How exactly does pet insurance work? Is it worth it?
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If you have pet insurance and there is an emergency they’ll reimburse you some amount after you send then your bill.
Insurance being “worth it” comes down to what are you looking for. If you want the peace of mind knowing you wont go under with a sudden huge bill, sure. If you want to guarantee it’s financially worth it, then I can’t really promise you that.
I pay $15/month for my two cats. One had a bladder blockage and spent 3 days in the vet and had emergency surgery to clear the crystals from his bladder. My pet insurance reimbursed me 90% of the $2400 bill. It turned out to financially worth it to me, but it was always worth it because I didn’t have think about the cost for even one second when my cat was in dire pain and peeing blood.
Second question first: it’s worth it, but not in the way an investment is. What you’re paying for is peace of mind — as in, **if** your pet ever needs very expensive treatment, you stand a better chance of being able to afford it. Personally I think the “win” condition for pet insurance is that you never make any claims.
How it works depends on which insurer you go for and what policy you get. Some will pay for routine medical exams, some will not. Some will cover specific conditions and not cover others (as a note, a lot of them _do not_ cover cancer by default!) Some have age limits (as in, they will stop insuring your dog once the dog is 14), and even without that the price is likely to increase — a lot — as your pet ages. Like an other insurance, _make sure you understand the policy_ before signing it.
You pay a certain amount each month in order to not have to decide between paying for food / rent or letting your beloved pet die because you can’t afford to pay a vet to treat them.
I’ve been poor and had pets that have meant the world to me.
It’s a decision I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
I specifically chose a plan that doesn’t have an upper limit. When my cats are relatively healthy, I do think I’m losing out on money (also the time to get reimbursed instead of insurance just paying like it does for humans). But I’ve seen cases where people need to pay thousands of dollars for some kind of surgery, I don’t want to get stuck with that kind of bill. If that never happens they, yeah, I’ve lost out on money. But my cats feel like my family at this point, and I don’t want to have to turn down a treatment for them for financial reasons if i can help it. and putting a smaller amount of money towards that is worth it to me, even if I never need to use it
Pet insurance is good for the individual who can afford it, but bad for pet owners in general. It drives up prices, and encourages veterinarians to perform procedures based on financial rather than medical reasons.
Most people who can now afford pet insurance were able to afford out of pocket expenses in the past. There were no £1000 vet bills unless you had several hundred sheep. So now, the poor can afford neither insurance, nor normal expenses that used to cost £15 – £25.
You will pay a set monthly price based on the type/age of your dog and the coverage you select.
Generally, there will be a deductible. This is the amount that you have to pay (per incident usually) before the insurance pays anything. Once the deductible is paid, the insurance company will pay some percentage (or all with a really expensive plan, I think) of the remaining bill.
You can also get a plan that covers some or all routine care for a much higher price.
When I looked into pet insurance, I was offered a plan for $40/month for my 6 year old dog. It had a $250 deductible and paid 80% of the bill after that.
Only you can decide if it is worth it.
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