OR CALL WITH QUESTIONS
OR CALL WITH QUESTIONS
Recently, I had two clients ask me these questions. What are your thoughts on pet insurance? Is it worth it? What specific companies do you think are the best?
Since my first dog Simone was a puppy, I had pet insurance on her. The rates were reasonable and fit into my budget. Years went by and I never had to use the insurance. So, when I was laid off from my job and trying to cut costs, I cancelled the policy. That same year Simone was diagnosed with bone cancer. Treatment entailed an amputation of the leg along with chemotherapy treatments with an estimated outlay of over $6,000. As you can imagine, I was kicking myself for cancelling that policy.
When I adopted my new puppy Gabe, I did not carry insurance on him. The company I had used previously was out of business, and I was hearing that insurance just wasn’t worth the expense. It wasn’t until my clients posed this question that I decided to do some extensive research to see if that fact rings true. The first thing I learned was that there are many companies and types of policies to choose from which can get very overwhelming!
So, I conducted in-depth research on the top rated pet insurance companies based on consumer advocate.org and received quotes for my dog Gabe who is a 4 year old Shetland Sheep Dog. There were a wide range of options to choose from. I worked to get quotes that were comparable across companies. All coverage was based on accidental and comprehensive.
Here are my findings:
I came to the conclusion to move forward with pet insurance for Gabe and here is why. I asked myself this question. If Gabe had health concerns, would I be in the position to make a choice about what is best for him that was not dependent on how much money I had in the bank. My thoughts were that I would rather be safe than sorry especially after going through what I had gone through with Simone.
I decided to go with the Progressive policy because it had in my opinion the most value for the money. In addition, the marketer in me believes that Progressive has a brand name to protect. While claims are processed through an outside company, that company’s reviews were also excellent. I also had Progressive as my auto insurance provider and had a good experience with them.
At the end of the day, insurance is there to manage risk and everyone’s risk factors are different. That being said, my recommendation would be to get pet insurance. The small amount of financial outlay to me is worth it. I will go to bed sleeping better tonight knowing that Gabe’s health care is covered.
So the answer to that question. Insure!
Servicing St. Louis Metropolitan Areas, St. Charles and Illinois