sheena Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) I used to have pet insurance, but have decided against continuing it. Instead of paying premiums I'm putting the $$$ (plus a little bit)away in an account. With 3 dogs at $50 per month each we are pretty quickly building up a fighting fund. I know it is a risk, but it's one that I'm happy to take. Just another point of view and obviously not for everyone as others have said. This is what I do. Of course I started out with two healthy dogs to begin with & look after them. You have to pay the first $100 of each treatment anyway. If either of my dogs needed major vet work, then I would draw on my super or go out & borrow it without hesitation. $100 per month is $1200 per year, which is $12,000 over 10 years, so I am sure it would average itself out over the life of the dog. You just have to look at the huge profits insurance companies make. I think that insurance only covers your dog till a certain age (could be wrong)anyway. I would rather put the money I save on insurance into things like really good food/parasite control/training/maintaining my fenceed yard etc...all the things which put your dog into the vet in the first place. JMHO & of course, you need a float to start with just in case. ETA...to correct my figures...must have had a seniors moment Edited July 10, 2011 by sheena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 (edited) I have pet insurance but have been thinking about a bank account instead. For my 4 dogs I pay $130 a month which if I save this is $1500 a year. This would not go far for some serious, like surgury, but if you have a few years of no vet bills there would be enough in the account. How much does everyone normally have a year in vet bills? Excluding vacinations. For me the last 12 months have been expensive with a dogs eating chocolate, a severe allegic reation and elbow surgury. However I have gone years without any vet bills (except vacinations). I am undecided what is the best option. Edited July 10, 2011 by buddy1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I have it on all three dogs and need it. Was recently surprised to find that nearly all of the pet insurers are actually the same company..same PO Box etc. Its a bit like taxis - you ring your local but get the same call centre! I have one in hospital now - 6 hr surgery and 5 days hospitalisation. I am very glad my credit card only has to wear 20% of the bill. Did you have to pay the 80% and where reimbursed from the pet insurer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I have pet insurance but have been thinking about a bank account instead. For my 4 dogs I pay $130 a month which if I save this is $1500 a year. This would not go far for some serious, like surgury, but if you have a few years of no vet bills there would be enough in the account. How much does everyone normally have a year in vet bills? Excluding vacinations. For me the last 12 months have been expensive with a dogs eating chocolate, a severe allegic reation and elbow surgury. However I have gone years without any vet bills (except vacinations). I am undecided what is the best option. I was doing the bank account thing. But I did insure Kenzie (she will no doubt never get sick seeing as though I've done this!!). Bank account thing is good if you're prepared to make some pretty hard decisions. I've spent close to $10,000 on Emma in the last 6 months, about $5000 was elective surgery. I wanted to do the best by her. It hasn't worked out and I'm still out of pocket. If she were insured it would have been covered I'm pretty sure, and the other $5000 that was not elective but life saving definitely would have been covered. So I've decided that I will insure all my new pets (all my current ones other than Kenz are too old to be covered for illness - and that's the bit that gets them as they get older!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I have pet insurance but have been thinking about a bank account instead. For my 4 dogs I pay $130 a month which if I save this is $1500 a year. This would not go far for some serious, like surgury, but if you have a few years of no vet bills there would be enough in the account. How much does everyone normally have a year in vet bills? Excluding vacinations. For me the last 12 months have been expensive with a dogs eating chocolate, a severe allegic reation and elbow surgury. However I have gone years without any vet bills (except vacinations). I am undecided what is the best option. I was doing the bank account thing. But I did insure Kenzie (she will no doubt never get sick seeing as though I've done this!!). Bank account thing is good if you're prepared to make some pretty hard decisions. I've spent close to $10,000 on Emma in the last 6 months, about $5000 was elective surgery. I wanted to do the best by her. It hasn't worked out and I'm still out of pocket. If she were insured it would have been covered I'm pretty sure, and the other $5000 that was not elective but life saving definitely would have been covered. So I've decided that I will insure all my new pets (all my current ones other than Kenz are too old to be covered for illness - and that's the bit that gets them as they get older!). Thanks. :D You reminded me when I originally got the pet insurance one of the main reasons was for the peace of mind so I never have to make a decision about vet treatment for my dogs based on $$. So you helped me decide. I will keep the pet insurance. Isn't it the way, the one pet you don't insure it the one you need the insurance for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyra Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Have found pet insurance useful for the peace of mind. With Medibank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raybass Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 definatley get insurance. I'm with Petplan and while I haven't made any claims for one dog, the other(only 2yrs old) is currently up to somwhere between $15,000 and $16,000. No, that's not a typo... While he's still not 100%, there is no way we could have provided the treatment he's had without insurance, so he'd still be suffering. Petplan have always been easy to deal with. They send you a confirmation letter stating they received your claim, and have usually paid out within 2-3 weeks. Cannot recommend them highly enough.... Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meea Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Calleigh came home on the weekend with a 5K bill - no way my bank account would stand up to that.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casima Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I've been trying to decide if I should take out insurance on my oldest dog before he turns 9 (seems to be the magic age)or if I would really just be subsidising other peoples dogs who are poorly bred, fed supermarket food, obese or allowed to run around on the street or just got really unlucky with health stuff. Touch wood mine have all been very healthy and none have incurred huge vet bills, I do my best to keep them as healthy as I can. I am leaning towards just putting money aside for my current dogs, tho will probably insure any future puppies for the first year or 2. A very hard call tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 definatley get insurance. I'm with Petplan and while I haven't made any claims for one dog, the other(only 2yrs old) is currently up to somwhere between $15,000 and $16,000. No, that's not a typo... While he's still not 100%, there is no way we could have provided the treatment he's had without insurance, so he'd still be suffering. Petplan have always been easy to deal with. They send you a confirmation letter stating they received your claim, and have usually paid out within 2-3 weeks. Cannot recommend them highly enough.... Good luck Does PetPlan pay back 100% of the vet bill, minus the excess? Alot of the other plans have changed to 80% (I started another thread about this) and I am thinking of moving my new dog to PetPlan if it is 100% cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 (edited) As far as I am aware they do pay 100% less excess. My first renewal is due in October so we will see if it has changed then, but google them and there PDS is easy to find. ETA - just checked the PDS and it is still 100% less the excess. Edited July 11, 2011 by OSoSwift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar (AmBull) Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I have pet insurance with pet plan, have had for 2 years now and we do have one exclusion due to a small cancer which I did disclose to them prior to cover, I will be getting them to review it soon though. We pay $41.50/month for the standard dog cover for an Amstaff. I was just looking through the policy etc again and went to do a quote for our next dog. We want to add a Dogue de Bordeaux next (which is in their selected breeds ie cover goes up after 7 years) however I was shocked when I did a quote it would cost $56/month. I never thought that the cost for other breeds would increase so dramatically. Has anyone else found this with their insurer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatsofatsoman Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 As far as I am aware they do pay 100% less excess. My first renewal is due in October so we will see if it has changed then, but google them and there PDS is easy to find. ETA - just checked the PDS and it is still 100% less the excess. This is true - I pay $49 a month for the middle plan for my lab - covered up to $14k a year with $100 excess and 100% cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meea Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) I have it on all three dogs and need it. Was recently surprised to find that nearly all of the pet insurers are actually the same company..same PO Box etc. Its a bit like taxis - you ring your local but get the same call centre! I have one in hospital now - 6 hr surgery and 5 days hospitalisation. I am very glad my credit card only has to wear 20% of the bill. Did you have to pay the 80% and where reimbursed from the pet insurer? You have to pay the vet up front and THEN claim from the Insurer so you need that cc or bank account anyway. I should get reimbursed 80% because that is the policy I have chosen. You can make other choices e.g. 60 and 70% etc which affects your premium. I say should because insurers can't help themselves and all seem to have the need to deny some part of a claim eidted for spellunk Edited July 12, 2011 by Meea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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