Pet insurance - yay or nay?

[Cynicor]

Is pet insurance an excuse for vets to increase their prices? If it's expensive they can say "well you should have had insurance". It was unheard of twenty years ago I'm sure as the procedures were nowhere near as costly and I'm guessing pets were put down more often than not when it was something complicated to rectify. We hadn't had pets for a long time and I was shocked at how much even the simplest things were at the vet when we had to go back, having got on the pet merry-go-round again.

Not really. Inflation has increased prices, and people often don't realise how much of the operation expenses Medicare and the public hospitals cover in humans.

Vets don't enjoy letting animals suffer, go without operations or putting down a save-able animal. You might get the odd psychopath who would actually enjoy saying "you should have had insurance" but at the end of the day, medicine is actually expensive.

And I'm not a vet, but I know a few of them very well.

Also, on the Vet receptionist who doesn't have pet insurance- they get paid a pittance, the cost would be relatively high and she'd probably get as much discount as possible/affordable if there was an issues. Bit like docs I know not having private health insurance.

 

[clazman]

We went with Pet Insurance Australia and stupidly selected a excess and dint read the fine print..... so every claim we have to cover the first $200.

If you go for pet insurance don't have a excess as our our claims have been sub $200 so we get nothing back

 

[Spongbob]

We went with Pet Insurance Australia and stupidly selected a excess and dint read the fine print..... so every claim we have to cover the first $200.

If you go for pet insurance don't have a excess as our our claims have been sub $200 so we get nothing back

Maybe you should look for a higher fee charging vet?

 

[TysonC]

Yes for sure. I had to pay over $3k for my 16 year dog when he was ill last year. When i got a new puppy i decided to get pet insurance for him so looked around carefully to find a suitable plan. It made life easier having a pet insurance comparison table. At the end, I went with RSPCA as their profits would be used to save other animals in need.

 

[Spongbob]

The logic of the RSPCA insurance is a bit odd. They recommend desexing cats and keeping them "indoors". Yet both of these increases the life of cats beyond 8 years. But they will not allow new policies to cover cats over 8 years old.

 

[perthjay85]

We have often thought about pet insurance.
But it's too expensive.
3 dogs
3 cats
1 rabbit
2 birds

Not including animals that won't be covered by pet insurance.

We're yet to find a company that will do a suitable price for a group of animals.