Occasionally the subject comes up here, opinions range from "a waste of $$" to "a must have" so thought I would post our recent actual experience. First, full disclosure - I was in the Insurance Industry for over 45 years, never in Pet Insurance so I do have some biases.
We have had Insurance on our dogs for years. Our 14 year old recently went through a somewhat serious spell involving extensive surgery and now chemo. Costs to date are @ $9,000 with at least another $1,000 to go and depending on results could go on for a long time. Our Insurance covers @ 80% of that after the deductible, co-insurance and things that are excluded. Over the years we have had a number of relatively minor Vet visits for the dogs and in most cases don't bother claiming, we have the Insurance for "The Big One." If one just considers the economics of it, we've paid maybe $6,000 in premiums on this dog so we certainly haven't "lost" on the deal.
Had a long chat with the Surgeon after all this and he says that many pet owners simply can't afford the cost of care so the pet gets put down.
Having Insurance removes that from the equation leaving the pet owner to decide if the treatment is reasonable under the circumstances for quality or longevity of life.
In our situation we would have proceeded with the treatment whether or not Insurance was available, finances are not an issue for us but it really is nice not have to dig into the savings.
The Insurer we have sent the settlement cheque to us before the bills even showed up on my Master Card, certainly can't complain about the service.
Our dog is 14 but according to all the Vets that have seen her has the body of a 10 year old. One of the Vets didn't believe she was 14 so checked her ID and was amazed. Hopefully she has a number of good years still to come.
So, to all you pet owners, think about it and make an informed decision. It works for some, maybe not for others.