Monday, December 7, 2009

Pet Insurance Debate

I have been thinking of cancelling our pet insurance. What should I do?

Pros -
-Pays 90% of claims so you get your $ back
-Evie is young & doesnt have any diseases so she is covered if she gets any

Cons
-You have to pay the claim up front & then get reimbursed
-Office visit fees are not covered

So, here is a scenario. Evie has giardia
Costs $114
$90 office visit
$20 pills

Insurance will not pay me for the visit and will pay 90% of the pills. I will get a check for like $18.

So I pay $45/mo to get paid $18 back!

If she ever had to have surgery that cost like $3,000 - what would I do? I would have to come up with $3,000 to pay for her surgery up front and then get reimbursed.

I could just put that $45 into her account each month and have that money just sit there earning interest. If she gets hurt, it is paid for.

I dont know what to do....Either way, I have to have any $$ to cover her bill up front. Its a matter of wanting to get my $ back once we get reimbursed.

2 comments:

Taralyn said...

you can't think about pet insurance as you pay $45 a month for $18. you're paying for the big thing. Just like car insurance, hopefully you never need it, but you pay for it every month in case you do. And if Evie gets hurt and needs surgery, you'll need it. And you'll be happy you have it. Think of it more long term than by month. Over the next 5 years you'll pay $x and how likely do you think it'll be that Evie has something big? Does that trade off seem worth it? You always seem to be doing something with her, but if these things aren't covered, then it may not be worth it. If you don't get the insurance, you could start an Evie ING account and put in $10 a week (same as your premium) and by the end of the year you'll have $500 to put towards a big thing for her. If you don't use it, you can keep building on it.

Heather M said...

yeah i cancelled it today. I am just going to continue to fill up her bank account and just have the $$ ready to go. I have to have $$ for her with or without insurance, its just with insurance i MIGHT get paid back.