Fortunately, this story has a happy ending and Huntington is now 6 years old and living his best life! You would never have guessed that he had gone through such a traumatic experience. When I first told my husband I was going to get insurance for Huntington, I didn’t get his buy-in 100%. He did a lot of calculations and felt that if we were to set aside the same monthly amount, which at the time was $35, we should be able to cover small accidents (e.g., stomach flu, ear infection, bee stings.) However, for many of us, all you need is one major accident to put you in a difficult financial situation. Needless to say, my husband was extremely thankful we didn’t cancel the coverage.
Many pet insurance companies let you determine your deductible amount and what your coverage includes. For me, I chose a $1,000 deductible, which means I pay for all qualifying events up to $1,000 and then the reimbursements kick in thereafter. You can choose a lower deductible amount, but the lower it is, the higher your monthly premium will be. For example, if you set the deductible at $500 and your pet has to have surgery for $3,000, you’ll start receiving money back from your pet insurance based on $2,500.
I also chose a 90% reimbursement rate. The higher your reimbursement coverage rate, the more you pay for the monthly premium. Based on the above example, the insurance would pay 90% of the $2,500 above my deductible. I would receive $2,250. I was paying about $80 per month for both of my pets. (You get a discount for covering more than one.) That would mean I paid $480 that year in premiums for a pet, $1,000 in deductible, $250 for my share of the procedure. That’s $1,730 total out of pocket instead of $3,000. That doesn’t even include all the reimbursements I got back from the follow-up visits and medication. You also get a $50 deductible discount if your pet is healthy and you have no reimbursements for a 12-month period.
You might argue that your pet would never incur $3,000 worth of expenses, but it just depends on your pet’s health and how often they may get into trouble. Again, pet insurance isn’t for everyone and maybe you won’t EVER need to use it— that’s great! But bear in mind that your dog will age and that can come with more long term care considerations. Pet insurance often covers things such as chemotherapy, radiation, diagnostic testing and even physical therapy.
All I know is, I was able to make financial burden the last thing on my mind because I knew I had the safety net of pet insurance; therefore, it allowed me to focus on giving my pet the best care possible.
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