The Importance of Pet Insurance for Your Dogs
When you bring a dog into your home, it can be such a big and wonderful responsibility. Dogs are so much fun, love us unconditionally and soon become an integral part of our family. We, of course, always want the best for our dogs today and as they get older.
Part of being a pet owner is taking your dog to the vet for their annual check-up. There is nothing more important than keeping your dog in good health.
And what if something unexpected were to happen at the vet and it turns out your dog is sick or hurt? Or maybe your pup injured his paw when playing outside? You would want to get your dog the best medical care possible.
Pet insurance will allow you to do just that which can be both a financial and emotional relief.
Why Pet Insurance is Important
Pet insurance for dogs is similar to our human health insurance.
If your dog becomes ill or hurt and needs medical care, pet insurance can help cover the costs of the veterinary bill.
Pet insurance is a huge benefit if your dog gets a disease like diabetes or cancer and needs treatment for the duration of his life. As our dogs get older, there are many different and new conditions that might occur and pet insurance can help offset those costs.
With veterinary costs increasing, treatment for these diseases or even a simple paw injury can be more than $10,000. And that can be for just one vet bill.
Most pet insurance plans will cover anywhere from 70% to 90% of the bill depending on the pet insurance which can be really helpful if your dog gets sick or hurt.
Pet insurance does not cover routine veterinary visits unless you sign up for wellness pet insurance which is really just an additional cost for services that you can easily pay out of pocket.
How Pet Insurance Works
When you sign up for a new pet insurance plan, there are many things to consider.
First you need to choose your annual deductible. The deductible is paid one time per year at the start of your policy. You pay your deductible on your first medical bill.
You then choose your monthly premium. The better pet insurance policies have premiums that range anywhere from $55 a month to up to $150 a month.
Even though you have a choice of different premiums, the amount you pay will also depend on other factors such as your dog’s breed, age and where you live.
Then you have a choice of reimbursement rate levels. Most pet insurance companies let you choose between anywhere from 70% to 90%.
The higher the reimbursement you choose, the more you will get reimbursed on each medical bill.
How To Find the Best Pet Insurance for Your Dog
Now that you know the importance of pet insurance for your dog, there are some other factors to consider when signing up for a new plan:
Coverage
The overall coverage can be extremely important when purchasing pet insurance. After all, you want to make sure that the coverage offered is broad enough in scope to cover whatever condition or illness that might occur to your dog.
Comprehensive coverage will cover all accidents, illnesses and the testing and treatment that is needed.
There are other plans such as accident plans that are less expensive but only cover accidents which is not enough coverage.
Benefit Limits
When you sign up for a pet insurance plan, you also need to choose from the benefit limits offered. Benefits limits are the maximum amount that a pet insurance company will pay out either annually or for the lifetime of your dog.
There are some companies that offer benefit levels of only $25,000 per year, while others will offer unlimited lifetimes benefits in all their plans.
While a plan with unlimited lifetime benefits might be a little more expensive, you never have to worry about reaching the limit which is why they are the most preferred plans.
Just make sure to choose a benefit limit that you feel comfortable that you won’t surpass each year depending on your dog’s health, so you don’t have to pay the difference if you hit the limit.
When Is Pet Insurance Really Necessary For Your Dog?
Pet insurance is the insurance and assurance that you can cover your dog’s bills no matter what occurs.
There are some dog breeds that are pre-disposed to specific hereditary conditions. And most of these conditions are very expensive to treat and pet insurance can help with those costs.
For example, Labradors and Golden Retrievers tend to have hip and elbow issues and hip surgery can be very expensive which is why pet insurance can really be important to have with these specific breeds.
Your veterinarian is always a good resource to find out what conditions or illnesses might occur with your dog and to help determine the coverage you might need.
Just make sure you enroll your dog in a pet insurance plan before any of these conditions occur and are then deemed pre-existing and therefore won’t be covered.
Final Thoughts on Pet Insurance
Pet insurance is very valuable to have if your dog has a serious accident or injury.
There might be some years where your pup is healthy all year long and you are paying for something that you might not need.
However, with the monthly costs of most pet insurance policies being very reasonable and the cost of veterinary care rising, pet insurance can certainly be worth it.
You’ll know that you can always pay for whatever happens to your dog tomorrow or in the future.