Any ideas for insurance?

Hi everyone,

I'm adopting a cat this week...she's 3 years old Devon Rex (possibly a mix) with no known health problems. I'd like to get pet insurance for her, to make sure that I can treat anything that comes along without having to worry so much about money. I know there are a lot of different companies and plans out there, and I was wondering if anyone had experience with any of them, or if there's a good one to recommend. She was bought by a woman and bred, then spayed and left in someone's barn, who sold her on craigslist as a purebred and was then given away again because the new owner didn't know she was spayed and they wanted to breed her too. Because of that, I don't have any health records for her before she came to the shelter. Is that going to be a barrier to getting insurance for her?

I know this is a forum for diabetic cats, but I stumbled across it because my fiances cat was recently diagnosed. There seems to be a lot of knowledgeable people here so I was hoping that someone could give me some advice with this. Thank you! :smile:

 

Look at http://petinsurancereview.com/ . Which is the best company differs depending on what country you are in. If you are in the US or Canada, the PetInsuranceReview site will help you sift out which is good.

Different companies are not only different in quality but also different in what exactly they cover. Whatever you get, be sure you understand and are comfortable with what is covered.

I am in the US, and I have PetPlan on my 3 cats. My experience with that company (PetPlanUS) has been wonderful. They keep surprising me by paying *more* than I expect. The most recent such event was less than 2 weeks ago, so it's not old news.

ETA: About the lack of medical records: When you have narrowed the field of possible insurance companies, call the customer service number for each of the companies you are considering and ask this question. You'll learn not only whether this will be a problem/how to proceed but also how responsive each company is to out-of-the ordinary questions. So many kitties are strays before finding their forever home that I doubt this would in fact be a very out-of-the-ordinary question.

 

I have Stinky on VPI - they are helpful on the phone with questions and are pretty quick about turning around reimbursement checks. On average, they pay back about 1/3 of my vet bills. This year, that was more than my annual costs so that worked out well. Since I live in Manhattan, I am probably paying a lot more to my vet than what most people pay in other cities and towns; so most others would likely would have a better cost vs. reimbursement ratio than me.

 

We use a combination. We use Banfield as our vet, and both Missy and our dog, Daisy, are on the Wellness program. This covers all office visits, wellness checks, vaccinations, spay/neuter, and a discount on hospitalization, medicines, procedures, etc. Then, we have VPI as a supplemental insurance "just in case". We had another cat who spent 5 night at the ER vet, and he did not have insurance. After that, we figured it would be a good idea to have extra insurance in case something like that happens again. VPI has been great. Very quick payment. We haven't had any problems with them so far.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. It's a little complicated for me because I'm currently in Canada but will be moving to West Virginia soon, just waiting on my visa. I'll try to find a company that would be in both, but I'm not optimistic about that. I probably won't get any insurance until I move since I won't be here much longer.

Thanks for the website and advice about the no record question Jean and Megan. I'll definitely look into PetPlus and do some comparison shopping on that website.

Thanks too for the VPI recommendation SaraJaye...I think I was on their website the other day. Are they the ones with the payment schedule?

Mom2Missy, I didn't know there was a program like that at Banfield....that's good to know. Can you go to any banfield location or are you only allowed to go to your local one? Are the prices the same as VPI?

I'm quite indecisive when there are lots of options on the table, so personal experiences are very helpful!

 

We paid for a full year of coverage for Missy through VPI which came out to be about $40/month. For Banfield, we currently pay about $55/month for both pets, so that's about $27/month per pet. I love the Banfield plan. It has saved us a lot of money on wellness visits. Our pets have been pretty healthy until Missy was diagnosed with diabetes, so this plan comes in handy. For the most part, we save about 50% per office visit.

http://www.banfield.net/optimum-wellness-plans-cats

We are using the Basic plan right now, but they are really good at adjusting the plan based on what your pet needs. So when Missy is due for a dental, they will upgrade us to the Basic Plus plan, then we can go back down to the Basic later if we want to. We've only gone to our local Banfield because it is right next to our house, but I'm 99% sure you can go to any location. I also just recently found out that you can access the medical records online, so you always have test results available.

 

I purchased Trupanion for my dog. I wanted an insurance that was there for the big things, not the day to day maintenance. You pick your deductible and then, except for exam fees, they pay 90% including all meds, diagnostic tests, etc. What I like about is (so far) is that there is no yearly limit, no per-incident limit and no lifetime limit. The deductible, as in most other pet insurance plans, is per incident.

Also, once your pet is enrolled, the fees don't go up according to the age of the pet. The younger you enroll them, though, the cheaper it is. And, unlike some other plans that consider a condition pre-existing if it was treated before the new cycle of the plan goes into effect, this plan doesn't consider it pre-existing. For example, if your cat was dx with diabetes in October, some plans would pay up until the plan was renewed, say...January, then upon renewal would consider the condition pre-existing. This one doesn't.

Also, you don't commit to a yearly plan. As long as you inform them before the monthly automatic deduction from your credit card, you can cancel at any time.

The price of your plan is determined by the age of your pet upon enrollment and the area (typical vet fees) where you live.

I actually have only turned in a couple of things to them so far and haven't reached my deductible yet, but was impressed on how they let me know immediately that they had received the info from my vet and they didn't dispute a single thing that the vet charged me for, including the $3.00 medical waste fee (for throwing away my syringe, I suppose). Couldn't believe they even applied that to the deductible.

I found them at petinsurancereviews.com

Oh, btw.... My dog is 7 years old upon enrollment, we live in Wisconsin, and I chose the $100 deductible. My monthly fee is $46.10.

 

A little more about PetPlan: It does not cover wellness, but it does cover everything else, including exams when they are diagnostic. In my experience, if an exam starts out as a wellness exam but uncovers a problem, it becomes diagnostic and is covered. Chronic and congenital conditions are covered, as long as they did not manifest themselves before the insurance first went into effect.

You choose your deductible and co-insurance. I chose $100 and 10% (middle of the range on both). The deductible is annual per diagnosis, so if you have several vet visits because of the same diagnosis (like diabetes, or asthma), only one $100 deductible per year applies.

There is an annual limit (different depending on what policy you choose) but not a lifetime or per-condition limit. Also, upon renewal, the annual limit is replenished in full. The limits are pretty high; I have a hard time imagining exceeding them.

There are some basic requirements that you give the animal good preventive care (at your own expense). For instance, if your animal needs dental work and your vet hasn't checked the teeth in the last year, then the dental work won't be covered. But if there has been vet attention to the teeth in the past 12 months (a quick check in the course of a normal exam is fine - doesn't have to be a "dedicated" dental exam), then the dental is covered.

I believe PetPlan does business in both the US and Canada, but it isn't nearly as highly rated in Canada as it is in the US. Do double-check me on this, though. I have no Canadian connections, so I have not paid Canadian plans very close attention.

 

I don't use pet insurance (too many pets to insure, being a rescue. It would really run me to the poor house). But most of the vets in our area seem to like VPI (Veterinary Pet Insurance.)