Insurance for Your Pets

These are crazy days when it comes to health insurance, no doubt, and if I could solve that national dilemma in a blog post then I?d be an overnight billionaire, because it?s a trillion-dollar question with no simple solution.

But have you thought recently about the cost of caring for our nonhuman friends and neighbors? If you have been to a veterinarian lately you know that it is no walk in the park. One woman I know spent more than $5,000 last year on medical bills for her cat. The cat survived, but the woman nearly had a stroke when she got the invoice from the vet?s office.

I have heard about other people whose dogs died after getting hit by cars or diagnosed with cancer, and now those dog lovers are beating themselves up with guilt, thinking they could have done more to save them. By ?I could have done more? they really mean ?perhaps I could have spent more.? Faced with thousands of dollars in treatment at the vet, for example, versus hoping Fido will just dig deep and pull through and live to chase cats another day, some people face a tragic situation. They just cannot afford the medical care for their beloved pets.

The really big expenses when it comes to treating pets include various kinds of cancer, vertebrae disk disease, bloat, ingestion of a foreign object, cataracts, and broken bones. But the list goes on, for procedures and treatment programs that can cost $1,000 and up for these and other conditions. It?s easy to spend $2,000 or more at the drop of a hat. If you have several sick or injured pets in the same year it could multiply rapidly into five-digit annual expenses.

What do people do, especially in this day and age of foreclosures and unemployment? Should they pay for surgery at the vet, hoping it succeeds, and run the risk of defaulting on their mortgage and losing the house their children live in, because they had to pay for pet surgery? But on the other hand you have the kids sitting there crying their eyes out in the vet?s office, praying for someone to do something to help their precious pet. It?s a gut-wrenching situation to be in, and there are no easy answers.

One option, though, is that you can take out a pet insurance policy. These are worth looking into if you own pets, because although they cost money they also have the potential to save you money ? and maybe save the lives of your pets ? just like human health insurance coverage.

These days, medical advancements make it possible to have everything from radiation therapy to kidney transplants for pets. You can get an MRI done on a pet, for example, if you need to get a better look for diagnosis. Sophisticated, important procedures and treatments typically range in price from $1,000 to $5,000. In this country pet lovers spend about $15 billion a year on vet bills. But only about one or two percent of pet owners have veterinary health insurance coverage.

Shop around. Look for policies that are offered by companies that are fully registered with state regulators who oversee the pet insurance industry. Last time I did some research most policies cost in the range of $200 to as high as $1,000 a year depending on the? age of the pet, the type of coverage, and so forth. You can get a low deductible of around $100 or save money on the insurance by accepting a much higher deductible. Study the small print, and be sure to take note of what things are exempted or will not be covered under the policy.

Pet coverage can cost $2,000 to $6,000 over the life of an average pet, however, so if you intend to maintain coverage over the long haul you might be just as well off to put that cash into a pet savings account. If you need vet treatment, tap into that account. If you do not, then let it accumulate as one more savings vehicle that is helping to grow your wealth.

Another way to manage these choices is to insure pets once they reach an age where they are more likely to get sick. You run the risk of something happening when they aren?t yet covered by a policy, of course. So during that time you can revert back to the plan I outlined before ? a health saving account for your pets.

Meanwhile don?t fail to keep your priorities straight. If it?s a choice between saving money for your child?s health and education and your pet?s vet bills, take a long hard look at that. I cannot tell you what to do. It?s your life and your own choice. But I can encourage you to acknowledge that in life we often have to put some priorities ahead of others ? and sometimes we have to put people ahead of pets, even though we love them both.

Even furry friends can get insurance, if it?s worth it to you.

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Source: http://beggingtoretire.com/insurance-for-your-pets/

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