Have you ever been bit by pet health insurance?
Have you ever felt taken advantage of by pet insurance? While pet insurance has been around for many years in the US and Canada, it’s still a fairly new concept to the average pet owner. Less than 1% of North American pets have insurance. We feel that this may be in part due to the fact that people are uninformed on how pet insurance works, but more in part due to companies that over promised and under delivered.
In my research on pet insurance I’ve found that some people feel they’ve been taken advantage of by pet insurance companies by inserting a list of exclusions that the average pet owner wouldn’t understand. 
All the while the marketing team puts on a show about how “this is the best plan out there” or “this is the plan you need”, etc. Popular consumer pet insurance review sites show most companies at ratings of 5 out of 10. Well it’s no wonder pet insurance hasn’t fully caught on yet! We want to hear your experiences with pet insurance, but more specifically how you feel you were promised one thing and got another. Did you think those hereditary conditions would be covered? Were you expecting to get 90% of the vet bill back but only actually got 50%?
I first signed up for Pet Care insurance in October, made sure all my pet’s info was in on time and such but when i took her to the vet in october for a minor skin irritation and sent in the claim I recieved the run around and was even screamed at on the phone by one of their employees. It is now January and I have not recieved my payment but have been paying the monthy dues. I have tried to cancel the policy but you can only due so with a live pet care insurance employee and anytime I try to cancel I am either hung up on or switched to a never ending dial tone.
I am beyond unhappy with their insurance and advise anyone with a pet to stay away.
I am still awaiting my claim money from them.
Yikes! This is one of the poorest customer service stories I’ve actually heard. I don’t think that any customer service person should scream, regardless of the type of company.
Please keep us posted as to the outcome, you’ve got me curious! I’m wondering if, after all of that, your claim will be covered and, if so, for how much.
I had a cat who was very sick for more than two years before he passed away. I thought that, if I’d had insurance, the financial hit would not have been as large. I spent thousands on him.
So when I got a kitten I decided to get insurance for her, then I got another kitten about a year later and also got insurance. I only had a couple of claims with the first kitten, who had already been spayed when I got her, and got some money back, so I was ok.
The reality check came when I got my second kitten spayed and the insurance didn’t pay anything at all on it. I reassessed my options then and decided to become self-insured for my cats.
I canceled their policies and started putting away $25 from each paycheck into a special savings account just for their medical expenses. This is a little less than I was paying from each paycheck for their policies, but every cent in that account is for their expenses. By the time they get older and start having geriatric problems, there will be more than enough money in that savings account to pay those bills. In the meantime, there’s already more than enough to deal with their routine vet visits.
In my opinion, if you can afford the insurance, you can afford to do what I did.
I noticed Coleen’s problem, and that is a problem that I have found in various online sales for various things. I suggest a separate catagory to rate specific insurance companies according to individual cases.
Also, are you able to see if certain emails are “planted” to falsely inflate a company rating?
Nora,
I am sorry to hear that your kitties have had some medical problems in the past:( But, I must admit that I’m very impressed that you have enough self discipline to put away $25 each month! It sounds like that’s been a great option for you, and I’m glad to hear that you didn’t have any major issues arise before you had put away enough money. My biggest concern with this method is that major problems can happen to a pet of any age (although it may statistically not be as likely) and if you were to start putting away $25 a month but only got two months into it and were hit with a $3,000 bill you might be a little hurt.
Best of luck with your kitties!
Skeezix,
This seems to be a duplicate question, but just to make sure it gets answered, I will copy what I posted on another thread.
As with most services, or even products, there will of course always be positive and negative experiences. We want to encourage both types of stories on this blog so that we can do our best to inform all readers as well as improve the pet insurance industry.
That said, we don’t have any type of rating system in the works, as this blog is meant to be more of an informative blog as opposed to a means for a pet owner to be guided towards choosing one company over another. If a particular company gets mentioned, that’s just how it’s going to go.
And to answer your question, no, there is no real way for us to verify whether or not comments posted are “planted”. Anyone with an email address and access to the internet can post on here. That said, due to the nature of the blog, which holds the welfare of pets in the highest regard, we would certainly hope that people join in the conversations in order to promote an informative discussion, and not to promote a company.
My Australian Shepherd had ASPCA insurance for almost a year and developed allergies in December. The vet visit in December was more than my deductible so I received no reimbursement there.
Then when January came around and I submitted expenses I was told it was a “preexisting condition” since it originally occurred the prior year (which was 3 weeks earlier) Apparently this particular company resets every Jan 1st and any condition from the previous year even though it wasn’t preexisting then isn’t covered.
Uh what? Cancelled that insurance…
So I went back to VPI and now she’s not covered for allergies at all. So much for helping the pet out.
I did keep coverage on her only in case she has an injury…she’s an agility dog…but other than that I think it’s quite a waste of money.
STAY AWAY FROM VPI! They are terrible, trust me! My dog Dallas had everything from a completly torn out nail, ate a bolt that had to be removed, ate a corn cob that had to be removed, was going to twice weekly hydrotheraphy for 2 years and petcareinsurance.com covered it all with just minus the deductible. Never had a problem. The only reason I changed was because their limits for coverage was for the ENTIRE life of the pet. After all the problems with Dallas (hey he was a lab), I knew I would want the comfort of more with Riley seeing I was started him out with coverage as a puppy. That’s when I found gopetplan.com. Their limits renew every year, better coverage and were actually a little cheaper. Please check them out. And no I don’t work for them seeing I have been preaching pretty heavily about them, I am just a happy customer. Riley will be covered throughout his life with them!
I had VPI for several years, and one very busy year, I was late paying my annual premium. I called to renew it, but Sales said that my policy was cancelled. I was referred to another department – Underwriting – for what was soon to become the proverbial run-around. Almost four months and several calls and trips to the vet for “more” information and numerous emails to/from VPI, I was informed via email that they would not insure my dog because of undiagnosed masses. They actually had been diagnosed previously – all benign – for which VPI had paid some money toward the visits/diagnoses of these “masses.”
In so many ways the pet insurance industry is as BROKEN as human health insurance. They will gladly accept the premium payments, but are reluctant and slow to pay for claims.
I have decided, however, to try PetCareInsurance. At this point, I have paid the premium (in July) but have not yet had to submit a claim. If this insurance company does not work well, I will not renew. Instead, I will open a bank account and deposit my own monthly “premium payments” toward the health care of my dog. At least this way, I know that I will pay “my claims.”
The two biggest issues I have had with with the pet care insurance companies stem from their very own definitions of what constitutes a congenital or genetic problem, no matter what several general and specialist veterinarians diagnose so that they don’t have to honor a claim, and the lifetime limits on what will be paid. According to VPI, degenerative joint disease in a 10 year old Rottweiler was congenital (present at birth) even though this dog was OFA certified as good at 26 months of age. And when my Bernese Mountain Dog developed a third type and location of cancer, the claim was denied as he had used the entire lifetime allowance in the previous two years. Twice bitten, I am really shy about considering pet insurance ever again and now that two of my dogs re almost 8 years old I would probably be denied by most of the companies anyway.
Michele,
Just out of curiosity, did you do much research before choosing either company? Unfortunately for you, the pet insurance industry wasn’t quite as strong as it is now (and continually getting stronger every day). Because there are so many new companies entering the industry, it has really raised the bar. There are also more online tools to help pick companies – such as online pet insurance reviews, etc.
Cathryn,
You will have to let us know how PetCare works out for you. As for the “broken” remark – could you elaborate? We’re trying to keep this blog as informative and educational as possible, and would really like to avoid general statements, unless you have something to back up the statement.
“They will gladly accept the premium payments, but are reluctant and slow to pay for claims.” – Cathryn Chellis posted a comment on January 8th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Are you referring to all companies in general or VPI?
Anne,
That is really too bad that you have had such a disappointing experience(s) with pet insurance. But, you did bring up a good point (whether or not you knew it). Different companies do define things differently, which is why I recommend that you do lots of homework before choosing any one company. Call the companies, ask questions, and make sure they answer them. Unfortunately, you may not always know the right questions to ask. After all, the majority of pet owners are not in the veterinary profession. That is why we’re working harder to make pet insurance policies more transparent and easier to understand.
Keep the stories coming!
I’ve been bit a couple of times by VPI. The first year we had Rylie, I paid for the premium coverage plus the wellness plan. I figured he’s a puppy, so many things could go wrong. After submitting receipts for the “well care” items (ie. flea/tick meds, heartworm meds, neuter, etc.), I was surprised to only get $115 reimbursed…out of claim for over $580. I dropped the wellness plan after that.
Recently, we had an emergency puncture wound…the total bill was $730, and VPI reimbursed $100. Both times I got less than 20% reimbursed.
To me, this is not worth the money I’m paying every month for a premium. Right now the only reason I’m keeping it is until I find something better, or until I get some money put aside in a savings account just for Rylie.
Their whole schedule system seems like a scam to me, especially when their allowances are unrealistic to what vets charge for services because the PRIMARY DIAGNOSIS allowance includes the exam, injections, hospitalization, treatment, and surgery! Their allowances barely covered the cost of the primary diagnosis (puncture wound), let alone the surgery and injections, and miscellaneous fees for the emergency, hospital, lab, fluids, patient care, and pharmacy!
Hey Autumn,
Thank you for sharing your story as well as diving into details. I really appreciate you taking the time to do so, as I really feel that will help pet owners in the future, AS WELL AS helping to improve the pet insurance industry.
I’m sorry that you’ve had some poor pet insurance experiences in the past, and am hopeful that you won’t write it off completely (at least until you do some further research into other companies).
Best of luck with Rylie!
I had Pet Care insurance for our dog. She blew out her knee and had to have a rod put into her leg. Later on she did the same thing to the other leg. Our policy renewed Aug 1. The dr and I decided to wait as long as we could. Well, the policy renewed and the bad leg we waited on was considered pre-existing. We cancelled them at the next renewal time but they couldn’t find the letter of course. After some research I found a pet insurance plan that will rollover with some conditions. We pay extra for it but has come in handy. The problem I have is they tried to say she has some pre-existing conditions before the policy started. I went round and round with them and even got the head guy for the company involved. Was resolved after a few months. I had all the documents to counteract their decisions. I just want to know what the codes are that they use to determine if a claim will be paid or not.