Pet Dog Insurance-Is It A Good Deal For You?
Dog insurance has very much in common with his owner's health insurance; it has many variations and different prices.
Pet insurance is a growing business. Insurance companies have teamed with a big pet supply chain like Petco and the American Kennel Club to offer insurance through their affiliates and many more insurance companies offer different pet insurance policies. As an evidence to it's growth in popularity it was noted that more than 1600 companies offer pet insurance as an optional part of their employee benefit package.
Again, just like with human insurance, the scope of the coverage, the amount of co- payment and the monthly premium, depends on the age and the health condition of the dog. Younger, healthy dogs are cheaper to insure than older ones. Most insurance companies will not insure dogs over 9 years old and the few that do, have a very restrictive policies.
VPI Pet Insurance, one of the largest companies which controls 70% of the pet insurance market (Petinsurance.com) offers plans with $50 deductible per incident for a young and healthy dog. The range in coverage spans from a standard plan for $16 a month premium, and up to $50 a month for the superior Plan + CareGuard Premier package, which covers serious condition such as kidney disease or failure, lacerations, growths (benign) Thyroid problems and common problems such as allergies and constipation. It has a plan that covers pacemakers and skin grafts as well. You can tailor your plan according to 3 categories: the amount of medical benefits, Cancer benefits and Well Care benefits you want to have for your dog.
Pethealthplan.com has a basic accidental coverage that covers emergencies and accidents for rates starting as low as $10 a month. There is an annual deductible of $100 and the plan pays back 80% of the expenses of covered illness. Level 2 is accidents and illness, level 3 covers accident, illness and essential care and level 4 covers accident, illness and deluxe wellness care, including medications.
Before you start searching for a dog health insurance policy take those facts into account:
- Virtually all policies have deductibles. Some of them are per incident, some are per year. They may have co-pays and limits and cap on per incident level or per calendar year.
- Pre-existing conditions and hereditary problems, typical to the bread of the dog are usually excluded. If you insure a retriever, hip dysplasia will not be covered by most insurance companies.
- Most plans have one form or another of expenss sharing plan. They will pay 80%, 90% of what you have spent.
The possibilities are many; 24petwatch.com, is another company you might want to look into, so searching online might be very beneficiary. After all, no physical check-ups are required.
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