photo credit: *BGP*
Is pet insurance really worth the money? That is the question most pet owners and animal lovers ask themselves when they have a pet under their care. Pet insurance is money set aside in case the animal gets sick, stolen, dies or injured. It is a form of property insurance in that the pet owner claims for reimbursement after the pet receives medical care upon injury or illness, is stolen or dies. The forms of pet insurance are the lifetime and non-lifetime. The lifetime covers for the continuing occurrences throughout the pet’s lifespan, while the non-lifetime is only valid for the particular policy year.
Most people consider coverage for pets not to be worth the effort. It is usually better to place the money in a savings account. This is to avoid all the hassles of paying the premiums, paperwork and the stress of claiming and showing proof of what happened to the pet. The delay that might result from pursuing the claim can actually cause your pet’s death as treatment is usually delayed as you wait for processing of the claim.
Another factor when considering insurance for the pet is the terms of payments. Most policies dictate that they do not pay for pre-existing conditions. These include genetic illnesses, hereditary conditions and chronic ailments. However, it is very difficult to diagnose such circumstances unless the pet gets ill. In this case you will not be covered since they argue the pet already had the condition. In order to ensure that the pet does not have such conditions you may have to take it for extensive lab tests which are very costly.
Another disadvantage of pet coverage is that it contains many hidden costs. In addition to the monthly premiums, you are expected to foot other costs such as non-refundable costs, co-payments and omissions. The total expense is much more than a normal pet will be expected to incur in its lifetime. Most of the time, the deductible is almost equal in amount to the full visit price. With the recent progress in animal health, more advanced equipment for pets is available, meaning that a visit to the vet after a rejected claim will cost you a lot of money. Therefore, sometimes a savings account is the better option.
You should take a good look at the insurance policy as they have many loopholes. Many home animal insurance policies do not cover for old age pets, neutering and routine checkups. This beats the entire reason for acquiring insurance as the above three are virtually what pets require to be insured. The companies that cover the three situations tend to be very expensive. For this reason, the pet coverage does not merit the money.
However, various advantages exist to make pet insurance worth the payment. Some companies offer unique coverage plans such as full boarding for the pet in case of the owner’s hospitalization or death. Others include coverage in case the pet is injured in an accident or dies as a result of its injuries.
Author Byline: This article is a guest post written by Haliyma Barrow, a professional writer based in New York. Haliyma enjoys contributing informative finance articles, such as tax benefits of annuities.