Pet Insurance For the WIN!

As a pet owner you want to take the very best care of your pet but financially may have limitations. It is never easy when you are faced with a large unexpected vet bill and have to make hard, life changing decisions based on finances. As veterinary professionals it is hard on us too. Veterinary medicine is much different than human medicine. If a person goes to the emergency room you are not asked for payment and insurance is billed. In veterinary medicine we don’t have that luxury or do we??

We can ensure finances do not become part of the equation by getting our pets insured. Pet insurance eliminates having to choose groceries over medical care for your furry or not so furry friend. Being out of pocket only 75 - 90% of a $1000 bill, makes choosing treatment a whole lot easier. Then all that is necessary to be focused on is your dog or cat getting better, which is what really matters.

Let us break down Insurance a bit:

1. Medical pet insurance:

What is it? Coverage for the unexpected, like accidents and illnesses. These tend to be the costly visits to the vet and difficult to budget. A few of the providers do cover wellness expenses such as vaccines and preventions, this generally makes the premiums significantly higher.

It is not: an investment or savings plan. Insurance rarely covers preventative and predictable treatments like vaccines or wellness exams.

Planning: Insurance will not be active the moment it is purchased, there is often a waiting period and when insurance is needed it is best to have it in hand.

2. Consider the lifetime care of a pet:

Though we do not like to think about it, most pets get hurt or sick at some point in their lives. Different species as well of breeds are prone to different issues…both like eating inappropriate things. Cats seem to love string or ribbon, while dogs, well some anyway almost will eat most anything!

Common health problems:

Dogs: Vomiting & Diarrhea, Knee ligament rupture, and Lameness/Limping

Cats: Kidney disease, Lymphoma, and Urinary tract infection

3. Consider the cost:

Premiums: The monthly cost or “premium”- will vary depending on several factors. The pets age, breed, location and coverage selected will determine the monthly cost.

Deductible: The deductible is the portion of the bill that you would be responsible for prior to the insurance company covering any treatment. This is an option that you can control when selecting a plan.

4. Consider the coverage:

Look over the whole policy and understand the coverage. Waiting Period: This is the time immediately following enrollment prior to the full coverage starts. Injuries and illness’ that start prior to the end of the waiting period are not covered.

Pre-Existing Conditions: Any documented illness or injury that displayed signs before coverage began. Conditions that existed prior to enrollment are not covered.

Genetic/Congenital Conditions: Breeds of cats and dogs have predispositions to different.

5. What does this process look like:

**This is what a typical insurance company reimbursement process would look like; with Trupanion there would only be 3 steps, with no need to submit a claim.

At Avalon Family Vet we recommend Trupanion. Trupanion offers several options on the deductible cost, coverage percentage and they have the unique ability to pay the clinic directly. Paying the clinic directly means all you are out of pocket is the deductible, with deductibles as low as $250 you can not go wrong. There are several other companies that should also be looked into; PetsBest, Nationwide, Pumpkin - just to name a few. These companies do however require records to be submitted prior to being reimbursed.

I for one am a huge fan of pet insurance; unless you have set up a fund to treat your pets for the unexpected, insurance is necessary. Now this is not saying that insurance is the same as a savings plan, however you do not need thousands saved to be able to afford insurance.

Wellness care is affordable and able to be planned. Yearly exams are a necessity, they keep a good relationship with the vet for when something does go wrong and it allows the vet to prescribe medications, including heartworm medications. Blood work is a yearly necessity to be sure your pet is heartworm free, this is where it is recommended to get full wellness blood work done as well which tells us the inner workings of our pets. Generally speaking these are easy to budget and manage payments, we are always willing to provide costs based on the needs of your pet.

Our pets are our family, at Avalon Family Vet we treat them as such. We will always offer gold standard care for our patients. We believe in letting you decide the level of care that your pet receives. Having an insurance provider will allow you to achieve gold standard care 100% of the time without you having to decide between groceries and bringing your pet to see us for that persistent urinary infection.

If you haven’t signed up for pet insurance yet - join the club! Signing up through us allows you to try it out for free for 30 days. The younger you sign them up the better rates you will receive, more will be covered and you will be ready when an unexpected vet visit happens and trust me it will!

We are always here to answer any questions.

Sabrina Beck, CVT, CVBL