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Pet Insurance
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What is Pet Insurance & Why do I Need it?
When I first heard about Pet Insurance a few years back, my first thought was that it must be a scam. Come on, insurance for a dog?
A few years ago the topic of pet insurance came up at a gathering and I dismissed it as a waste of money. My friend Sara asked me if if I was a responsible pet owner. Smelling a setup I responded that I was a practical pet owner.
She then asked if I would pay $200 to a vet to save one of my dog's life. I said yes, of course. Then she asked if I would pay $20,000 to save the same dog's life. I didn't hesitate as I responded no. She asked why and I explained that as much as I love my animals, no one of them is worth my son's college fund.
She then looked at me and told me that I was not a responsible pet owner. I was ready for that one and started into a tirade about prioritizing parental responsibilities with pet ownership responsibility.
She let me argue myself out and then surprised me by admitting that given the specific choice, Mine was correct. Sara told me I was an irresponsible pet owner because I allowed that choice to be a possibility even though the odds were good given I have always had multiple pets. She told me I was irresponsible because I should have known that and yet I didn't get Pet Insurance.
In our scenario I could have avoided telling my son's that we were going to have to put their dog down, even though there was a way to save him, because it didn't make good financial sense.
Well, the next day I pulled up Quicken and creating a report of my vet bills from the last 10 years I realized I would have broken even or maybe come out a little ahead over that time. The thing is, we didn't really have a "major" pet medical event during that time.
Pet insurance start at just over ten bucks a month which is not bad at all, especially after I did a little research. I found the following facts and they are dated so the numbers are sure to be higher now.
-"a near doubling of the average annual cost of veterinary surgery visits -- to $574 in 2004 from $289 in 2000" (University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Medicine)
-"Recognizing that pets are family members too, many progressive employers, including Google Inc., Hilton Hotels Corp., Ford Motor Co. and McDonald's Corp., have begun to offer group policies for pet owners." (www.investopedia.com)
-"Diagnostic testing can easily top the $1,000 mark and can be as high as $5,000 - this does not include surgical care or long-term treatments and medications. (The Economics Of Pet Ownership)
-"On average, bills for vet visits and surgical procedures in 2005 cost dog owners $785 and cat owners $516" (APPMA)
-"Cats with renal failure, a common ailment, can now get an $8,000 to $10,000 kidney transplant, followed by $600-a-year regimens of immunosuppressive drugs." (The Economics Of Pet Ownership)
I had heard enough. Even if I had found that I never had a claim, pet insurance would still definitely be worth it to me.
What I bought was not a financial investment, as no insurance is an investment, but rather a responsible and practical solution to an almost inevitable problem. I was paying a small fee to not have tell my sons that their dog's life was not worth the money.
That was how I came around. If you don't have pet insurance I urge you to click on one of the links below and get some today. At the very least, fill out a request for a quote so you can make an informed choice.
Two reputable companies that offer reasonable and practical policies for a fair price are Quick Care and Petco. |
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The Practical Pet 