Pet Insurance Feedback?

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

I've done my research and have narrowed down my choices in pet insurance.  We have a 7 month old rescue who I'd love to start off with some kind of insurance. Learned our lesson big time with Grover, who we lost almost a month ago.  I'm pretty much making car payment size monthly payments for our bill :(

Anyway, I would love to hear any feedback on plans.  Most specifically.....what the ideal options might be.  Do I add an RX plan? Is there an ideal maximum payout and deductible? Is the wellness option worth the cost?  Thinking others that have used it will have some valuable advice. 

Currently I'm leaning towards Embrace.  My brother in law is pushing Nationwide, but I don't like the pay schedules.  I'm still open to others though.

Thanks for any and all experiences...positive and negative!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's how it looked to me too, Stacy. 

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

I assumed Addisons would be genetic? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh yes. 

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Roo developed Addison’s at a young age. It was pre existing.   I did not expect it to be covered.  I was expecting better coverage for his heart condition which did not develop until he had been covered for several years.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Between November 2011 and September 2012, Jack's vet bills ran into 5 figures. That's more than $1000 per month, and most people would not be able to put anything close to that aside each month, so if that happened early on in someone's monthly savings plan, it's doubtful they would have enough saved to cover it. 
If someone could put away $300 per month, one swallowed sock would cost an entire year's savings. 
What I have found is that people who are disciplined about putting money into savings every month usually are the ones who already have enough saved to cover these kinds of bills. 

[Stacy]

Ava was only with me for 17 months. I sat down and did a rough estimate, just of the big stuff and I stopped at 13,000. If I hadn't already had savings and credit cards there's no way I could have saved enough during that time to take care of her. In fact, that first 3,600 surgery would have been too much for a lot of people. I know pet insurance isn't perfect, but if they had only paid half it would have been incredibly significant. 

I read Healthy Paws comparison chart. I know it's biased because it's their chart, but I feel like the coverage is pretty comprehensive.

[Jon Rascon]

Great discussion - almost think there should be a group for this type of stuff. 

We lost Sebastian a month ago due to Osteosarcoma - we were able to pay for his amputation surgery and his medication to give him a chance. But it was a healthy chunk of change. 

We have now put Mojo (his sister) on Nationwide. $250 deductible and $7500/yr max, but they pay out at 90%. I paid for the full year in advance. According to my calculations, it will cost me approximately $1200 for the first $8300 in expenses and I would be responsible for everything on top of that. 

I didn't spend a lot of time looking the first time, but when the policy comes up next year, I will do more research into this. 

What also helped was understanding that we didn't have to get everything through the vet. We were able to shop online for his pain medication and get significant savings. I can't remember the specifics, but I think one RX would have cost us $360 through our vet - we were able to get it for $80 online for the same size. The online place will fax over a prescription request to the vet and once the vet faxes it back, they ship out usually next day air free. 

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

The Nationwide pay schedule scares me. They don't cover an entire emergency....just a percentage of certain procedures. 

I don't think they cover genetic conditions either. I'm still researching though.

We also found that meds were hundreds of dollars less when you go through Wedgewoid Pharmacy mail order. Also CVS because Grover was on a few human meds.  

You're Right! Would be great to have a group just for this type of thing. Maybe there is one though? Not too much came up when I searched.

[Stacy]

The medication pricing is a very good point. I went to get a med from CVS for Ava and they didn't have it and told me it would be almost 300 dollars - I called around and the independently owned compounding pharmacy could make what I needed for 90. Or they could order it and it would be cheaper than that. It just seems crazy to me that there is that much variation between pharmacies. 

The thing that scares me about changing insurance companies is that anything that happens this year will be a pre-existing condition and not ever insured by the next company. Pre-existing conditions seem to be the real killer. I wanted to find a company that I could stick with long term so that everything would be covered. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

I have Annabelle on Healthy Paws. She has been on it since I got her at 10 weeks old. I have the 250/80 plan. I pay $25/mo, but I'm sure my demographic is why it is lower than some areas. Although it has gone up a few dollars a mo, since the beginning. I went with them because of their rating, and because there is no annual cap. She is almost 4 years old and I have never had to use it. But it is peace of mind to have it. Unlike human healthcare insurance, you usually have to pay the entire vet bill up front and then be reimbursed by the pet insurer according to your plan. 

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

thank you for your experience! 

[Andrea, Belle and Honey]

I use Healthy Paws for Belle because of the unlimited lifetime coverage and the annual, rather than per incident, deductible. She will be 3 in June and has no preexisting conditions, and right now I pay about $38 per month.  A word of caution about unanticipated events: when my late lab Ellie, who was uninsured, was around 6, without any history of heart problems or any other illness, she suddenly required a pace maker, at a cost of $7,000 plus another $2500 for diagnostic vet visits and tests.  Assuming my math is correct (my calculator is broken), with coverage like Belle's, with a $250 deductible and 80% coverage I would have paid about $2100 instead of $9500.  Even if I had banked $50 per month in lieu of purchasing insurance, by the time she was 6, I would have had only $3600, far short of the $9500 bill. Ellie lived for about 6 more years with that pace maker, so I considered the money well spent, but I sure wished I had insured her.  Just another point of view for your consideration.