Health Insurance for Your Dog or Cat: Do the Math

This is the fourth installment in our series, "Pet Insurance: Is It Worth It? 

You have this darling little black Lab and you love him so much. Do you get health insurance for him? 

At this point, you may be asking yourselves, "So? What is she going to say in her blog? Is it worth it for me (or us) to purchase health insurance for my cat?" Will I be a horrible pet owner if I do not purchase this pet health insurance?

Here's what I do:  I go onto the web and find one site that reviews pet insurance companies. I see one.  They provide rave reviews from satisfied customers, three satisfied customers. Here are how the three rave reviews begin, and I'll paraphrase, so I don't get sued:

• Your 11 month old Golden Retriever has accidentally swallowed a stone about the size of a small egg."
  
• You're a college student who really can't afford the hidden costs that come with a dog. That being said, ... You spend the approximately $400 to buy the full coverage (0% copay, $50 deductible) .... You figure that, with the average checkup alone costing $120, it would be worthwhile, not to mention the potential for all sorts of terrible things happening to your dog. And you are right! A few months later, your beloved dog tears the ACL in his rear right leg, which requires major surgery.
  
• You have a 9-month old Wheaton Terrier. When your puppy was 4 months old she had surgery for ectopic uretors and at 8 months she needed to have her right kidney removed.

In each of the above cases, the dog is very young when he or she is injured.

The owner has invested very little money in his/her pet's health insurance before the dog has had an illness. Of course the owner is going to think he got a good deal.

Pet insurance is also being recommended for seniors.

  A senior will get a pet when he or she is older in life, as a companion, and at that age is often of limited financial resources. If the senior gets a young dog, this can make sense.

So you do the math. 

The dog or cat is young (you've paid out very little into the insurance fund) and has a catastrophic illness (lots of money here). Since the dog or cat is young, there are no pre-existing conditions (which would mean you get no reimbursement). Seems like a win-scenario for the pet owner.  (But keep in mind from our Part 2, that usually you still have to pay the medical bills up front, and you get reimbursed.)

If you and your pet don't satisfy these conditions, we still ask the question: Might not it be preferable for you to put money aside every month into your own insurance savings account for your pet, to use if and when needed, and to then have for yourself, again, if not needed?

So what about our situation, with our dog Joey?  Would purchasing pet insurance for him have saved us any money, in the long run? Stay tuned for our next and final installment of this topic, "

Pet Insurance: Is It Worth It? Should You Purchase It?

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Pet Insurance: Pre-existing Conditions, Congenital Defects

"Pre-existing Conditions" is a term that you have heard referred to for human health insurance. But did you realize that this is a major issue with pet insurance?

And what about this term, "congenital defects and diseases"?  Many people don't even know what "congenital" means!

What do you know about the congenital defects of your darling new family member?

"Congenital" means that it comes with birth. The term "hereditary" also works.

Let's look at the human disease, Cystic Fibrosis. This disease is most common among Causasians in the United States  In the United States, this disease occurs more frequently among Caucasians than among any other ethnic or racial group.  If we took the same situation with a chocolate Lab who developed hip dysplasia, this would be considered, by most pet insurance companies to be a "congenital defect" and would NOT be covered! So you could be paying premiums and your dog could have many healthy years,  and then your dog develops hip dysplasia and you will not be reimbursed.

You may be able to find some pet insurance companies that say that they will cover congenital defects and diseases, but you need to do your homework. Which are they?  Read the fine print.

More than 400 diseases are considered to be congenital in dogs, and over 150 diseases are considered to be congenital in cats. More and more diseases are added each year to this list, as inbreeding continues. We do want our purebreds, right? And if your dog is a mix, do the pet health insurance companies refuse to pay based on both breeds in the mix? 

So before you purchase or consider purchasing pet health insurance, look at the list of congenital defects for your breed of dog. (And this goes for mixed breeds, too!)  Talk to your vet or do some online research.

So much to think about.... So much to learn!  Your dog is your best friend, and you are his.... But make smart decisions.

Our next installment is called "Do the Math".  

>The pet insurance companies are telling you one thing; sure they are!  They are in business. In their advertisements, they are presenting  the side of the story so that you cannot refuse taking out that policy.  You love your pet and want to be a good owner. But you can make a wise decision, if you learn to do the math!

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."

Health Insurance for Your Dog: Is It Worth It? Part 1

I know a lot of people who have dogs, but frankly I don't know that any of them have pet insurance. And yet when Joey was injured, we heard people ask, "Do you have pet insurance?"  The internet is pulsing with ads for pet insurance.

 

Right from the start, I'm saying that we never got Joey health insurance. Do we wish we had? Would we recommend pet insurance?

We are going to begin a short series on this question: Pet Insurance:  Is It Worth It?

First, Joey - and I hope I'm not putting a curse on him by saying this - never was sick one day in his life!  For the most part, until he was hit by the car, his medical care was entirely routine.

The worst medical condition he had was an occasionally skin allergy in the winter, that the veterinarian said was due to the long dry New England winter and his lack of being outside.  (And we solved that problem: After Joey got hit by the car, we started putting Omega 3 oils in his food once per day to help his skin heal and presto, by the next long and hard New England winter, he had only minimal skin dryness!)

So when Joey got hit by the car, and even that first day cost us a pretty penny, naturally we started wondering if we'd made a mistake, if we should have gotten our dog health insurance a long time ago, and we started wondering if it was worth it for us to get it from that point going forward (with the understanding that it would not cover any costs related to his accident).

Even that first day!  We had a fee at the first and local animal hospital that stabilized Joey, then the second and larger 24-hour animal medical center provided acute emergency care, diagnosis, etc.  Joey was in the Intensive Care Unit for 5 days, during which time he had, among other care, dental surgery.

Now, if your pet has an emergency, when you go into the animal medical center, before they will even admit your dog or cat, they will consult a doctor and create a maximum and minimum estimate of charges.  You must have that amount of money in your account or on a credit card account before they will administer your pet and provide emergency services. Your credit care is not actually charged; it's kind of like making a reservation at a hotel. They want to make sure you have the money, but you are not actually charged until the service is provided.

So let's go back to pet insurance. We went online and chose one very well-known company to obtain a free quote. We put in for the maximum coverage: Common Problems, Panic-Moment Problems (aha, here is where our dog gets hit by a car), expensive problems (which includes chemotherapy), routine care, additional care (?) and enhanced cancer care: Hocus Pocus and we have the figure $62. per month. Now do the real math.  Okay, over one year that's $744. Over a period of ten years, that's $7445. Hey, that's Joey's age!  Over a period of 15 years thats $11,160.

So a person would have to have $11,160 in medical bills (and that's after any deductibles and/or co-pays are paid) on medical expenses related to your dog to just break even after 10 years.

Now the caveat is "Pre-existing conditions including congenital defects or diseases". 

Here's where it gets tricky. What exactly is a congenital defect considered to be? Or a congenital disease? And what are the congenital defects and congenital diseases that YOUR dog might have been born with, or might develop, for which you will not be covered?

On a Labrador Retriever, the ever-so-common Hip Dysplasia is considered to be a congenital disease and is therefore not covered!  Did I see a list of exclusions for each breed - what is considered to be a congenital defect - on this website???? Did I hear any of you say "No"?

We looked at another dog medical insurance. In the rolling sidebar, it gave the following example, intended to surely hook you in to the great savings offered by getting pet health insurance:

Example #1:

"Treated for: Colon Cancer Claim Paid: $2647.xx Monthly Premium: $42.xx

Do the math.  This person was paying $507. per month for health insurance for his dog.  So if his dog got colon cancer when he or she was five years old, the dog's owner would have broken even, and if he/she'd gotten colon cancer after that age the owner would have saved money by having pet health insurance. But in our pet insurance's example, how old was the dog when he or she got cancer?  We don't know that!  We aren't told this!  Most dogs don't get colon cancer when they are 5 years old, although Joey's mom was an exception and got cancer and died when she was four. (Cancer is common among Labrador Retrievers, but not so common among other breeds.) So maybe this owner would have done better putting his money in a bank account every month and using it when needed, if needed, and taking that statistical chance.

Example #2:

Treated for: Cruciate Ligament Tear Claim Paid: $2633.xx Monthly Prem.: $37.xx

Do the math.  This pet owner was paying, per year, $444. How old was the dog when he got the ligament tear, or how many years was the person paying for this insurance?  At 5-1/2 years old, the owner was breaking even.  Before that, the owner was saving money. After that, the insurance company was coming out ahead. 

Be a smart shopper.  Be a smart pet owner.

When you see these ads enticing you to purchase health insurance for your dog or cat, do the math - first.

And then there is the question from above: the exclusions for a "congenital defect" and a "pre-existing condition"!  In another post, we're going to take a deeper look at this question: For dogs, what is a "congenital defect and what is a congenital defect or disease considered to be, by these insurance companies?

Part 2: Money Up Front!