Pet Insurance??

[emichel]

Snadella, those are some of the considerations covered in those articles I posted (see links above). When I get a chance I will re-read them and try to summarize some of the conclusions, but the essence of it is that it's complicated, and there's no way of knowing for sure what will be best for your dog without being able to predict the future. As with all insurance, it's a gamble. I do know that even if you stay insured all along, the premiums become much higher once the dog is old. Anyway... the Times series is very informative, if you care to read it all! :-)
-- Eileen

[LochTess]

Hi Snadella,

Congratulations on your new puppy in advance!!

I totally understand what you're saying but stuff does happen and veterinary expenses are really expensive!!

I have to say that pet insurance has saved me a number of times!! Ricky had 2 ACL surgeries, got into some raisins (that are toxic) and have to be in Emergency intensive care for two days, Sebaceous Adenitis, Interverbral Disc Disease.

So if you do use it it will pay for itself but yes there are consequences...If I had my choice I would still have pet insurance for Ricky!!

[Dory]

I had been putting off getting pet insurance for Quincy who is now eight months old. I don't know what I was waiting for, to be honest. I decided today that I would get it after reading the post with the links.
Last year we lost our Lhasa, but before he passed away, there were many, many vet bills for surgery, emergency visits, hospital stays, medicine, and more. It took us quite a while to pay off the bills, but we did. I am one of those people who would mortgage my house to make my dog well. Today I enrolled Q in Healthy Paws Hopefully we will never need to use it, but knowing firsthand how much the bills can be, I feel better having it just in case. The monthly premium is $35 and change and that's with a $100 deductible and 90% reimbursement. There is also an unlimited lifetime limit and a 15 day waiting period. Doesn't cover vaccines, neuter, etc., but most don't or if they do, they charge extra.

[krandall]

I guess it depends on whether you think your dog is likely to have more than $35 x 12 x 15 years or so ($6300) of covered health problems. That is assuming no increase in premiums, which it looks like isn't likely.

We decided that, just as with our horses, we would rather "self insure". That is, we have enough money in the bank that we will take our chance and pay for medical expenses as they come up.

Certainly, if you are one of the unlucky people who gets a dog who needs major surgery, or has an expensive disease that needs ongoing treatment, and you have insurance, you are very happy with it. OTOH, insurance companies are not charities. They are in the business of making money. That means that, playing the averages, there are many dogs who never use anywhere NEAR the amount of money paid in premiums for every dog whose owner gets more paid in medical expenses than they have paid in premiums.

We'd rather have that money sitting in the bank, (or mutual funds, actually) making US money, rather than making an insurance company money. I know some people feel more comfortable having the insurance, but it's not something that people should think they HAVE to have to be a conscientious dog owner. You really have to decide what works better for your own situation.