Caring for a pet is expensive, and the costs of veterinary care have never been higher. But your furry little friend doesn’t have any idea (or much impulse control – for that matter.) There’s always a chance that you could suddenly get hit with expensive emergency care or exam fees.
Having pet insurance could prevent you from having to choose between a best friend’s life and all your money.
What Does Pet Insurance Cover?
A basic pet insurance policy covers the costs of basic diagnostics, like x-rays, blood tests, and annual checkups. It’ll also provide coverage for some essential treatments – but the particular services covered vary from plan to plan. You’ll have to do a bit of research to figure out what policy is best for your pet.
When shopping, first consider any medical expenses your pet already faces. Those expenses are bound to occur, so the plan you pick should cover certain or near-certain events. However, some owners may decide that accident-only coverage is best if their pet is already in good health and money is tight.
Having grown up around dogs, I think the proper “middle-ground” plan for a young pet includes accident coverage and reimbursement for necessary preventative costs. It’s flat-out irresponsible not to spay, neuter, and vaccinate your animals. In some cases, it’s against the law to have a pet that’s unvaccinated against certain deadly transmissible diseases like tapeworm and rabies. And if your pet’s a little older, it’s also important to consider potential additional costs, like medication or physical therapy. Basic accident and illness coverage isn’t really enough for aging animals.
In any case: you’ll want a pet health insurance policy with an open-peril policy rather than named peril. Open peril means pretty much everything is covered unless it’s specifically called out as an exclusion. Pets are way, way too unpredictable to benefit from the strict limits of a named-peril policy.
On that note: let’s discuss what isn’t covered in a typical pet insurance policy.
What Isn’t Covered?
It doesn’t matter which pet insurance company you went with or how much coverage you bought. Your pet will never be covered for everything. The most common snafus owners encounter when dealing with pet insurance involve waiting periods, chronic conditions, and pre-existing conditions.
Most pet insurance policies have waiting periods that prevent you from claiming anything until 2-3 weeks have passed. The exact length varies, but insurers use it as an extra layer of fraud protection – preventing owners from making claims right away or making claims for pre-existing illnesses that they were already aware of before purchasing coverage. Many new insurers offer shorter waiting periods of 2-3 days now, but certain conditions like hip dysplasia and cruciate ligament deterioration still retain months-long waiting periods.
Since veterinary records are openly-available: your policy won’t cover conditions that’d already been diagnosed, or that your pet showed symptoms of before those waiting periods ended. So, for example: if your insurance states that they cover diabetes treatment under a basic policy, they’d still only reimburse you if your pet was diagnosed with diabetes after your policy went active.
Final thoughts:
It should go without saying, but pet insurance is for your pet. You can’t use it for human medical care. You can’t even use it for another pet, if you have more than one.
You heard that right: if you share care of your pet with a partner, that basic pet insurance policy will only cover expenses in the policyholders’ name. The insurance company can only share reimbursement with married persons. And that basic policy won’t cover more than one pet, either. You’ll want to make sure you have a separate policy for each pet.
Or, look into your insurers’ options! They’re happy to sell you more coverage, and it’s never been easier to customize a policy. Multi-pet discounts are becoming a popular incentive, and it’s only a small fee to add a second owner to an existing policy.
