I have been a proponent of pet insurance ever since Amber died after a brief illness in 2010. After three days of intensive care, I was left with a $10,000 bill. I was fortunate that I had the money and didn’t have to go into debt, but I didn’t ever want to be in a position again to have to dig that deeply into my savings.
Do you need pet insurance?
Could you easily afford to pay several thousand dollars if your cat had a sudden medical emergency or a prolonged illness? Can you easily cover your cat’s annual or bi-annual exam, preventive lab work, and dental cleaning? Costs for routine exams vary depending on location, and can range anywhere from $50 to $250. A routine dentistry can cost $1,000; add in a few extractions or other problems, and you’re looking at $1500 or more.
My experience with pet insurance
I’ve been extremely happy with Embrace Pet Insurance for the past nine years. I got a policy for Allegra when she was five years old. Her premium was somewhere in the vicinity of $25 a month.
When I adopted Ruby, I added her to the policy. As a kitten with no pre-existing conditions, her rate was extremely low. Having the insurance was a godsend when Ruby got sick.
A couple of weeks ago, I received the annual renewal notice for Allegra’s policy. Our rates had been steadily increasing over the years, which I knew to expect based on her age and claims history. However, I was not prepared for her premium to double. Last year, her premium was about $75 a month. Her new monthly premium is going to be $150 a month.
Why are pet insurance premiums skyrocketing?
The biggest factor driving premium increases right now are rapidly rising veterinary fees. Advances in veterinary medicine offer more treatment options for cats than ever before, but they come at a higher price. Additionally, corporate ownership of practices, as well as inflation, are causing rising operational costs, including staff salaries. Insurance companies factor these trends into their pricing models.
Other reasons why premiums increase:
- The cat’s age and increased risk of developing age-related illnesses.
- Overall pet health trends. Insurance companies don’t just look at individual pets, they evaluate the entire insured population. If there’s an overall increase in claims, they may increase premiums for everyone.
- Geographical location.
Managing pet insurance costs
After receiving that hefty increase notice, I had to run the numbers to see whether keeping Allegra’s policy still made sense, or whether it would be better to just put the money into a savings account for her.
There are three ways you can usually lower premiums for an existing policy:
- Reduce your coverage
- Increase your deductible
- Reduce your maximum payout
I played with all of the numbers. I didn’t want to reduce coverage. I already had a policy that only covers illness and accident, not routine care. I didn’t want to increase my $500 deductible. Based on what I spent on Allegra’s vet bills last year, reducing the maximum payout made the most sense. Up until last year, it was set at $8000 per year. If I lower that to $2000, it reduces the premium to $97 a month.
Then I looked at last year’s claims and payouts. I anticipate about the same expenses for this year: twice a year check ups and bloodwork, and various medications. By the time I ran all the numbers, it was kind of a wash: pay $97 a month and get reimbursed for 70% of my expenses after I meet the deductible, or put money into a special savings account for Allegra’s veterinary expenses every month. I chose to cancel the policy.
How to choose a pet insurance provider
Ultimately, all insurance always means you’re betting against yourself. At the same time, insurance can provide peace of mind – if it makes sense for you and your financial situation. To me, there is nothing more heartbreaking than hearing from cat parents who were unable to afford life-saving treatments for their cats.
There are a lot of options in the pet insurance market place, and you’ll have to do your homework when choosing a plan. Ask these questions when evaluating a provider:
- Is the company licensed in your state?
- Does the company have a good reputation?
- How long have they been around?
- Is the policy information easy to understand?
- Does the company offer customer service during business hours?
- Can you see any veterinarian you want?
- How much have premiums increased over the last few years?
- Will premiums increase as your pet gets older?
- What is covered and what is excluded from coverage?
- What is the company’s policy on pre-existing conditions?
- Does the company cover benefits for wellness visits and preventive care?
- Does the company cover holistic care?
- Is there a waiting period before coverage becomes active?
- Is there a maximum age for enrolling your cat?
- Are there reimbursement limits per case, per year, per lifetime?
- Is a physical exam required prior to enrollment?
It is best to get pet insurance while your cat is young and healthy, but some companies now offer plans for older cats. Most plans won’t cover pre-existing conditions, but will still cover unrelated emergencies or medical issues.
Do you have pet insurance? I’d love to hear your experience with it.
For more information about pet insurance, please read this indepth post by JaneA Kelley of Paws and Effect.
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I just notified my insurance is renewing for my dog and it’s going up 356 a month. That will make her monthly insurance payment over $500. This is something I can’t pay. I don’t even know if I can shop around being she’s 12 but I’ve never even used them so I feel I’m being punished for other people’s claims. So disheartening. My storage fee went up by $144 over a year ago for a storage pod in another state I haven’t been able to ship to myself and this is way worse because it means I have to cancel insurance on my living breathing fur baby.
Can I ask which company your pet insurance was with, Janaya? That’s an outrageous increase!
I have had 3 et insurance programs, starting in 2001, never had good luck with any of them., never paid the bills, contested every bill, refused to pay, even though i had validated receipts, medical, etc. I just pay out of pocket. just got tired of sending the bills and infor in over 10 times, they even refused to stop billing me after my dog died.
I’m sorry you had such bad experiences, Sandy.
Many years ago I had pet insurance but decided to cancel it and put the premiums (for 3 cats) in a separate savings account until it reached what I thought a catastrophic vet bill would be. That way I’d have it for other emergencies, if I had to use it. Fortunately I could cover routine vet bills & dental without tapping into it. When I needed to take from that account for a diabetic cat I did. I know that’s only an ok solution for those on somewhat stable financial footing but wanted to share with you all. Heartbreaking to have to decide where to put resources. I live in a city where rents are super high so that’s usually the priority.
I have Nationwide insurance for my two cats, who are 8 and 13. I have been questioning whether to continue the coverage. It has been helpful when big things happened, like i18n treatments for hyperthyroidism, and surgery on one of my cats. But I spend way more on the premiums than I’ve ever had to spend for care – not for any given year, but over time. I don’t have coverage for routine care, only for illness/injury.
Nice to hear from you, Pat! It is such a difficult decision, especially when you end up spending more for premiums than for actual veterinary bills.
I gave up Mudpie’s Embrace policy last year after 8 years with them. I never used it, and now I wish I had just set the premium money aside for when it was needed for her vet care. The final nail in the coffin was when they did away with the Healthy Pet Deductible Program. That was very disappointing.
I have Nationwide pet insurance for Tasha. I pay just as much for her as I pay for my medicare supplemental insurance. It is crazy!
I had the same thing happen with my girl. Her rate doubled when she reached older kitty status. While I was very happy with her insurer, I ended up switching to a plan offered through my work. It saved me $50 per month, the only difference is a maximum reimbursement amount, her old plan did not have a max.
That’s great that you can get pet insurance through your work!
My pet insurance premium went up by 60% for each of the two cats I have insured. I did end up raising my deductible from $250 to $500, just to keep my premium in alignment with what I was paying before.
But right now I’m so poor that I’m really conflicted: the money I’m putting toward my pet insurance premiums would really help me pay other bills, and since I can barely afford to live right now, canceling my policy seems like the smartest financial move in the short term. On the other hand, my pet insurance covered virtually all of my cat, Thomas’s, expenses with kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and finally, a $7K visit to the emergency clinic for which I only had to pay about $850.
My insured cats are getting older (12 and 14/15), so I know they’re reaching the age where they’re more likely to get “old kitty” diseases. One of them already has arthritis and may need to be on Solensia (not cheap) for pain management at some point in the future.
It’s a tough decision, and I’m still trying to figure it out.
Thank you for sharing your experience, JaneA. It is a very difficult decision, that’s for sure. Like all insurance, you’re always betting against yourself, or in this case, your cats!
Excellent post, Ingrid. Personally, after pricing pet insurance early in our cat parent days, we decided to do the saving account instead. We’ve had some big expenses (like when Anya needed radioactive iodine treatment) but they likely wouldn’t have been covered by insurance anyway. Plus, savings of any kind is a good idea these days, even for those with pet insurance.
I think your idea to set money aside in a special account for health expenses is a good one Ingrid. I understand costs are rising on everything, but doubling the monthly premium is outrageous. It may take a bit of discipline to save that money each month and put it in a special account where it won’t be touched except for a pet’s medical care but I think it is a good alternative to using insurance.
My heart breaks for those who can’t afford either insurance or to save money each month. What a world we live in!
Great post ! I have 2 cats – 6 and 7 years old. I did have an expense 2 years ago that was costly, looked st insurance costs and passed. I questions I had were-are the majority of insurers at the same rate? What names of companies would you recommend ?
It definitely pays to shop around, Cat. There are some websites that will let you compare several different company plans and get estimates from all of them. Personally, I’ve been really happy with Embrace over the years I’ve had them, it just doesn’t make sense four our situation anymore.
There’s a great website called Pet Insurance University. It’s operated by an independent veterinarian who originally built the site for her own clients. The site is not monetized or sponsored, so unlike many pet insurance “review” sites, Pet Insurance University is not “pay to play,” like so many other pet insurance review sites (Forbes, etc.).
Pet Insurance University covers all the benefits and “gotchas” of every pet insurance policy available in the U.S. and Canada, as well as information on what to look for in a pet insurance policy and how to determine what kind of coverage you need.
The site is https://pet-insurance-university.com
When I worked at a pet insurance company call center, our retention team often encouraged people to visit this site for unbiased information, so they can be well informed before canceling their coverage.
Thank you for sharing this great resource!
When it comes to making sure Allegra’s needs are taken care of, I can be disciplined :-)! It is heartbreaking that at the rate veterinary costs are rising, it may put veterinary care out of some cat parents’ financial reach.
That is a high increase. I can see it going up a little bit, but doubled? Unfortunately, I don’t have pet insurance. We don’t even have human insurance. It’s just something we can’t afford as we live paycheck to paycheck and usually not much left over after the bills are paid.
We have four cats. The youngest is 10 years old, so I looked at it a year or two ago, but when you multiply times four, it just did not fit in the budget. Right now (xxfingers crossedxx) we have had annual checkup, shots, etc. I hope they stay well. Totally on a different train of thought… we got our car insurance, and it went up about $300 twice a year. Yes, we live near the coast, but it still hurts.
Yes, insurance premiums have been rising for all types of insurance. I think we’ll see steep increases in car and homeowner insurance rates regardless of what part of the country we live in.