Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Pet Insurance for Your Dog or Cat: Money Up Front

This is Part 2 of our series about Pet Insurance for your Dog or Cat: Is It Worth It?  (Read Part 1)

If you're looking at this post, you're probably looking also at 8 or so Google ads for pet insurance. So you need to be a smart shopper because businessmen have discovered that offering pet insurance is a good way to make money! So with that, let's continue:

Now my husband and I laid out an astonishing amount of money to have our Lab Joey just admitted to the medical center.

But would having pet insurance have had any less of a crash impact on our pocketbooks?

Truth is that most of the dog and cat insurance companies that I saw require you to pay the medical care bills first, and then submit the bill to them, and then they assess the charges and fees and reimburse you as they deem appropriate.

So you have to have the money up front, even with pet insurance.
In some animal hospitals, you can't admit your pet without having the money available; in others, you can't take your pet home without having it. 

That may be having up to $1000., which I saw for many pet owners whose dogs or cats had a diabetic attack, or, in our case, over $3000 for an animal that's been hit by a car, available on a credit card.

And keep in mind that many of these pet insurances also have deductibles that have to be met.

Our next post in this series is called "Pre-existing Conditions and Congenital Defects."

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