We don’t want you choosing between your finances and your pet’s well-being. Many pet owners wonder if they should purchase pet health insurance or not. Pet insurance is a crucial component of rearing your pet, even if it may seem far-fetched or extravagant to others. Premium payments may appear frivolous at first, but they prove beneficial over time. This section tackles the options available to assist you with expected and unexpected pet care expenses.
Pet Insurance
If your pet becomes ill or injured unexpectedly, providing the best care can be costly, not to mention stressful. When things don’t go as planned, pet insurance can help relieve the financial stress of unexpected vet bills and provide peace of mind.
If you’re looking for a respected veterinary clinic, several options are available. Ensure they have extensive experience for a pleasant experience, you can visit facilities like South Novato Animal Hospital.
What does it cover?
Many policies pay up to 80% of eligible vet bills up to $10,000 or more per year, which means that if you have a $1,000 eligible vet bill, your insurer will cover $800. You will pay the remaining $200, plus any surplus that has been designated (if applicable to the policy). Premiums can be paid twice a month, once a month, or once a year, with the cost increasing each year as your pet ages and requires more health care.
Unless you choose a policy that includes some level of routine or preventative care, most policies will not cover day-to-day treatments for fleas and ticks, as well as immunizations, because they are easier to budget. It helps keep premiums low. As a general rule, pet insurance does not cover pet health issues before the insurance is purchased (known as pre-existing conditions), nor does it cover any ailments that develop during the initial policy’s waiting period/s.
Because some conditions can be cured with treatment and do not require ongoing care, they are looked at differently depending on whether the pre-existing conditions are temporary or chronic.
If your pet’s health problems seem to recur, consult an animal internal medicine specialist for an internal system diagnosis.
Pet Coverage for Home and Contents Insurance
Some home and contents insurance policies include pet care coverage, which provides a limited scope for pet-care expenses (typically $500-$750 per year).
What does it cover?
These products typically cover accidental injury to your pet up to a nominated annual or per-condition limit, which is usually much lower than a stand-alone pet insurance product. They often leave pre-existing conditions, chronic illnesses, and preventive and routine care out of insurance plans.
Wellness plan
A wellness plan here is a subscription-based service that pet owners can use on a monthly or annual basis provided by some veterinarians and pet stores to offer various preventive pet care services at a reduced or no cost. These could include free veterinarian consultations, discounted pet food, flea and tick treatments, free vaccinations, and a small discount on professional veterinarian services.
What does it cover?
To be clear, this is not the same as pet insurance. Wellness plans cover anticipated pet-care costs. They will typically contribute only 10% of the cost of diagnostic procedures, hospitalization, and surgery, even though these services can cost thousands of dollars.
Should you choose to save instead?
There are many ways to get pet insurance and wellness plans for your pet. If you already have much money in savings, are diligent about saving money regularly, and can use it when you need it, a savings plan can be a good option.
Conclusion
However, the challenge is the unpredictability of not knowing when your pet will be in an accident or develop a terrible illness and whether you have saved enough to cover the cost when it occurs.
For example, if you save $100 per month and your pet has an accident that results in a $10,000 vet bill, you’d have to keep it for nearly eight years to cover that single treatment.
Ongoing treatment can also quickly deplete your savings, leaving you with large out-of-pocket expenses to cover.
