By Heidi Clayton
I received an email asking if pet insurance on dogs was worth it and if I could recommend a company. In my opinion, pet insurance is worth every penny. Rushing your dog during a crisis to the emergency room for injuries like a broken leg or an intestinal obstruction is stressful enough. Additional worries about paying the bill can be lessened with the correct insurance policy.
I have had insurance on my dogs for over 10 years. When I first enrolled, there were few options to select from. I chose Nationwide, because they offered a policy through the Bull Terrier Club that I belonged to. This is not an endorsement for Nationwide, but I am most familiar with them, and, at the time, they were one of maybe three companies that offered insurance policies for dogs. Nowadays, there are dozens of pet insurance companies to choose from. Picking one can seem overwhelming, but here are a few tips to help narrow the field.
The first place I would start is how reliable the company is and who underwrites the policies. You want to select a financially solvent insurance company that will not go under, resulting in having to seek insurance elsewhere, which may result in previous health issues becoming preexisting conditions.
Next, pick what exactly you want from the policy. I have health and wellness, plus accident/injury coverage. Most insurance companies offer accident or illness coverage, accident only, and health and wellness. Accidents include torn ACLs, broken bones, or, as a client discovered, a puncture to the eyeball from a stick that resulted in emergency eye surgery. Illnesses like diabetes, cancer or the common bouts of pancreatitis are covered. Make sure, before you enroll with any company, that you understand their conditions for illnesses and read the fine print on preexisting conditions and what they consider to be genetic diseases. For example, hip dysplasia is commonly accepted as being a genetic fault, and the very costly surgery may not be covered by some companies. As always, even if you are getting a mixed breed doodle dog, you should always insist on seeing proof from the breeder that the parents were tested for genetic diseases like dysplasia prior to breeding. Health and wellness plans can cover the routine care of going to the vet for shots, medications for upset stomachs, and even spaying/neutering. Before selecting a policy, make sure to read what health and wellness mean to each company. Sometimes, routine dental care is not covered. Your premium may also be based on the age of your dog and may increase as your dog ages. Some people opt to drop illness/injury or health and wellness as their dogs age due to high monthly premiums. Read up on how the company you want to use raises their premiums.
There are a few companies that will pay the vet clinic directly instead of you needing to seek reimbursement. I researched switching to one and found that the premiums for these companies, considering the number of dogs I was looking to insure, were higher than I wanted to spend each month. If you only have one dog, these companies may work best for you. However, you would also have to make sure that the clinic you are visiting accepts these plans before being able to benefit from them. If the emergency room you are visiting does not participate in that specific insurance company’s payment plans, you will have to seek reimbursement.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net.
