Here's a tip for those of you who have already decided to get insurance. This works best for puppies of course but I suppose it works for young pets too with no prior medical issues.
I recently signed up with Trupanion and requested that they initiate a Pawprint. This is something they do when you submit your first claim to identify if there is anything with the pet that they decide they won't cover. For those of you who know insurance terms, this is called pre-existing condition.
Because I'm covering my pet who is under 1 yr, I sent them all her vet records and requested them to initiate a Pawprint NOW to give me in writing that my pet has no pre-existing conditions so she wouldn't be refused coverage for anything she should be covered for years later. I don't know how the other insurance companies work, but had I chosen another company I would have done the same. Request a confirmation that your pet has no prior pre-existing conditions. Which is easy to do now if your pet is still a puppy.
This way I don't pay years and years of insurance only to be refused for something.
Those of you who are doing the "savings account" way, pray that nothing happens before your savings account had a chance to grow! I did a (very) simple calculation, cuz I'm a nerd, that if I put the cost of my monthly premium in the account, increase my monthly premium by 8% every year to see how much money I'd have at the end of 15 years, it only takes 2 major issues any time within those 15 years to completely deplete my account. Lets say your argument is you add in an interest rate so you'll accumulate more money, which is true. But say something happens in year 7 which depletes your account and now your account will now start from zero at a time when your pet needs coverage most. That's why I didn't do the savings account method because I'd be freaking out myself. Just saying! |