Pet Insurance

[Everett]

Vets are scum worse then used car salesman and pet insurance is just part of the same scumbag industry. How to deal with a vet when they you give a stupid quote to save your dog, offer them $500 to $1000 cash to fix the problem if they refuse tell them you are going to shoot the dog in there parking lot. You will find out what type of vet they are right then and there.
Always look for a farm vet avoid all vets who bother treating cats these are words to live by.

[Iron Glove]

Insurance is both good and bad.
In the short term it helps with costs but in the long term keeps prices artificially high.

Insurance is a bad business concept that is contributing to sky rocketing prices of services and devalues tangible goods.
Everything becomes replaceable.

Then don't but it, simple as that.
I could offer up a lengthy dissertation about why you are out to lunch but there's not much point.

[Red_Mist]

Your correct IG, when ever possible I carry the least amount of insurance possible. To bring it back to your OP and pet insurance I'll share my experience. Paid $40 a month for 7 years. Dog injured her cruciate ligament and required surgery. I decided to treat conservatively with a brace instead. Cost on the custom orthopaedic brace was $1500....
half the cost of surgery. They covered $350, and that's all. Same company tried to insist that no injuries incured
from "running " or "jumping" would be covered. It's an effing dog , what else do they do ? Anyways point is I cancelled and put away $40 a month for her, had I done that from the beginning the entire brace would b covered by my savings. I get everyone has a different ceiling of what they would spend , it's just mine isn't very high. So stories of thousands upon thousands spent on a dog aren't what I would do. Btw the brace worked amazingly well ! She doesn't even limp and never injured the other leg which often happens within 6 months of the first injury. She's 10 years old now.

[AgSilver]

Your correct IG, when ever possible I carry the least amount of insurance possible. To bring it back to your OP and pet insurance I'll share my experience. Paid $40 a month for 7 years. Dog injured her cruciate ligament and required surgery. I decided to treat conservatively with a brace instead. Cost on the custom orthopaedic brace was $1500....
half the cost of surgery. They covered $350, and that's all. Same company tried to insist that no injuries incured
from "running " or "jumping" would be covered. It's an effing dog , what else do they do ? Anyways point is I cancelled and put away $40 a month for her, had I done that from the beginning the entire brace would b covered by my savings. I get everyone has a different ceiling of what they would spend , it's just mine isn't very high. So stories of thousands upon thousands spent on a dog aren't what I would do. Btw the brace worked amazingly well ! She doesn't even limp and never injured the other leg which often happens within 6 months of the first injury. She's 10 years old now.

Just guessing, but sounds like you may have had an "illness only" policy or similar. I had this discussion with our insurer, PetSecure, and opted for broader coverage for our (at that time) very young chocolate lab. Our vet, a good friend of mine (and very good person, might I add), recommended that I have a velcro flap installed on our lab's abdomen as, if he stayed true to form with her experience with chocolate labs, he'd be in to see her regularly for eating all sorts of things. We opted for pet insurance instead.

When, at 5 years old, he tore his CCL while playing up at Buntzen, our coverage at the time allowed us to make the decision to go to a very good surgeon for the repairs and be reimbursed for a reasonable amount of those repairs. Then, when his second leg went six months later, we were able to go back and do it all again as we'd rolled over into the next insurance year. I believe that, next time, we'll look to other insurers like Trupanion as I prefer the idea of a "no limit" policy.

We probably pay too much for our coverage. At the time of the first repair, we'd paid about $2400 into it and go $2500 back and the second time around, we were way ahead of the curve. We upped our coverage after that to the $5000 limit as well, as I get concerned about future large issues like cancer, etc. I do it because (a) I can afford it and (b) the piece of mind is worth it.

I am one of those sappy types that feels that my dog is not "just a dog, after all." When the surgeries came up, people said things like "why would you ever pay for surgery on a dog?" or "at that price, I'd just put him down." I equated it to putting down Uncle Tom because he broke his hip....a repairable injury where he'd be left (effectively) intact after recovery. I'm not going to kill my dog for that.

Mind you, those other people probably won't let him sleep in the bed with them, too. Guess I'm a sucker.

[Iron Glove]

Well said AgSilver.
When I started this post it was simply to mention our experiences with Pet Insurance and to counter some people's negative opinions about it, and possibly insurance in general. With my life long experience in the Insurance Industry and our Daughter's lengthy experience in first the Vet business and now in Animal Health and her ongoing Pet Insurance claims with, of all things, a Chocolate Lab that eats everything I felt I could add a bit of experience and possibly expertise to the topic.
We value our dogs for well more than some arbitrary dollar value, and we have chosen to do our very best for them, be it financially or otherwise. If others feel differently about their dogs, so be it.
Glad to read that you, and others feel the same way.
After a long spell of difficulty with one of our kids ( the human type ) I said to the Wife in exasperation "If I had it to do all over again I'd have more dogs and less kids."

[Angus]

Same as Iron Glove, I've had insurance on my now 11 yr old lab since I got him. It's about $60/month that is of no consequence to me (one less lunch with beers, or round of golf per month), but it does give me that peace of mind so that the "big ticket" vet bills are mostly covered.

Its a personal choice and takes the financial impact out of the decision making process when deciding how to proceed.

[Piperdown]

Did i tell you folks I LOVE MY DOG, so money is not an issue!

[lorneparker1]

Vets are scum worse then used car salesman and pet insurance is just part of the same scumbag industry. How to deal with a vet when they you give a stupid quote to save your dog, offer them $500 to $1000 cash to fix the problem if they refuse tell them you are going to shoot the dog in there parking lot. You will find out what type of vet they are right then and there.
Always look for a farm vet avoid all vets who bother treating cats these are words to live by.

I think you need a new vet. I would never refer to any of the vets I have used as scum.

[BigSlapper]

You are a good man Pipes!

Did i tell you folks I LOVE MY DOG, so money is not an issue!

[Ohwildwon]

Well said AgSilver.
When I started this post it was simply to mention our experiences with Pet Insurance and to counter some people's negative opinions about it, and possibly insurance in general. With my life long experience in the Insurance Industry and our Daughter's lengthy experience in first the Vet business and now in Animal Health and her ongoing Pet Insurance claims with, of all things, a Chocolate Lab that eats everything I felt I could add a bit of experience and possibly expertise to the topic.
We value our dogs for well more than some arbitrary dollar value, and we have chosen to do our very best for them, be it financially or otherwise. If others feel differently about their dogs, so be it.
Glad to read that you, and others feel the same way.
After a long spell of difficulty with one of our kids ( the human type ) I said to the Wife in exasperation "If I had it to do all over again I'd have more dogs and less kids."

Thanks for all your valuable information!

Definitely going to go with Trupanion, my dog Dash is so, ****ing, awesome,

could not imagine trying to live with myself over, whatever a month..