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The other day, I brought my dog in for his annual wellness check. In my Petcare QuickCare Optimum Plan, I’m allowed to claim $150 a year on wellness claims (anything routine). Since there’s no deductible and I’m basically paying into this every month, the youngandthrifty inside me always wants to make sure I use up the $150 allotted per year. Or else I feel like I’m getting ripped off.
The vet wanted to test for mange (yeah, I know! crazy huh?) and to further assess his allergies (I have the most fragile dog on the planet, I think- he’s already on a raw food diet and he’s still itchy and allergic!). She did a skin scraping for mange, did a patch test for yeast, gave him some shampoo and mange medication.. and the total bill came to $270. The general exam came up to $110 alone (yeah, this Vet’s expensive, but she’s good).
I am hoping that the general check up for $110 would be included in the $150 wellness allowance, but you never know. It’s up the the pet insurance company.
Sometimes I feel like I’m always at their mercy, like they can deny my claim anytime for any ridiculous reason. (Last time I submitted a claim for a $150 check with a different Vet, they denied it because they said they haven’t seen a general exam cost that much before, and they wanted a break down of the cost). The insurance companies really go through the claims with a fine-tooth comb.
It feels like I have asked someone out on a date, and am waiting for them to get back to me… not really a fun feeling. Kind of like you’re anticipating R-E-J-E-C-T-I-O-N.
At the same time, I worry that they will accept too many of my claims and then raise the monthly fee next year. You never know. I guess that’s why pet insurance companies may not be worth it in the long run…It really depends on the company and whether they will “penalize” you for making claims.
Do you use pet insurance? Any stories you care to share on your experiences with Pet Insurance companies?
Hi,
I found your site off of Canadian Capitalist’s and see that you have pet insurance. I worked at a pet insurance company and for every $1 in premium that someone paid us, we paid 50 CENTS out in claims to “pet parents”.
The president of Petsecure, Randy Valpy, actually use to give us quarterly presentations of the company’s finances to show how expensive it was to run a company as justification for the large difference!!
Consumer Reports said economically it is not worth it, so the companies play off safe-guarding and responsibility of pet parents to protect their pet. The profits are much larger than any other insurance type.
Unless you pet is constantly sick, in which case your policy will be flagged for special premium adjustments, it is just not worth it.
Sincerely,
Another Young and Thirty Gen Yer
Nice! Thanks for the ‘insider scoop’! I feel very privileged to find out this information. My pet IS constantly sick (allergies) and they feel that he had it as a pre-existing condition even though it wasn’t diagnosed. They really really did take a fine tooth comb and absolutely scoured my pet’s files from the past.
With your advice (and the crapass service I’ve been getting from these pet insurance companies) I think I’m going to cancel it (after I speak with them tonight). Really, what’s the point in paying out premiums every single month when they don’t even pay you back a single penny of it? AND if they do pay you back some, then they’ll adjust it and make you pay more per month.
I think pet insurance would be helpful if the pet needed to have surgery, I suppose.
I had a friend who paid $60 in premiums for her dog every single month for 10 years. And at the end of his life when he needed the help from the insurance company, they found a way to not claim the full amount (and then there’s the deductibles that go UP when the dog gets older- e.g. they had to pay $250 in deductible per year before insurance company would even pay $1 back to the pet owner).
aw, i hope your claim gets paid!
I am not too familiar with petcare, but I have Trupanion pet insurance. What I like about Trupanion is that you can pick your own deductible, they pay 90% of your vet bill, they are vet approved, their premiums don’t increase with pets age, and they cover hereditary and congenital disorders. They also cover conditions for the life of the pet ..so if your pet has allergies, cancer, diabetes, etc..they dont stop treating it after a year like most companies do.
Worth checking them out if petcare doesn’t work out for you.
Source: http://www.trupanionpetinsurance.com
I hear that Trupanion is like Vetinsurance, and I hear they ARE the better of the bunch.
Apparently they DO do increases to your insurance but EVERYONE’s insurance goes up. You get like $20,000 for all claims for the lifetime of your pet. But again, they don’t do any pre-existing conditions- so all the conditions my dog has right now won’t get covered if I move on over.
I didn’t pick them because it was more expensive than Petcare (the monthly premium).
I’m all jaded now and hesitant to use ANY pet insurance company.
Holy Moly!
That comment from the person that worked in pet insurance has really got me thinking. I pay $50/month for my two dogs and I’ve had major problems every time I had to make a claim.
My puppy needed a $2000 surgery because she hurt her elbow and they found a way not to cover that. I just sent off a claim for a UTI I’m hoping they can’t find a way to decline that claim too.
I think I will probably cancel my pet insurance too after this last claim is over.
I would probably be better off putting the $50/month into my emergency fund!
.-= Debt Free Girl´s last blog ..Dear Rogers. . . You SUCK! =-.
@Debt Free Girl, SERIOUSLY they found a way not to pay for the $2000 surgery?? How is a hurt elbow a possible pre-existing condition?? Now I am really really annoyed! If your dog had a UTI in the past, they might not approve your claim (same goes for ear infections).
I think I’m going to do that too, put $50/month into an emergency fund… rather than into some Pet Insurance company’s coffers to pay for their terrible service and insurance agents who find a way to deny claims.
Guess what too, I got denied the whole claim of $270. They didn’t even see that I had put “wellness exam” on the claim, they just took the whole thing as a Mange claim. I’m going to call them and see what they say.
If they say no to the claim for wellness (because that was the whole reason I took my dog to the vet in the first place), then I’m out.
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