Puppy insurance

[Rosa]

I have the feeling I need to purchase puppy insurance. I would appreciate suggestionscsnd comments.

Rosa/Bridget

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

As you know, my experience with Jack was very similar to yours with Ava, except for a much longer period of time. 
Ditto to your last sentence. 

[Stacy]

All I can say is that we did the right thing. I was unhappy with the outcome, but I would do the same thing over again. I tried so hard to make her better, and not everyone would have fought for Jack or Ava the way we did.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Not everyone could have, kid. 
God sent them both to the right homes. :)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I just did a little Trupanion quote for Riley and it came up with $48/month if she is a puppy, $53/month as a 1 year old... so just based on age goes up about $5/month.  At $50/month that's $3000 -in 5 years so if your dog has a serious illness in under 5 years then you end up "winning" the insurance game.   That is with a $700 deductible, price goes way up to $80/month for a 200 deductible.

I don't think I'll ever convince DH we should get pet insurance but he is a work in progress.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm from the school of thought that says if you have the insurance, you'll never need it, and if you don't have it... 
I will feel the money is well spent if I never really need to use it. 
That said, Jasper's coverage with PetPlan went up less than $1 per month for our renewal rates. And it's still only under $34/mo. Plus, it started out higher than the rates for mixed breeds. His initial rate as a new puppy was the same as Lisa was paying at that time for 8 year old Daisy, who'd had multiple claims. Of course, I may have a higher deductible & copay than what you priced. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

It's CAD too so knock 30% off those numbers lol.

[Stacy]

That sounds high to me. Maggie is 34.24 and Willow is 27.66. They both have 80% reimbursement, but Maggie has a $250 deductible and Willow has a $500 deductible. The $250 deductible was about $5/month lower. You should check around. 

Oh, just saw that it's Canadian. I would have to do that math again ;)

[ks-man]

Looks like I have some reading to do.  Thanks for posting those threads. 

I posted in other threads about the Cannoli's possible bladder infection and giardia diagnosis.  Thus far for the giardia the medicine, vet exam and stool analysis probably is about $200 over multiple visits/fecal exams.  If he needs more medicine and exams maybe that will double.  No clue what a bladder infection checkup and medicine would cost but guessing it would be in a similar ball park.  

Do people use their pet insurance for these types of "basic" issues or do people use it mainly for more major illnesses and injuries?  Also with the deductible is it per visit or per illness?  Sorry if these are already answered in the other threads but these are some of the main questions that are coming to mind.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Deductibles are annual for most companies, but be sure to clarify that in writing before you sign up for anything.
I got the insurance for the big stuff. Like Stacy, I had multiple four figure vet bills with my last guy, and while I fortunately was able to pay them without having to take out loans or borrow, it definitely drained my savings. If I knew that no vet bill would ever run more than say $600, I would not have gotten the insurance. I took out coverage with copays and deductibles that I am comfortable having to pay. Just like with human insurance, the higher the deductibles and copay, the lower the premiums. 
However, once you have it, use it. With Jasper's coverage, that $200 would have gone to his deductible, so I would have filed the claims so that the insurance co. has a record of how much I've paid in toward my deductible. If you had my same coverage ($300 deductible), you'd be close to actually getting some reimbursement if you do have another couple hundred dollars of expenses for the urinary issue. 

[ks-man]

Thanks.  Not sure why in my head I wasn't thinking deductibles were annual.  Obviously makes more sense as this is healthcare.  My family has been on high deductible health plans/HSAs for years so "just" a $250 annual deductible seems alien to me.  

I did check with my vet and they said that people don't seem happy with Healthy Paws and she recommended Nationwide with Wellness Coverage.  She said she also had heard good things about Figo and Embrace.  She said she hadn't heard many people with Pet Plan but hadn't heard any problems and said that it isn't as common but heard good things from patients about Trupanion.

[Stacy]

It depends on the company. There are companies with per incident deductibles. Also, another thing to look at is if Nationwide still has an annual cap. When I looked it was 7,500/year and I would have greatly exceeded that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm surprised. Healthy Paws and PetPlan have been rated first and second for pet insurance and have been for years. I do know Healthy Paws has undergone maybe too much growth too fast and had some work to do catching up with reimbursements in a timely fashion. 
There are online sites that rate and compare pet insurance companies; I found that to be a helpful tool.