How Does Pet Insurance Work

How Does Pet Insurance Work – You get a certain kind of reimbursement for medical expenses through the pet insurance which is a kind of healthcare policy. This will protect the interest and purse of the policyholder against medical fees which are very high. And the worse that can happen to the pet owner is that he/she may have to put down their pet as they cannot afford to treat their pooch/kitty. An insurance plan for your pooch/kitty can be their lifesaver as at any given point of time they can meet with accidents or sicknesses. But, there is a point to note – the insurance policy of your pet doesn’t cover all the illness and it is a rule in every pet insurance company. They will skip some of the other illnesses. So, before you buy a policy always ensure to read the fine print of the policy to know what’s included. You might also wonder whether pet insurance is worth it.

What does pet insurance cover

Pet insurance is a method through which you can save the medical expenses of the vet for your pooch/kitty, if they get sick/are injured. Many of the pet health insurance plans are based on a monthly basis where the policyholder is supposed to a certain sum which will be few 100 dollars annually. Paying the premiums regularly can get you reimbursed for the medical expenses which exclude the reimbursement for hip dysplasia (common dog ailment) and the condition which are pre-existing in your pet. In a health insurance cover which is regular, you pay a less amount of the bill and the remaining amount is paid by the best insurers. But the case with the pet insurance companies is a bit different. Here you will have to pay first from your purse and later you have to file a claim for reimbursement with the pet insurance company.

With Pet Insurance        

• Monthly premiums are being paid by you to make your cover secure in case of an accident or sickness that hits the pet
• Your lender can either in full or in half reimburse the treatments.

Without Pet Insurance

• For all the medical expenses you have to pay from your purse.

Annually few hundreds of dollars will be added if you pay the premiums on a monthly basis. And the advantage of this you will get in the form of cost that will be reimbursed in case if there is a major health issue.  Most of the pet owners are forced to put their pooch/kitty down as their savings are not enough to cover the huge medical expenses as they are without insurance. Whether you take pet insurance or do not take pet insurance the fact which you should think twice is the major expense of medical treatments.

Treatment for sickness and accidents/injury can cost you (pet owner) 100s or even 1000s of dollars per event if you are without insurance. The radiation therapy for cancer cost about $5,000-410,000 in case if your pooch/kitty gets cancer. A plain tumor removal or the other serious rectification case will cost you around $3,000 – $6,000. But if you regularly invest $30-$40 on a monthly basis then you can easily save yourself from the huge medical expenses in 1000s of dollars.

What’s Excluded From Pet Insurance?

Prior to buying an insurance policy for your pooch/kitty, you should be clear and aware of the terms and conditions of your policy contract. The pet insurance which is of standard nature will cover accidents and illness in many cases. But there are some conditions and treatments which the insurance companies will exclude. They are as follows –

• Dental disease
• Preexisting or hereditary conditions
• Behavior issues
• Routine check-ups, preventative care
• Hip dysplasia
• Grooming

If you think that there are some best insurance companies that will provide you with complete coverage then you are sadly mistaken. As even the best companies will not cover the pre-existing conditions of the pets which the pets had prior to you purchasing the coverage. Embrace is the only insurance company which covers the pre-existing conditions that too which is a curable one, not the ones which are insurable. For instance, your pooch/kitty has shown no signs/symptoms of the pre-existing conditions for 12 months after the onset date, and then Embrace insurance company will expire the same as an Insurance That Cover pre-existing condition and the life of the pet will be covered by it. And the pet owners who have their pooch/kitty who is already sick and there is no scope for curing them-for such cases the insurance company will not have much coverage for such cases.

How Pet Insurance Works

The pet insurance companies will have a waiting period for the time when you purchase the policy and when the coverage for illness begins in order to stop people from getting insurance when their pooch/kitty is sick. The waiting period is only a few days for the coverage of the accident. Before your coverage starts the pet insurance company will want you to get the check-up of your pooch/kitty so as to identify any conditions which previously exist.

In order to get reimbursed by the pet insurance companies, you will have to first payout of your pocket and then you will have to file a claim towards the insurance companies. The insurance company will do the evaluation of the claim and the bills and if approved they will directly deposit the amount in your account or send you a check through the mail. This entire process for this reimbursement will take 2-3 business days. It can take longer than weeks also if the claims submitted are of a complicated nature. The insurance plan structure mainly decides the reimbursement – They are as follows –

Deductible – It is the amount which you have to pay before the insurance company pays to you and ranges up to $1,000 starting from zero.

Reimbursement level – It is the percentage of the bill. The bill is reimbursed by the insurance company after the deductible is paid. It is 50% through 100%.

Annual max –It is the amount (maximum) which the insurance company will pay in the medical bills on an annual basis. Any charges which are sustained above the maximum amount will be the ones that will be paid out of a purse.

For example, let’s say you buy an insurance plan which comprises of $10,000 annual max, $50 deductible and 100% reimbursement. And you have your pet that went into an accident that costs you $15,000 of the bills. Then firstly, you will pay $50 and the insurance company will pay $10,000 and the remaining amount of $4,950 will also be paid by you.

What Affects Your Pet Insurance Premiums

The cost of pet insurance mainly depends on 3 factors. They are as follows – i) comprehensive coverage, ii) type of pet and iii) your location. If you want to pay a few amounts per incident, then you have to keep in mind that you will have to more on a monthly basis. It’s up to you to decide to pay fewer monthly payments or more cash when your pet is struck with an accident or sickness. Deductible which is low and reimbursement which is high will bring fewer costs per incident but on a monthly basis, the premiums will be high. How much will be the medical costs which you would like to get covered annually is an option which is being offered by many insurance plans. It is known as annual max and if you choose an annual max which is high, then your monthly payments will also be high.

The procedures in which you want in the coverage will also be charged now by the pet insurance company. There will be many plans which will have for you the option of purchasing endorsements, ad-on and this will enhance your complete coverage. Endorsements that are common in nature will comprise of things like examination fees of the vet, routine check-up fee, prescription food fee. You will get the reimbursement of all these expenses of the pet, which might not be covered by your plan.

Besides coverage level, below are some of the parts which the pet insurance company takes into a note before calculating the premiums of the insurance. They are as follows –

Species – Cats costs less to insure compared to dogs. Female cats have the lowest premiums and the Male dogs have the highest premiums.

Breed – Pets that are huge will have more health issues and short life spans and are more expensive to insure.

Age– Young pets will have fewer health issues that is why they are cheap to insure.

Location – As per the state and also the zip code, the premiums will differ. Higher insurance cost is found in the densely populated areas.

Suppose a policy has no annual max, $50 deductible and reimbursement which is 100%, and then you will have to pay $50 per occurrence. But such a plan is likely to cost you $100 on a monthly basis and it would imply that you are paying more for the coverage which you require. Choose an affordable policy which suits your budget on a monthly basis and also your expenses from your pocket is low.

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Having pet insurance is more needed and affordable than not having it. It is also possible that your pooch/kitty never gets injured or is not sick and the only expense which you have to bear out of your pocket is the annual check-ups. But not having pet insurance can be very risky and many people don’t want to run into such kind of risk. The apt level of coverage differs from pet to pet, but you should consider your pooch/kitty’s sickness history and whether your pooch/kitty is prone to getting injured, etc. before you make a choice for taking pet insurance. If you have to run into an unexpected surgery of pet and cannot pay in 1000s of dollars then you are stuck with two choices i.e. to save your pet or save your money.

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