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Top 10 Misconceptions About Pet Health Insurance

February 14, 2011

Top 10 Misconceptions About Pet Health Insurance:

10. Pet health insurance is like human health insurance:

When I ask my clients if they are interested in learning about pet insurance, they often decline. The most cited reason? They don’t like their own health insurance policies and they assume that pet health insurance will be similar.

Unlike human health insurance, a pet policy is not true medical insurance and instead provides a fee-for-service indemnity coverage, similar to car insurance or homeowners insurance. To “indemnify” means “to make whole again, or to be reinstated to the position that one was in prior to the happening of a specified event or peril. “ In fact, many health insurance policies are underwritten by Marine Insurance Companies because pet insurance seems to classify similarly. It odd to find out that insuring a pet is more like insuring a boat or car than a person’s health.

9. Pet Health Insurance is managed care or will lead to managed care:

Pet insurance was developed over 30 years ago in Europe. Insurance, in general, is said to have appeared simultaneously with the appearance of human society and boats and homes have been insured since insurance appeared. “Managed care” has not evolved for boats or homes, so I suspect that pet owners and veterinarians can sleep well at night knowing that pet insurance will not follow human health insurance down the road of managed care and poor customer service. The report, “A Veterinarian’s Guide to Pet Health Insurance, states, “there are several specific reasons why pet health insurance has neither the power nor the incentive to foist managed care onto the profession.”

8. Pet health insurance is more expensive than human health insurance:

Pet health insurance usually carries a smaller deductible than human health insurance and the monthly premiums can be as low as $15 per month.

7. Puppies and kittens don’t need pet insurance. It is better to get them insurance when they are older, when they start having more medical problems:

The opposite is true. If you wait for a pet to get older, they may have already developed conditions that are excluded from the policy. It is best to insure your pet starting when they are a puppy or kitten.

6. If pet insurance is so great, why don’t I know anyone with pet insurance?

It is true that pet insurance policies cover a small percent of pets in the US. However, the industry is growing fast. 1-2% of pets in the U.S. have pet insurance policies, but in England, 20% of pets have policies and in Sweden, 49% of pets are insured. This may be related to the fact that pet owners assume that pet insurance is similar to U.S. human health insurance.

5. Why should I have pet insurance if I have to shell out money and wait to be reimbursed?

From my experience with various plans, the time it takes to get paid back from the insurance company is very quick. Your reimbursement will occur before you have to pay interest on any credit card expense. Also, if you are super worried, there is a company called Care Credit that provides zero percent interest for pet health expenditures in plenty of time to be reimbursed by the insurance company.

4. Isn’t pet insurance the same as just putting aside money for future vet bills?

Consider you put away $400 a year for veterinary bills and that year your pet has to go to the emergency room for a broken leg. It is broken so badly that it requires an orthopedic surgeon to place pins and a plate. This could set you back $7,000, leaving you with $6,600 of medical bills. If you had spent that money on a pet insurance policy, you would have only had to pay 80-90 percent of that bill, giving you a grand total debt of your deductible plus $1,000 to $1,800 and if your pet had complications, the additional bills would be covered with pet insurance.

3. My vet doesn’t take health insurance – I think.

Pet insurance policies do not mandate that you go to a particular veterinarian. Any vet you go to can treat your pet and then you can submit the bills to your pet insurance company.

2. I am really bad with paperwork and the system seems too complex to get paid back.

The very best veterinarians will submit the forms for you. Ask your vet if this is something they do. Furthermore, if you have access to the Internet, the best pet insurance providers have a policy user login where you can submit the forms online or fax them in.

1. It is so difficult to evaluate the pet insurance companies and compare their policies that I am overwhelmed.

Much of the research on policies, customer reviews, and insurer comparisons has already been done for you. Check out Pet Insurance Review online for unbiased evaluations and customer reviews of the different pet insurance providers.

Although pet insurance is often confusing because it is so different than human health insurance, once a pet owner purchases pet insurance, those discrepancies are beneficial to pet owners. If you need additional assistance with pet insurance and would like to ask a vet, consider asking an online veterinarian at VetLIVE.

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Written by VetLIVE · Filed Under Ask a Vet 


Comments

  • Anonymous

    I HAD the AKC Pet Insurance. The only one that the AKC Petpartners Insurance partners with is with THEMSELVES! This company has denied my family 1, 000′s of dollars in UNPAID claim inclusive of eusthanasia. I am shopping other insurance after experiencing how deplorable the customer service is, the lost claims they forever seem to misplace and the wrongful denial to claims INCLUSIVE OF EUTHANASIA when we were told it was medically necessary. I had the wellness plan – pretty comprehensive and they only pay PEANUT things – when it comes to the “true reason we have insurance” forget about the AKC since you have NOTHING other than an Illusion of coverage per our experience. You need to look for providers WITHOUT the NEVER ENDING clauses the AKC has — “Per Incident” and watch out for the heriditary items they EXCLUDE. OTHERWISE — SELF FUND YOUR OWN POLICY. To have an AKC Policy — it was completely USELESS and HEART WRENCHING! Be certain to read the AKC catch all loop hole — PER INCIDENT and WATCH the annual maximum — they offer minimal and if your pup is sick — it gets expensive. For me the AKC considered EVERYTHING the same incident even when their own EOB’s indicate different diagnosis with different dates of service. . Many OTHER insurance providers have an annual maximum WITHOUT the AKC Loop Hole which they incorrectly throw everything into and then DON’T PAY as they represent they will. STAY AWAY from the AKC for fear your experience will be as mine! In my research at petinsurancereview.com and many conversations — Embrace is who we are switching too.

  • Fireman Woj

    I am very disheartened with what I thought was a respectable insurance provider. The AKC has only provided disproportionate premium increases and not provided a practical product. You pay over a $1,000 dollars in annual premiums on the Wellness Plan; yes they will reimburse you after the deductible for heartworm, annual shots. This does not offset the despicable reimbursements (if any) being with the AKC insurance. They lose submitted claims, the customer service is rude, they pay on a fee schedule which is something unrealistic, and won’t cover hereditary conditions or arthritis, and the processing of the claim is sluggish. The frustration you undergo is incredible being with this provider. I have cancelled this insurance and so glad I did. Now my sweet baby is covered with Embrace, a provider that actually provides customer service, GET THIS even hereditary conditions, arthritis, allows you to customize the plan, reimbursements not based on a fee schedule and you select the percentage of reimbursement, no “per incident” deception as the AKC has – that is a huge one – so watch out for that! ABOVE ALL – my new carrier communicates with experienced professionals who are thoughtful, attentive, considerate, compassionate kind as well as timely claim processing, and well-informed staff. I had many an experience with the AKC insurance. I was with the AKC for 5 years so I speak with experience on how dreadful they are as an insurance provider.

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