Does your vet accept Pet Insurance?

MaryL wrote:
> "jmcquown" <jmcquown RemoveThis @bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:5n7lj8Fged0dU1@mid.individual.net...
>> Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just
>> curious.
>> Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
>> situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.
>>
>> Jill
>>
>
>
> I do realize that much of this is not helpful to you because you have
> written about your financial problems that might make this process
> impossible, and Persia is older than Holly and Duffy were when I
> started down this road. This type of action works best when started
> at a relatively young age so there is time for the savings account to
> grow before it is needed. However, I am piggybacking off your
> question because I think this is really an important topic to discuss.
>
> MaryL
>
> Photos of Duffy and Holly: >'o'<
> Duffy: http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
> Holly: http://tinyurl.com/9t68o
> Duffy and Holly together: http://tinyurl.com/8b47e

It's important, sure. And I didn't bring it up because of any financial
issues I may or may not have. I was fortunate enough when I lost my job to
have close to a years salary set aside. Then I won that contest that
provided Persia's prescription x/d food free (sans tax) for a year. I was
just curious about pet insurance.

Jill (loves the brave cat Duffy!
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

"jmcquown" <jmcquown RemoveThis @bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:5n7lj8Fged0dU1@mid.individual.net...

<snip>

> Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just
> curious.
> Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
> situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.

No vet I know takes pet insurance directly - if you have pet insurance here,
you have to pay the vet out of your own pocket and then claim back from the
insurance company. The insurance company will pay 80% of the bill.

Do the critters have pet insurance? No. It didn't seem worth it. The only
pet 'health' insurance I could find was $30 a month per pet. The maximum you
could claim per year was $1000, and it would only ever pay up to $500 per
'incident'. It had an excess of $100. It also insisted (possibly not
unreasonably) that before it would pay up on anything, that the animal had
to be fully vaccinated, chipped and had regular checkups, and wouldn't pay
out if it didn't have that proof.

It struck me that it wouldn't be worth it. I could cover $500 worth of
vetinary care if the need arose - its the bigger bills that I would want
help with. It also didn't help with the regular vetinary expenses of shots
or checkups, which are invariably just under $100 a pop. Seemed like a total
rip-off to me.

Now if I wanted to insure their lives, that was a different story, but
again, a nice payout once they are dead is silly, i want the nice big
payout to save their lives if thats what it needed.

Nope, pet insurance seemed like a waste of money to me.

Your pet insurance might be different.

Yowie
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:15:00 -0500, "jmcquown"
<jmcquown.DeleteThis@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>One vet I went to when my dog Sampson was still with me had pamphlets about
>purchasing pet insurance. He was already 13 at that point and I'd just
>moved. The vet said nope, we don't take pet insurance.
>
>Then Persia came along, demanding I let her inside. She was at least 2,
>maybe 3 years old at the time. The vet said even if I had insurance for her
>they wouldn't accept it. What's the deal? Why shouldn't vets accept
>insurance just as doctors do for people? I wouldn't have cared about
>filling out paperwork.
>
>Most of you know she had very expensive bladder surgery for crystalline
>oxolate formations in 2004. They also found a tumor which they excised.
>She's been eating prescription food ever since, which isn't cheap.
>
>I wouldn't expect the insurance to pay for her pet food, and in fact I won a
>contest which allowed me free food for her for a year. But my goodness...
>to not accept pet insurance? What's the deal with that?
>
>Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just curious.
>Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
>situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.

The vet doesn't accept the pet insurance - you have to pay the vet and
then claim the money back yourself... we have the girls insured but
we've never claimed on it.
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

jmcquown wrote
>One vet I went to when my dog Sampson was still with me had pamphlets about
>purchasing pet insurance. He was already 13 at that point and I'd just
>moved. The vet said nope, we don't take pet insurance.
>
>Then Persia came along, demanding I let her inside. She was at least 2,
>maybe 3 years old at the time. The vet said even if I had insurance for her
>they wouldn't accept it. What's the deal? Why shouldn't vets accept
>insurance just as doctors do for people? I wouldn't have cared about
>filling out paperwork.
>
>Most of you know she had very expensive bladder surgery for crystalline
>oxolate formations in 2004. They also found a tumor which they excised.
>She's been eating prescription food ever since, which isn't cheap.
>
>I wouldn't expect the insurance to pay for her pet food, and in fact I won a
>contest which allowed me free food for her for a year. But my goodness...
>to not accept pet insurance? What's the deal with that?
>
>Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just curious.
>Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
>situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.

Minke is insured. No earlier cats were insured but probably should
have been. Too late for Nanki Poo: the cat has to be under a certain
age to be accepted.

When we purchased Minke from the breeder she had a card to fill in
which gave us six weeks free insurance for Minke, and then we could
continue it or not as we felt. No doubt the breeder got a commission.

When you go to the vet they ask you whether you have pet insurance: it
is just normal.

--
David Stevenson Storypage: http://blakjak.org/sty_menu.htm
Liverpool, England, UK <webjak666.RemoveThis@googlemail.com> Emails welcome
N Poo: SI O+W B 14 Y L+ W++ C+ I T+ A- E H++ V- F Q P+ B+ PA+ PL SC
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Please substitute .org for .com else eddresses will fail this year
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

jofirey wrote
>Most pet insurance pays specified amounts for certain procedures. They also
>have their own ideas about what is ordinary and necessary in many
>situations. It is pretty standard for the vet to bill the owner and then
>for the owner to have to try to get reimbursed by the insurance company.

That's terrible. No wonder you have problems with insurance!

>There just isn't an up side for the vets to bill the insurance companies and
>to accept what they pay as payment in full.

Can't blame them. Obviously, you need better pet insurance. Ours has
limits, of course, but nothing like that.

--
David Stevenson Storypage: http://blakjak.org/sty_menu.htm
Liverpool, England, UK <webjak666.DeleteThis@googlemail.com> Emails welcome
N Poo: SI O+W B 14 Y L+ W++ C+ I T+ A- E H++ V- F Q P+ B+ PA+ PL SC
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Please substitute .org for .com else eddresses will fail this year
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

Yowie <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE.RemoveThis@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

> Do the critters have pet insurance? No. It didn't seem worth it. The only
> pet 'health' insurance I could find was $30 a month per pet. The maximum you
> could claim per year was $1000, and it would only ever pay up to $500 per
> 'incident'. It had an excess of $100. It also insisted (possibly not
> unreasonably) that before it would pay up on anything, that the animal had
> to be fully vaccinated, chipped and had regular checkups, and wouldn't pay
> out if it didn't have that proof.

> It struck me that it wouldn't be worth it. I could cover $500 worth of
> vetinary care if the need arose - its the bigger bills that I would want
> help with. It also didn't help with the regular vetinary expenses of shots
> or checkups, which are invariably just under $100 a pop. Seemed like a total
> rip-off to me.

Just take that $30 and put it in a special account, not to be touched,
that's there for pet insurance - from *you*. No administrative costs,
no maximum payments per "incident", and no deductibles (what you call
"excess", I think).

Of course, one has to have enough money so that you're not tempted
to raid the pet's emergency vet money to pay other bills. But if you
don't, then you certainly can't afford pet insurance either!

Joyce
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

My vet told me to put the $50.00 a month in a cookie jar and save it, it
would cover more than the insurance. I called four vets yeserday and none
of them dealt with it. Said, "we bill the customer then they bill the
insurance company." Lost cause so far as I could see.
"Martha" <martha54 RemoveThis @sover.net> wrote in message
news:martha54-58DCF8.05233712102007@news.sover.net...
>
>>
>> Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just
>> curious.
>> Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
>> situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.
>
>
> Consumers Reports says pet insurance is a rip-off because the policies
> contain so many exclusions in the very fine print.
>
> Martha
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

On 11 Oct, 21:42, jXwXeXrXmXoX....RemoveThis@sonic.net wrote:
>
> Just take that $30 and put it in a special account, not to be touched,
> that's there for pet insurance - from *you*. No administrative costs,
> no maximum payments per "incident", and no deductibles (what you call
> "excess", I think).
>
> Of course, one has to have enough money so that you're not tempted
> to raid the pet's emergency vet money to pay other bills. But if you
> don't, then you certainly can't afford pet insurance either!
>
A few years ago when we were not in a position to save for vet bills-
we had two credit cards. We had enough for our day to day expenses but
we had them as backup, we had some very specific rules about them i.e.

1. No more than £100 per month per card to be spent (The cards had a
total value of 2,000) by any one person on their own

2. Whoever spent that money was repsonsible for paying statements in
full by ther due date

3. Any purchase over £200.00 has to agreed by both of us (there are
certain advantages for example to buying with a credit card)

4. If there was an emergency involving a cat then the person nearest
i.e. if I was at work and Dave was at home- got the cat to the vet,
used the cards and we could sort it out after

5. This did not cover routine vet vists- although when we were both
out of work and a couple of girls needed spayed we did use the cards
because I'd just started a job so we were short for a few weeks

This served us and if needs be would still serve us if we had to- I've
heard of people with sick cats having to argue with the vet about
whether they needed to pay up front and claim from thei insurance or
whether the vet would take that policy and bill the company whereas I
never heard a vet refuse a credit catf

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

Yowie wrote
>"jmcquown" <jmcquown.RemoveThis@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
>news:5n7lj8Fged0dU1@mid.individual.net...
>
><snip>
>
>> Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just
>> curious.
>> Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
>> situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.
>
>No vet I know takes pet insurance directly - if you have pet insurance here,
>you have to pay the vet out of your own pocket and then claim back from the
>insurance company. The insurance company will pay 80% of the bill.
>
>Do the critters have pet insurance? No. It didn't seem worth it. The only
>pet 'health' insurance I could find was $30 a month per pet. The maximum you
>could claim per year was $1000, and it would only ever pay up to $500 per
>'incident'. It had an excess of $100. It also insisted (possibly not
>unreasonably) that before it would pay up on anything, that the animal had
>to be fully vaccinated, chipped and had regular checkups, and wouldn't pay
>out if it didn't have that proof.

GBP USD EUR AUD
Our plan costs per month 11.45 23.20 16.37 25.72
Maximum benefit per year 6000 12161 8579 13479
Excess 65 132 93 146

Other benefits:
Boarding cattery fees 250 507 357 562
Complementary treatment 750 1520 1072 1684
Theft or straying 225 456 322 505
Advertising and Reward 250 507 357 562
Holiday Cancellation 500 1013 705 1123

Currency conversion from http://blakjak.org/curr_con.htm

It seemed worth it to me, though not perhaps over-generous. Of
course, they require the cat to be vaccinated and so on, but he would be
anyway.

Martha wrote
>Consumers Reports says pet insurance is a rip-off because the policies
>contain so many exclusions in the very fine print.

Is that world-wide, or just in one country? I have read the
exclusions carefully, and apart from the obvious ones [will not pay over
limit set, will not pay for pre-existing illness, etc] there do not seem
any.

--
David Stevenson Storypage: http://blakjak.org/sty_menu.htm
Liverpool, England, UK <webjak666.RemoveThis@googlemail.com> Emails welcome
N Poo: SI O+W B 14 Y L+ W++ C+ I T+ A- E H++ V- F Q P+ B+ PA+ PL SC
Minke: SI W+Cp B 5 Y L W+ C++ I T A- E H++ V++ F- Q- P B PA+ PL+ SC-
Please substitute .org for .com else eddresses will fail this year
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance? 

"jmcquown" <jmcquown DeleteThis @bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:5n7lj8Fged0dU1@mid.individual.net...
> One vet I went to when my dog Sampson was still with me had pamphlets
> about
> purchasing pet insurance. He was already 13 at that point and I'd just
> moved. The vet said nope, we don't take pet insurance.
>
> Then Persia came along, demanding I let her inside. She was at least 2,
> maybe 3 years old at the time. The vet said even if I had insurance for
> her
> they wouldn't accept it. What's the deal? Why shouldn't vets accept
> insurance just as doctors do for people? I wouldn't have cared about
> filling out paperwork.
>
> Most of you know she had very expensive bladder surgery for crystalline
> oxolate formations in 2004. They also found a tumor which they excised.
> She's been eating prescription food ever since, which isn't cheap.
>
> I wouldn't expect the insurance to pay for her pet food, and in fact I won
> a
> contest which allowed me free food for her for a year. But my goodness...
> to not accept pet insurance? What's the deal with that?
>
> Do any of you have pet insurance? Do you find it beneficial? Just
> curious.
> Persia is now probably 10 or 11 years old and given her prior health
> situation probably wouldn't qualify for insurance. I'm just curious.
>

My vets here do accept pet insurance, but that insurance is carefully
calibrated that most routine visits for minor problems are not covered until
you have spent x amount over and above a couple of consultations.
You can ignore it unless your cat decides to have a horrible disease or get
multiple fractures, but as we all don't know if that will happen we often
risk it without insurance.
I don't have medical insurance for my cats. I put away per month directly
from my wages a similar amount that the insurance would ask into a bank
account for my cats. It is more than enough to fund their veterinary care.
I did it for my late dogs too and it built up to fund any/all the operations
and illnesses they needed as they got older and older.

Tweed
 >> Stay informed about: Does your vet accept Pet Insurance?