big vet bill. So now that I've spent my savings, what can I do if something else happens? I would hate to be faced with the decision to euthanize because I couldn't afford treatment. That's my worst nightmare. A credit card and insurance means I will still be able to pay for vet care if something happens to my cats. 

Oh, I also wanted to say that it might still be worth it even for a cat with pre-existing conditions, because anything new would still be covered. As cats get older, especially, they often seem to develop multiple health problems. I've seen it with my own pets and many others on these boards. So I have insurance on my oldest cat right now, in case she develops additional expensive problems.

When I looked into it 10 years ago, they wanted $25/month per pet plus a $300 sign up fee.

We have 5 pets.  That would be $125 per month, or $1500 per year.

Over 10 years that would be $15,000.

That is, as long as we didn't send in any major claims... which turns out would not have been the case.  So, there is the high probability that our premiums would have increased over the years. 

Let's imagine that, after 5 years, our premiums were increased to $35 per pet.  That's only a $10 increase, right?

For 5 pets, that would be $50 extra dollars per month, or $600 per year.

So, for 5 years at an additional  600 would be $3000 added to the $15,000 to bring it to $18,000 for 10 years.

There is still no way that we have spent that much over 10 years.

And our pets are all over 10 years old. At which point, many companies will increase premiums again.

So, factoring in increase premiums for the three 11 year olds, one 13 year old, and one 18 year old.... more math, more money... still haven't spent that much.

This is how insurance companies make their money.

Now, if you don't have the steady income to handle the occasional large expense, it might make better sense to invest in insurance.

But if you DO have the income, you may want to do some projectional math, and simply manage as things go.

The purpose of insurance is to give you predictability in the face of an unknown - in this case the cost of veterinary care - you don't purchase any insurance hoping you'll get your money  out of it.  The same way you don't want your house to burn down so that homeowners policy pays off. 

As I said, the cost of my policy is $10 per month, per cat with a $1,000 deductible.  I've started saving the money for the deductible and when I reach that I'll keep saving so as they get older I can offset some of the rise in premiums in the future.

As for math, I've already gotten 3 times back what I've paid in premiums in the first year (which did not go up when I renewed BTW).  The claims process was surprisingly easy and I had my checks within two weeks of submitting the claim forms with the veterinary records. 

IMO you do need to get the insurance early, before you need it, before you even suspect you may need it.  Although some companies will review your cats health records in advance and advise you what they will consider is pre-existing.  If you think this is letting the fox into the hen house, consider that they will require you to submit all your cats vet records if you do have a claim so they'll see the whole health history anyway.   Again this becomes irrelevant if you get the insurance early and most of the cats vet visits occur after the policy is in force.

I think it's great that you've had such excellent service and positive experience with your insurance.

Like I said, it was 10 years ago when I first looked into it, so some companies may have changed their policies since then.

For me, however, it is now a moot point; since all my animals are over 10, and a couple now have pre-existing conditions that would not be covered.

I suppose, if/when we get younger pets, I may look into it again.

However, MServant mentioned something that might make it difficult for me:

 One more thought:  insurance companies will require your cat to be fully vaccinated as per your region / county's recommendations, and to be examined by a vet regularly (at least once a year) for a general health check.   If you do not comply with these conditions then your policy will be useless.

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I'm not a big one on over-vaccinating, and I tend to only take my pets in when they really need it.   

You know I'll have to look,  I know there's no requirement for an annual check-up, only that your pet has been seen by a vet at least once in the year before you purchase the insurance.    I don't remember seeing anything about vaccinations.

I did get a multi-pet discount and another discount when the kittens were spayed and neutered.  They also refund some of the premium every year if you don't file a claim (I think this only goes on for three years though and it's not an enormous amount, still it's something.). 

That's fantastic that you've never had a lot of vet. bills.     I was shocked at the cost of vet care after having been petless for a decade.

LOL.... I didn't say we haven't had a lot of bills... just that they haven't added up to nearly twenty thousand dollars. 

It is one of those things you either pay unnecessarily but it gives you some reassurance or you pay and it is a massive relief when  something does come up - either an acute thing or chronic which is going to cost a lot.  

In the last 4 years of Pal's life I made a claim probably each year and although didn't get back all the money I'd paid out all of the years I'd insured her I certainly got back quite a few and that was despite her having a higher premium and excess being over 18 by then.

With Mouse, no one knew until he was about 1 1/2 but he probably acquired feline herpes from his mum who was stressed when she had him.  She hadn't shown any symptoms back then but he has never had any contact with any other cats and since he presented with symptoms a couple of other, later kittens have done too.  He has no exemptions in his policy so anything that comes up due to the herpes or anything else is covered.  Given that a 2 week course of anti viral medication is over £100,  he can go through phases where he needs regular vet appointments and multiple medications for mouth ulcers and throat infections, runny eyes with ulcers, and could also come up with more symptoms that he hasn't shown yet,  the insurance is likely to help me cover some of these expenses. These along with any other health issues he develops as he gets older though of course I hope that he doesn't.  In the first three years of having Mouse I claimed back several hundred pounds which more than recouped the insurance costs and enabled me to recharge the savings I had paid the vet bills out of.  

I'm with @momto3cats   I would hate to be in a position that money was the main influencing factor on whether to euthanize rather than take a course of treatment and insurance helps to make that less likely.  

Quoting the $20K figure, a good friend of mine was faced with a £4K vet bill for surgery over 15 years ago and had to take out a bank loan to go ahead with it.  If you have a couple of surgical procedures, after care, long term medications such as blood pressure, thyroid or chemo therapy, you can soon see bills mount.  Sadly I think that is why there are so many cats found abandoned once they develop conditions like arthritis or thyroid problems and that is very sad.  I have a low income and I know my saving capacity is very low and easily gets eaten up with other things.  If the insurance is paid then Mouse should be reasonably well cared for even if I'm not.   Breaks my heart reading some of the choices people on this site have to make because of the costs of vet care.

Catpack, thank you for taking care of rescue cats.