With Valley Fever and rattlesnakes rampant in Tucson, I am thinking of getting pet insurance for Moxie, my Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Any suggestions?
We have had very good experiences with Trupanion–have submitted multiple claims over the past few years for a variety of issues and they have paid very promptly without trying to dodge expenses.
They are amazingly fast and efficient - we have submitted claims several times on a Friday and have an email from them that evening that they are working on it. And often get another email from them over the weekend that they have approved the claim, although that depends on if they receive pertinent records from your vet. We usually receive a check within 5-7 days after approval.
Our plan runs about $60/month in premiums and has been well worth it. They don’t cover office visits or consultations and there is a deductible per issue (ours is $700) but after we meet the deductible, they have covered 90% of diagnostic and surgical procedures (including radiographs, endoscopic procedures, biopsies, MRIs, CSF analysis, etc.). They will also cover 90% of the cost of meds for treating a chronic condition such as diabetes or epilepsy (after meeting the deductible). We would have gone down about $8000 or so over the past 6 months alone due to a strange set of unrelated issues that required some expensive diagnostic and surgical procedures, but thanks to the Trupanion insurance, we are only out of pocket about $1200 (and that includes cost of premiums).
They do NOT cover pre-existing conditions though, so it’s best to get the policy ASAP - for instance before your vet tells you your dog has an ear infection because then they won’t cover anything related to ear infections.
I do not recommend Petpartners.
Disorganized … claims are SLOW to process … and SLOOOW to receive any payment.
Renewal is impossibly confusing and communication is simply awful. IMHO
- Plan to drop it and find another at the end of this year.
My clients (including two vets) use Trupanion .
I am not sure if you can get insurance after owning the pet for an extended period though…I thought you had to get it within 30 days?
My sister had pet insurance (not sure what company). When the dog got into a porcupine, the insurance would not cover the vet bills for that. I’m not sure of the details but I thought that was exactly the sort of thing insurance should cover. I suggest asking the companies if they would cover snake bites. Before spending money on pet insurance I suggest you think about how much money you can get your hands on in a emergency. For example, if you could get a $10,000 loan from a bank if you needed it, maybe you don’t need to buy insurance. Just put the $60 per month in a separate account to be the vet emergency fund. Also, what are the chances of survival from a snake bite or other risks that your dog is exposed to?
That’s a good idea. I wish I had thought of pet insurance before this whole thing started with my poor Ollie cat. He’s going to cost me a fortune.
About the porcupine incident - perhaps the deductible wasn’t met?
And if we had saved $60/month for a vet emergency fund instead of paying insurance premiums, it would have taken 11 years to save the $8000 we have spent in the past year.
Some dogs are like horses - a health/medical issue crops up every month. 
Mr. DY did all the research and enacted the policy and he tells me that Trupanion has a sliding scale on their website that allows you to pick your premium/deductible (lower premium = higher deductible and vice-versa).
Our $60/month premium also includes two riders that provide extra coverage above and beyond the core coverage. One rider provides for complementary care such as acupuncture, chiropractic treatments, physical/rehabilitative therapy (including hydrotherapy), homeopathy and naturopathy, and behavior modification training. The other one includes a liability policy for third-party property damage and also provides assistance for expenses related to recovery of a pet (advertising/rewards), boarding costs in case of owner hospitalization, even cremation/burial costs due to death resulting from an accident.
So you can certainly get a lower premium if you go for a higher deductible and skip the extra coverage.
Also, you can enroll in coverage anytime–doesn’t have to be within 30 days of getting your pet. But they do impose a 5-day waiting period after enrollment for injuries and a 30-day waiting period for illness so they can investigate for possible pre-existing conditions.
I have Pet’s Best Insurance. I’ve had it for 15 months now and set the deductibles/coverage as more of a catastrophic type plan. My premium is $152 for the year, the deductible is $1k and they will reimburse at 90% with no limit on payouts. Mine does cover the exam/office visit fee as well. So far I’ve submitted one invoice and while it did take about 3 weeks, they approved the claim and it went toward my deductible.
I hope this insurance company never has to pay me out a single penny. I’m not the type to buy extended warranties or insurance on a cell phone or anything like that but for $152 a year, the peace of mind is 100% worth it to me. If something really major were to happen to my dog, I’d have coverage on seriously big bills and wouldn’t have to make the cost of a treatment part of my decision making at all.
