The cost of veterinary care rises faster than just about any other service these days – at a healthy 15% year on year. People are often financially wiped out when a beloved pet falls ill and treatment ends up costing thousands of dollars. It can be a smart move to buy dog insurance before your pet actually falls ill. Here are a few things that you need to keep in mind to come away with the best deal.
There are two basic things that any dog insurance policy needs to offer you. It needs to be affordable of course, and it needs to give you coverage that'll actually make a difference. There are plenty of insurance policies out there that take your money, but that completely bog you down in exclusions. Some of these exclusions are things you would never even expect – like refusal of coverage for any injuries from an accident or the refusal of coverage when one is on vacation.
If there is an insurance company that seems to offer great payouts, make sure that you study their plan closely. It's possible that they will only do that if you agree to a very high co-pay.
Sometimes, you come across a plan that seems just perfect – it seems the plan doesn't cost that much, they don't seem to ask for a high co-pay, and their list of exclusions does not seem outrageous. You still can't just jump at it right away.
It's possible that they have limits on what they will pay for each different illness. The arbitrary limits they impose may make no sense for you and your pet. They might for instance, say that they will only pay $1000 per illness. Policies like this go and easily claim that they offer good protection worth thousands of dollars; they don't really advertise how that's only if your pet gets a number of different illnesses so that you can claim $1000 on each.
If possible, it would make a lot of sense if you could find a plan that doesn't charge you a per-incident the deductible. There are plans out there that will only charge you one single annual deductible for about $100 or so. It's always good to make things predictable.
Often it's a good idea to only go with a pet insurance company that will offer wellness coverage – routine visits just to check things out. You do need to take your pet in for neutering purposes, for flea problems and so on every year, don't you.
Finding Cheap Pet Insurance
When your pet comes down with something serious, you have two choices – you either have to find the money to help your pet get better, or you have to put him down. At least, those are the traditional choices. There's a third choice these days – you could get health insurance for your pets. A lot of the time though, it isn't such a great choice, because it can be expensive, and these policies don't pay for anything that might happen. Cheap pet insurance, if you can find it, is the only kind that actually make any financial sense. How do you find it though? Let's take a look.
Before you even consider investing time on finding cheap pet insurance, you have to try to find out if your particular breed of pet is excluded. Certain aggressive pets and working dogs usually are. Most of the time, they won't cover any pre-existing conditions or conditions like arthritis that your pet has already received a certain amount of treatment for. You might also want to look at the possibility that your pet is too old to be insured. For real cheap pet insurance, your dog needs to be quite young. You really need to ask around.
If you want cheap pet insurance and you really can't spend much, you should consider basic annual cover that only takes care of small injuries, minor surgery and minor health problems. They'll cover about $1500 a year worth of treatment. Top-of-the-line insurance on the other hand, will cover long-term illnesses like diabetes or cancer. A lot will depend on the breed of pet that you have. If your pet is a breed that tends to get any of these expensive diseases, top-of-the-line insurance should be save you a great deal of money over the long term. Seen this way, even expensive pet insurance would turn out to be cheap.
Whatever policy you do end up buying, be sure to check that there are no surprises. You want to learn about what their policy is on pre-existing conditions, and who pays when things are serious enough that there is no cure, and your dog has to be put down.
Most people don't see some of these exceptions coming. Who for instance would expect that a pet insurance policy would exclude any health problems during holiday travel? But some do. It would be a good idea to get pet insurance that will completely cover every kind of holiday mishap eventuality. Some of them will even cover the money you lose when your holiday is cut short because of a pet health problem.
There are two basic things that any dog insurance policy needs to offer you. It needs to be affordable of course, and it needs to give you coverage that'll actually make a difference. There are plenty of insurance policies out there that take your money, but that completely bog you down in exclusions. Some of these exclusions are things you would never even expect – like refusal of coverage for any injuries from an accident or the refusal of coverage when one is on vacation.
If there is an insurance company that seems to offer great payouts, make sure that you study their plan closely. It's possible that they will only do that if you agree to a very high co-pay.
Sometimes, you come across a plan that seems just perfect – it seems the plan doesn't cost that much, they don't seem to ask for a high co-pay, and their list of exclusions does not seem outrageous. You still can't just jump at it right away.
It's possible that they have limits on what they will pay for each different illness. The arbitrary limits they impose may make no sense for you and your pet. They might for instance, say that they will only pay $1000 per illness. Policies like this go and easily claim that they offer good protection worth thousands of dollars; they don't really advertise how that's only if your pet gets a number of different illnesses so that you can claim $1000 on each.
If possible, it would make a lot of sense if you could find a plan that doesn't charge you a per-incident the deductible. There are plans out there that will only charge you one single annual deductible for about $100 or so. It's always good to make things predictable.
Often it's a good idea to only go with a pet insurance company that will offer wellness coverage – routine visits just to check things out. You do need to take your pet in for neutering purposes, for flea problems and so on every year, don't you.
Finding Cheap Pet Insurance
When your pet comes down with something serious, you have two choices – you either have to find the money to help your pet get better, or you have to put him down. At least, those are the traditional choices. There's a third choice these days – you could get health insurance for your pets. A lot of the time though, it isn't such a great choice, because it can be expensive, and these policies don't pay for anything that might happen. Cheap pet insurance, if you can find it, is the only kind that actually make any financial sense. How do you find it though? Let's take a look.
Before you even consider investing time on finding cheap pet insurance, you have to try to find out if your particular breed of pet is excluded. Certain aggressive pets and working dogs usually are. Most of the time, they won't cover any pre-existing conditions or conditions like arthritis that your pet has already received a certain amount of treatment for. You might also want to look at the possibility that your pet is too old to be insured. For real cheap pet insurance, your dog needs to be quite young. You really need to ask around.
If you want cheap pet insurance and you really can't spend much, you should consider basic annual cover that only takes care of small injuries, minor surgery and minor health problems. They'll cover about $1500 a year worth of treatment. Top-of-the-line insurance on the other hand, will cover long-term illnesses like diabetes or cancer. A lot will depend on the breed of pet that you have. If your pet is a breed that tends to get any of these expensive diseases, top-of-the-line insurance should be save you a great deal of money over the long term. Seen this way, even expensive pet insurance would turn out to be cheap.
Whatever policy you do end up buying, be sure to check that there are no surprises. You want to learn about what their policy is on pre-existing conditions, and who pays when things are serious enough that there is no cure, and your dog has to be put down.
Most people don't see some of these exceptions coming. Who for instance would expect that a pet insurance policy would exclude any health problems during holiday travel? But some do. It would be a good idea to get pet insurance that will completely cover every kind of holiday mishap eventuality. Some of them will even cover the money you lose when your holiday is cut short because of a pet health problem.
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