Do you have Insurance for Your Yorkie?
 

We have considered it, but currently don't have health insurance for Yoda. Any comments on insurance? I'd be interested to see if they really pay for all services, etc...

Pay-as-you go is much cheaper per year in the long run! At least that has been the case so far with Toto! For instance, last month when Toto had that thing going on with the allergy ... $77.59 covered a complete exam including "poop" check, the bottle of antihistimine tabs, the itch relief rinse for her coat [24 oz.] and another 4 month supply of Advantage! The Advantage was the most expensive part of the visit! We have paid more than that for a meal!! There have been times that we have taken Toto to Dr. Lucy because we were just "concerned" and she won't let us pay anything!! Compared to the health plan I looked at [through AKC] ... full coverage is about $780 per year and is $100 deductible and only pays 80%. ...and ... pays a limit of $13,000 per year and $5,000 for any one incident!! I would think that unless you have a very "sickly" Yorkie or a very expensive vet, that it would be way more expensive for the insurance! Opinions ... ?? We got two months free coverage when we registered Toto with AKC ... when it expires I very seriously doubt that we will renew! Toto may get injured or come down with some gosh-awful illness tomorrow and I may have to eat my words ... but ... we could always "sell one of the kids" to pay for her care!! :D

insurance
 

I am not for it. A friend with a Jack Russell has it. She showed me her bills. For a routine yearly visit it was $285. She paid $105. I thought her bill was majorly padded with unnecessary items. Without insurance it would have been..
exam..$32
booster $17
heartworm test $15
stool $10
total $74

Yikes, scary that you end up paying MORE with insurance than without it! That just doesn't seem right at all! :(

Bettyeanne I love the part of selling the kids to pay for treatment, too cute :D

The REALLY funny thing is I have a 25 year old daughter that's actually jealous of the Yorkie!! :rolleyes:

health insurance
 

i dont have insurance for my yorkie, but i'm strongly thinking about it.

Thhis is the plan that I have. I think about cancelling it all the time, but I'm in too deep now. Plus my mom has a sick Yorkie, my aunt has an old dog, and all I hear is how much money they forked out to the vet for all their age-related problems. So I just hang tight. I know in my gut the second I cancel it, something will happen to Otis.

All of my grown kids are jealous of Hercules. They think I have gone nuts. Spoil him just a little to much.

You do not pay more with our insurance in fact the vet doesn't even need to know you ahve insurance since you submit the bill after for reimbursement.

Bella's isn't effective until 5/1 :( and I can't wait.

Today's visit was $249 since it was a sick visit, some meds, the fluid therapy and a complete blood test

We are lucky as my husband's company subsidizes some of it and it comes right from his check pre tax. I work for a major insurance company and my company doesn't even offer that.

My Bella has pet insurance as well, and its great. I'm so glad I got it. www.petinsurance.com is what she has.

I have to agree.

I don't have kids, but I could rent my husband to some of the norweigan ladies who come to Skagen to meet men...hehe

We have insurance that the law says we must, which is the "if my dog bites someone they will be treated and get medication for free"-insurance.

All my dogs have been insured since we had a terrier with cancer which ended up costing us £3000 it was worth it to see him live a further 6 years pain free and happy but it nearly bankrupted us at the time.

You Never Know If You'll Need It...
 

I have VPI (Veterinary Pet Insurance). The policy has paid for it's self many time over for me. Not only does it cover rutine care like vaccinations, check-up and dental. It also covers blood work, micro chipping and veterinary visits to specialists.

Jewel was perfectly healthy until May. Her illness came on suddenly and we had MRI and Spinal Tap done on Jewel. The bill was over $3,000.00 and we received a check from VPI for over $ 1,600.00. In the course of trying to find out what was wrong with Jewel we must have spent close to $4,000.00. I don't know how I could have paid all my bills with out it.

I pay $32.00 per month for her coverage.

The amout of the claim reimbursement depends on the treatment. They do not cover medications.

The premium does get higher as the pet ages but they do give mutiple policy discounts.

They do exclude any pre-exitsting conditions so get on the plan early in your babies life. It really pays for new puppies needing vaccinations and spay/neuter.

Only draw back is YOU have to do all the work. Get the doctor to sign the claim form, fax or mail the claim with a copy of the bill, keep records of the claims you made and follow up on claims that takes a bit longer. We have had claims declined but got them resolved with a phone call.

Hope this helps you. Sorry I got a little carried away! But my experiance with Jewel has made me a 100% backer of insurance. You never know if you are REALLY going to need it!

We do not have it, but I have looked into it and I have seriously thought about getting it. We have ended up not getting any thus far and doubt if we do. Our vet is pretty inexpensive (doesn't seem to over charge for things and we sometimes get things free) and I just do not see how we would save money from it. Even with our major medical emergency a few months back (4 days IV, 6 x-rays, 2 weeks sick,etc) our bill was not bad at all!

I have insurance for both my dogs.
My lab i've had insurance for him for 9 years and never been able to claim :( as the excess was always more than the vet bills :confused:
Now he is 9 years old i would have to pay £15 premium per month, the excess of £65, then after the excess pay another 35% of the remaining bill before they would pay the rest.....i'm cancelling it.
If i had just put the money in a separate account i would have more than £1000 by now

I had thought about it when I only had one Yorkie. But now that I have 7, it's waaaaaaaay too expensive!! I even asked if they give group rates?!?!? Not a chance in he--. Maybe someone should consider getting a YT health plan that's like Kaiser (in CA). Then it might be affordble for all of us.

Dan & Corrine-Where do you get the VPI insurance? Sounds like something to consider. I've looked everywhere else!

I have always had pet insurance for all our animals.
Our lab we paid for 14 years and only claimed a couple of times, however our Yorkie we had for four years and must of claimed in the reagan of nearly £4000 so was glad to have it.Would never have a pet without insurance would hate not to be able to afford a treatment so for peace of mind I have insurance. :thumbup:

I also have VPI for Max and Abbie. I feel more comfortable knowing that if something serious were to come up that they would be covered and I wouldn't have to clear my savings account out to get them whatever they needed. My vet is also inexpensive and gives me some freebies (removing baby teeth free of charge during neutering and spaying procedures) but VPI paid for at least half of Abbie's spaying, 2/3 of Max's teeth cleaning, and portion of their Interceptor just to name a few. It's only about $30 a month for each, which I would probably spend on going out to dinner and starbucks for the month so I don't mind paying it.

VPI's website:

http://www.petinsurance.com

I personally LOVE Coco's insurance because it's not oodles a month and there's lots of coverage. It's with Petcarepals.com. I just know the minute I cancel it, something will happen to her, so I'd rather pay $11 a month and be covered.

I don't have health insurance for myself. You can guess if I have any for Stewie :)

I really should look into it. Especially for the prices my vet charges.