Have You Ever Considered Buying Pet Insurance?

If you have a furry friend at home, you will realize that vet trips are more common than you initially thought. Be it ticks and fleas or common shots, accident ingestions or injuries, you may have to spend anywhere between hundreds to thousands of dollars for your pets. Add food and grooming and you are adding almost as much expenses as a baby.

Pet insurance can help you in getting rid of these expenses while providing adequate medical care to your furry friend. But don’t dive into an insurance policy before pondering over all the options available to you.

Here are a few questions you must ask before buying pet insurance.

Type of pet insurance plans

There are discount pet health plans and comprehensive insurance plans. If you want to buy a comprehensive plan, you will have to get an insurance that looks like normal human health insurance policy.

With discount pet health plans, you pay a membership or subscription fee for the doctor visits and related services. Both options are good and depend entirely on the robustness of your pet or its inclination to certain diseases.

You will most likely be informed about such an insurance at your vet’s office. If you are getting third party information, make sure that your vet is covered under the plan. If you haven’t kept pets at home before and don’t have any preferences, study all the available vets in the policy. Find out the best vets in your area too. Make sure that the nearest and the best vets are covered in the policy.

What all is covered?

Most pet insurance plans will cover doctor visits, medications and other procedures necessary to keep your pet healthy. Some breeds are more inclined to certain diseases. The treatment for these will not be covered under the insurance plans. Pre-existing conditions of your pet will also not be covered under an insurance plan. You can ask your insurance provider if such conditions could be covered at an additional cost.

If you are choosing a wellness or preventive care program, then neutering and spaying could be covered under insurance. However, if you have only opted for accident and illness coverage, these costs will not be covered. Most comprehensive insurance plans have provisions for all these activities. These plans generally cover prescription medication costs as well. Others could provide you such coverage through additional riders.

Caps and deductibles

When it comes to caps and deductibles, pet insurance is quite like health insurance for humans. As a rule, the higher the deductible, the lower the premium. Don’t be too caught up with the deductible. If you can’t afford a very high deductible, keep it moderate. Remember, the deductible is a cost that you have to pay upfront before the insurance coverage kicks in. You don’t want to pay too much out of pocket in case of an emergency.

Caps depend largely on your insurance provider and your policy. Usually, there is a cap for every possible incident. Therefore, you will have to be aware of the limits beforehand.

Now that you know everything about pet insurance, sort through some policies and check which one is most suitable for your pet’s needs.