How to Choose Veterinary Pet Insurance

Veterinary pet health insurance is now readily available for pet owners and for most any pet from dogs to cats to birds to lizards. Your employer may even offer pet insurance plans with your own health and dental insurance. But is it worth it? With some monthly premiums reaching into the hundreds of dollars it may not be. Monthly premiums of less than $100 may save you money in the long run, but only if you read all the fine print and truly understand the product you are buying.

Difficulty:

 

Moderately Easy

Instructions

things you'll need:

• Monthly premium cost
• Yearly routine vet care cost
• Insurance contract

1. • 1
     Calculate your yearly veterinary cost for one pet. You may use last year's costs or estimate this based on the regular routine care you plan to provide. Divide this amount by 12 to get a monthly cost. Use this as a to compare pet insurance quotes to your monthly veterinary costs. for each pet.
   • 2
     Read the pet health insurance policy to know what is covered. Does the policy cover routine vaccines, spaying, neutering and emergency care? How about diseases such as cancer and genetic breed conditions? This is important information to have in determining the lifelong value of the pet insurance for your particular pet, especially if you have a pure bred known to have hereditary conditions.
   • 3
     Read the policy to know what it does not cover. Many do not cover pre-existing conditions or what are considered hereditary conditions of the breed or species. Know that some companies define pre-existing pet health conditions as any health conditions previously treated, even while insured. So upon your yearly renewal Fido's hip condition that was covered last year, may not be covered this year.
   • 4
     Understand the maximum reimbursement limitations of the veterinary pet insurance policy. Each policy will come with lifetime and per incident (such as a hit by car injury) maximum reimbursement limits. Once your pet reaches these limits, coverage may be discontinued for that condition, incident, or for life.
   • 5
     Find out the process for getting reimbursement. Pet health insurance generally does not require that you see a certain vet or get approval for a test or treatment. However, since you pay first then file a claim, if the test or treatment is not covered, or your have reached your limits, you will not be reimbursed.