Our dogs are a treasured part of our family. They give us unconditional love and companionship and we give them affection, attention and the best of care. But what do we do when our beloved pets get sick or hurt and we're hit with a $5,000 vet bill? We want the best veterinary care for them, but the average person cannot afford to cover huge vet bills. That's where pet health insurance can help.
As pet owners, we know vet bills can add up dramatically. My dog's broken toe cost nearly $600! It would be nice to have peace of mind that in the event your dog becomes ill or injured you can pay for its care. Pet insurance can a helpful way to budget vet expenses. It can allow you to make medical decisions for your dog based on its health care needs, not money.
More and more people are turning to pet insurance policies to help protect them from unexpected vet costs. Technically, pet insurance is property insurance. Usually plans have premiums with deductibles and co-payments, and most have benefit limits. Policies can vary in whether they cover preventive care and pre-existing conditions. Yearly premiums can vary widely, from around $200 a year to over $400, depending on the breed and age of the dog and where the owner lives.
What Does Pet Health Insurance Cover?The purpose of pet insurance is to cover major medical bills. Pet insurance plans typically cover first-time illnesses, foreign body ingestion or poison ingestion, auto accident, bone fractures, lacerations, burns, allergic reactions to insect bites or stings, and sometimes recovery costs in the event your dog gets lost.
According to the Veterinary Pet Insurance Company, the top insurance claims for dogs are skin allergies, ear infections, upset stomachs, bladder infections, benign tumors, arthritis, sprains, eye infections, enteritis (inflammation of the intestinal tract), and hypothyroidism.
In the past, pet owners were forced to make difficult decisions about their ill or injured pets; some felt they had no choice but to put their dog to sleep because they couldn't afford expensive surgery. Today we have alternatives like pet health insurance plans-and advances in veterinary medicine-to help us save or extend the lives of our four legged friends.