Pet Insurance

[pat3332]

OK, I admit I haven't done a search for this, but I was considering pet insurance before Bailey was diagnosed with diabetes and have been considering it since, but I just wanted to ask the opinions of others here.

After beating myself up for not doing it sooner, I started thinking about what I've spent on the vet and what I've spent on supplies and considering what I've spent on the vet was a drop in the bucket compared to what I've spent on food, glucometer and especially test strips for home testing, I'm not sure it would have helped that much anyway.

Most of the insurance I've checked and narrowed down to the best ones state that they don't cover existing conditions which is expected, but also that they don't cover any conditions contracted as a result of the original condition.

That has made me a little reluctant to shell out the money since from what I can tell, just about anything else that happens to your dog could be claimed to be a result of the diabetes.

Anyone have any comments or experiences they'd care to share?

Thanks

Pat

[diggydog]

Hi Pat,

Not sure if its the same here in the UK as the US but I had pet insurance for Alfie before he was diagnosed. It was a huge fight with them to get them to pay anything and eventually I cancelled my policy and took out another one with a different company.
They wouldn't cover his diabetes but I figured it would be fine as anything else would be covered. Wrong! Everytime I tried to claim for something it always came back the same. Denied due to existing conditions. They wouldn't pay out for anything and seemed to find a way to link it all back to the diabetes. I ended up cancelling that policy as well. They would prob have paid out for a broken leg or something but they are very good at finding a way not to pay.
Personally I think that once you dog has been diagnosed its not worth taking out insurance. The premium each month could be used to pay for the vet bills they are just going to deny anyway. I set up an account and put the money I was spending on insurance into it each month and it covers most of my vet expenses.

Allison

[Jaye]

I have Trupanion for my non-diabetic dog, Callie. I've only had to make one claim against it and it didn't quite reach the total for the deductible, but I was very happy with the efficiency. They accepted every single thing that the vet put on the invoice, no questions. They were very quick to let me know when the vet sent the form. Very pleasant on the phone.

I chose this insurance for several reasons. Once you enroll, the premium does NOT go up for age, you get to choose your own deductible. There is NO lifetime limit, no annual limit, and no limit per incidence.

Once a exists, it's covered and doesn't become "pre-existing" when the renewal comes around (you can renew monthly...there is no annual commitment). For example, you dog is diagnosed with diabetes in October. With some pet insurances, come January the diabetes is considered pre-existing and is not covered anymore. I specifically asked about this when I enrolled and was told that, once a pet is diagnosed it is covered for life. I was even told that needles and syringes would be covered (asked specifically). Didn't ask about testing supplies, though.

Of course, these were all things I was told. I haven't had to use them yet, thankfully. The premium for my 8 year old poodle (7 years old upon enrollment) is $46.10 per month. It does NOT cover vet exams and routine "maintainance." This insurance is for the big ticket items that no one wants to face.

Go to www.petinsurancereview.com

[pgcor]

Hi Pat

I have access to pet insurance through my employer, but have not utilized it. It covers diabetes, but there's a $600 maximum per year. That's not nearly enough to offset the monthly premiums.

I have not been able to find a pet insurance that will help me with the diabetes charges and not get me with the premiums. I find that either way you are going to pay - upfront in premiums or out of pocket.

However, if someone has a good deal going - I'd like to know about it!

Pam

[buddingartist]

When we went to pick up Buddy and Cleo at the breeder, we were horrified by the conditions of both the place and the dogs. Buddy was emaciated, bald from the neck down to his tail, covered in open sores and some of them bleeding. Cleo had a heart murmur and slight limp. Right or wrong, we simply could not leave them there and we paid the ransom of $1400.

When the vet thoroughly examined them the next day, he confirmed that Buddy was weeks from dying, the untreated mange had affected his lungs and most probably would affect his overall health (anal sac, allergies, digestive problems, etc, etc). As for Cleo, it was a level 4 heart murmur and after X-rays, it was diagnosed as a fractured hip (we had to wait until she was 7 months for her to have the surgery).

The insurance would have been approximately $80. per month for both (in 2000) and although the vet did not tell us not to get the insurance, he told us that he had to submit a complete report of their general health to the insurance company and that chances are that if they had health problems later on, a lot would have been attributed to their initial health condition (therefore pre-existing and other disease as a result of pre-existing). It also excluded yearly exams etc.

I had also reported the breeder (??%&&) to 2 Protection of Animal agencies so they were technically <puppy mill< dogs.

We decided against the insurance however, I now wish I would have been as wise as Allison and had set up a <retirement fund< for them as well as for us.:o Chances are that everything that is happening to Buddy now would have been excluded.

[k9diabetes]

We have been trying out VPI with Jack. So far they have been good to work with and have cheerfully paid his claims (we have filed 2 claims in 2 years!).

I called them to talk about his back issue as we had spent about $600 on it but hadn't turned in a claim because it had been in manageable amounts over about six month's time. I wanted to make sure we didn't jeopardize coverage later if he needed an MRI or back surgery... The person I talked to actually encouraged me to file a claim for it.

The final amount submitted was $619 and they paid us $401.

So far I've been happy with them.

We didn't buy comprehensive coverage for routine things like vaccines, etc. Our premium this year when we renewed in November was $313. They have about broken even on us so far.

ASPCA offers some kind of pet insurance. You could check them out as well.

We mainly wanted it in case something horrendously expensive came up like and MRI and then back surgery. Although now with acupuncture and various meds, we might go broke anyway!

Natalie

[peggy0]

I use vpi and am very happy with it

[Jaye]

I agree that, if your dog already has a pre-existing condition, you have to really think about whether or not the insurance will be worth it for you because they will link things to whatever that condition is.

That's why, of the 12 pets I have, only one is insured. My dog, Callie, was still relatively young (for a poodle) at 7 years old and had no pre-existing conditions. Figured I'd better get her covered before anything happened to her that could be excluded later.

[pat3332]

Thanks for the replies. That pretty much verifies what I thought about denying any future claims by linking everything to the diabetes. I also agree with Allison. It would probably be better just to put what I'd spend on insurance in a vet fund.

Considering the cost of the insulin and syringes at Wal-mart, I doubt that pet insurance could save me a lot. My main expense is the test strips and I could save on those if I wasn't just a little to OC to settle for anything but the most accurate I can get. :)

Thanks

Pat

[CarolW]

I took out Trupanion insurance on Camellia, starting the day she became mine. I took the zero-deductible; they pay 90% of costs with that version of their policy. They don't cover routine maintenance care, such as dental, nor initial vet exam. But they do cover anything else that shows up "new," as I understand it, and do so, apparently, without any hassle.

Hope I'll never have to draw on it, but if I do, Camellia and I are covered for expenses which would otherwise be catastrophic for me.

Wonder if they'd cover testing supplies for diabetes! I didn't check; don't know! Test strips, for instance!

I'd thought of just putting "premium" money into an account, but the problem with that is the possible catastrophic nature of expenses incurred for the really expensive stuff - especially if it's ongoing for the rest of the dog's life.

It seems vets around here are happy with Trupanion; find the company easy to deal with; no hassles.

http://www.trupanionpetinsurance.com/

I don't know what countries Trupanion covers - at least, the U.S. and Canada, I believe, but there's their web site from where I live, in Canada.

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:32:40 (PST)

[eileen]

oh do I wish I would have had pet insurance on Mildred when her gall bladder burst and it had to be removed 5 years ago........the bill at U C Davis,Ca... $6,500.00.

Not something that could have been attributed to her diabetes.

[CarolW]

Eileen - that's exactly the reason I decided to take out medical and accident insurance on Camellia. I've never used pet insurance before, but had I done so, my life would have been a lot easier.

Camellia has no health problems now; she's 3.5 - a bit more - years old (born 7 March 2007).She has a sinus arrhythma in her heart, which my vet says is not a problem (it's very occasional).

She wasn't spayed till 23 April 2010 - a bit over 3 years old, which puts her at some risk of mammary cancer later on. I specifically asked if that would be covered, and the company said, yes, that would be fully covered, despite the late spay.

i forgot to mention the premium I pay - a bit stiff for me, but totally worth it, should I EVER need the insurance!

I pay $56.58 monthly. The company does automatic withdrawal from my bank account; they don't use other payment methods. Very reliable company, according to all I could find out.

Hope I don't have to lean on this, but if I do, I KNOW I'll be SO glad I took out the insurance!

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:22:05 (PST)

[eileen]

Hi Carol, yes, that's why I posted Mildred's unforseen high cost of surgery for an issue that her surgeon actually told me is not all that uncommon in our dogs.

I was at a different point in my life back then so was able to pay for it, altho still a struggle.
If it happened today it would not go as it did then.

So glad you are able to have Camellia covered, just in case but so hope you'll never need it.

hugs

[pat3332]

Just thought I'd play devil's advocate a little on the issue of paying the money for insurance versus putting the money in a vet account.

If your financial circumstances change, or something catastrophic does happen and it comes down to paying the mortgage, making the car payments, credit card payments, buying food for the human/pet family and buying insulin and diabetes supplies, or making the insurance payment, I'm afraid the insurance would have to go.

If that happened and the insurance lapsed, all of the money paid for premiums thus far would just be gone and you still wouldn't have insurance. The money in the vet account would still be available to help you out financially.

Just another side of the coin

Pat

[k9diabetes]

No question it's always a gamble - that's the nature of insurance. You never know how things will turn out for your house, your car, or your dog.

When we adopted Jack in October, 2008 he was about 1 year old and I sure didn't expect to have to have his entire body x-rayed and for him to come up with two very badly damaged intervertebral discs. If he does wind up needing an MRI and/or surgery, I will be really glad we decided to insure him. I also hope that we never have to do those things - for our finances' sake and for his - and will somewhat cheerfully forfeit the premiums in exchange.

It's not too different from buying an ultrasound examnation and not finding anything - still good news even if expensive news - and something I've done more than once. ;)

In our case, the insurance company has so far paid us back pretty much almost every penny we have paid in premiums in two years. Not what anybody expected.

I don't know about the rest of you, but with three animals who all have a chronic medical condition, I figure my chances are very very good of eventually claiming back quite a bit of an insurance premium...

Natalie

[CarolW]

Natalie, you surely are getting something out of YOUR insurance; do I say, I'm glad, or sorry? (haha)

But. |Pat, that was a very important point you made; people's financial circumstances can and do sometimes changes, sometimes, in catastrophic ways, too. And canceling your insurance would lose you all that premium money paid, as you said - nothing to fall back on for the dog (or cat, etc.)

Whether to take out pet insurance, seems to me, then, depends on a number of factors! This is the frist time in my life it's really made sense to me to do that; after I've faced saying to myself - and my vets I cannot put this dog down just because I don't have money!

But it happens. I've never had to do it.

I'd grin if if were funny! Any grins here are VERY wry.

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:18:50 (PST)

[k9diabetes]

Maybe the ideal is to do both, at least at first.

Pay the premiums in the early years in case of a catastrophic illness that you haven't had time to save for and at the same time sock money away. Then eventually you might be able to cancel the insurance.

But some critter in my household is going to have to experience a miraculous and mysterious recovery before there will be any saving of money going on around here...

Natalie

[buddingartist]

So Natalie, despite the diagnostic of damaged discs, you were able to insure Jack?

If that is the case, it sure feels like it is much better in the US than it is in Canada. We wouldn't have been able to get insurance before a completel evaluation and a report of their medical condition from the vet.

It was so long ago but I also vaguely remember something about having to microchip as well.

Louise

[k9diabetes]

We insured him as soon as we adopted him and as far as we knew at the time, there wasn't a thing wrong with him.

In fact, the insurance took the notes from a very brief exam the vet did when we adopted him and excluded everything that was mentioned! Tarter on teeth - excluded. Slightly soft stools - excluded!

I guess we were "lucky" ;) that we didn't know about any of this stuff at the time.

The first claim was related to his weak pasterns. Vet x-rayed everything from the hips and shoulders down then so we knew he had no dysplasia or other problems in his hips, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists or ankles.

We didn't find out about the discs until this spring when he had an acute problem with his back and was in obvious pain.

Natalie

[pat3332]

I can definitely see both sides of the issue and there are more variables than I had originally thought about.

If I got a new puppy today, I would probably do it, but I just haven't quite decided what to do about my current herd of critters.

Pat

[k9diabetes]

He wasn't required to have an extensive exam to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with him. Although even if he'd had one, I don't think these particular problems would have been obvious.

There are also exclusions for known problems by breed. We don't know if he's a purebred border collie or not. He was adopted out to us as a mix.

Natalie

[Jaye]

According to Trupanion's website and the info I was told, they don't make exclusions based on typical hereditary problems due to breed (sounds almost too good to be true). I asked specifically about bad teeth, because my little Callie is a poodle and they are notorious for that.

I was told that if I am following the vet's advice on having dentals done and brushing her teeth, I will be reimbursed for items dealing with bad teeth. A routine dental would not be covered, but extractions would. Haven't tested that yet.