Is Pet Insurance Worth It?

I have had pet insurance for about a year and a half now. Many people I know have asked me if it is worth it to buy pet insurance, so I sat down and calculated whether my pet insurance was costing me more than the vet bills would on my own.

How much pet insurance costs

Pet insurance premiums for the lowest level of coverage available can vary from $6 per month to over $60 per month (http://www.petinsurancereview.com/dog.asp.) Adding additional features, such as coverage for cancer treatment, or even for routine vet visits, can quickly push up the premium.

I pay about $22/month for my border collie-mix to be covered in the case of accidents or illnesses. This is a pretty average plan, but your needs may require something more basic, or more extensive. For example, my plan does not cover cancer treatment, because I would prefer that my dog not undergo intensive surgeries or treatment if she develops cancer. However, you may feel very differently about this issue. Just remember that cancer coverage generally requires a top-tier insurance plan.

Depending on the age and breed of your dog, a plan similar to mine may cost you more or less than I pay each month. An older dog, or dogs more prone to certain diseases, will cost you more each month.

What pet insurance covers

My pet insurance covers 80% of my qualified costs, after a $100 annual deductible. This is fairly typical. Some plans have a higher deductible, but cover 90% of costs. Some plans have a $50 deductible for each claimable vet visit. When you file an insurance claim for a vet visit, the insurance company will require you to submit an itemized invoice along with your claim. They will look at each item on the invoice and compare it to the average price in your area, and adjust the claimed amount accordingly.

For example, the first time I used my pet insurance was when my dog had a growth on her tongue, and the vet needed to sedate her and remove the wart in order to check for cancer or a virus. When the insurance company reviewed the bill, they agreed to cover all the charges, but they made some small changes. For example, my vet listed a $5.51 charge for a syringe used during the procedure. My insurance company wrote in that this should cost only $4.33 in my area, and so they would only consider $4.33 of this charge towards the claim amount. Of the total charges of $173.37, the insurance company wrote off about $17 as over priced.

The second time was just a few months ago, when my dog had cut her paw and was bleeding heavily. That time I needed to take her to the vet during emergency hours.

The second time I filed a claim, I was living in a bigger city, so I was concerned that the insurance company would find even more of the vet charges overpriced. I was also uncertain whether they would cover the hefty $85 charged for simply being able to see a vet during emergency hours. When the bill came, I was happy to see that a few charges had been marked down, but not many. However, the vet had suggested that my dog have a blood screening before being sedated, and the insurance did not cover a single penny of that $100+ charge. With my second claim, I paid the vet $581.15, and got a refund of $240.04 through pet insurance.

Is my pet insurance worth the cost?

Pet insurance has definitely come in handy, and I have received some size able refunds. The question is, are those refunds worth the cost of the premiums?

In my first year of paying for pet insurance, I paid roughly $274 in premiums. I was reimbursed $212.22. With insurance I spent about $427.15 on my dog's unexpected vet visit. If I did not have pet insurance, and simply paid the whole bill, I would have paid only $273, and saved $154.

In my second year of paying for pet insurance, I have so far paid about $100 in pet insurance, and received $240 in reimbursement. Right now, I have received more than I paid; however, if my dog doesn't have any more accidents before the end of this year, I will have paid $35 more in premiums than I received in benefits.

And the final decision on pet insurance is

Buying pet insurance allows you to protect yourself against unexpected, extremely high vet bills. If your dog gets hit by a car, you don't want to worry about the costs of treatment for their injuries. It also helps spread high vet bills out over time.

An alternative to buying pet insurance is "self-insuring," where you simply put aside that $20 or $30 premium each month in your own checking account. You can keep this in savings to use on future vet bills.

Insurance would be worth having for more costly procedures, perhaps over $1,000. If your dog needed several thousand dollars in surgical procedures, the insurance payments would definitely be worth it. However, the chances of your pet needing a more costly procedure, say over $1,000, are up to you to determine. If your dog is very active, and travels with you, exposing him to places where there are more dangers, such as jogging near a road, or hiking through woods where they could pick up diseases or injuries from ticks and snakes, then such an expense may be more worth it. If your dog is at home most of the day, and is generally calm and doesn't get into trouble, then the chances of him getting into an accident are much slimmer.

The last time my dog needed an expensive vet visit, she cut her paw on some glass in our backyard. I happen to live in a neighborhood where there is lots of glass on the sidewalks, and no matter how much we clean our yard, the dogs find more glass when they dig. Therefore, there is a high probability that we will be heading to the vet for more stitches in the future.

In the end, I think that in my current situation, pet insurance is the right choice for me. I hope that sharing this experience will help you make your own decision about whether pet insurance is right for you.

Sources:

Typical pet insurance premiums