Petcare health insurance--thumbs up

[judy]

When Zack got sick at the end of June and i saw three vets in the course of a week, i submitted claims for all three. The first was about $290, the second was $87 and the third was about $185. They paid all of those, and fast, very fast. They even accidentally paid for my cat's flea medication that was on one of the bills. They paid one check for the second two vets. The first vet was slow submitting the form, and then slowing things down more, she inexplicably wrote on the form for the reason for the visit, "routine wellness exam." Obviously they dont' cover something like that, only accident and illness. So they denied it. So i had to have another vet in her office resubmit the paper work with an illness diagnosis, she was on vacation, but he took care of it quickly. After about a week, i called Petcare to follow up and they had not processed the letter from the vet, like it was an oversight, but my call caused them to start processing it, and i called today and was told they mailed me a check today. So this has been a good experience, they have lived up to what they say they will do. This gives me a feeling of security about getting Zack's medical needs met without worrying about cost.

[Cathy Moon]

Wow, that's great coverage! I'm wondering if that would be cost effective having 3 dogs. I had read that with multiple dogs you should set up your own health fund. We just pay as we go. It seems like all the big ticket items are behind us, knock on wood!

[Roxanne]

Petcare is awsome ! I have it on 4 of my pets and its not that bad You get a small discount which helps . Doing your own fund would help *if* you do it .......I dont have the discipline to set it up and maintain it though But it is a good idea if you dont want to do the Petcare premiums ............ with Vet care being so expensive , I would think you would have to put alot in for awhile to cover anything expensve that may crop up though ??

[Cathy Moon]

Now you've got me thinking about insurance, since you have 4 pets covered. Do they review vet records and look for pre-existing conditions that they will not cover? For example, 2 of my cavvies have grade 1 of 6 heart murmurs, early onset. They are ages 3 and 4.

[judy]

Now you've got me thinking about insurance, since you have 4 pets covered. Do they review vet records and look for pre-existing conditions that they will not cover? For example, 2 of my cavvies have grade 1 of 6 heart murmurs, early onset. They are ages 3 and 4.

You would have to ask them, but i'm afraid they would exclude the murmurs and related conditions. I could be wrong. They do need to get your vet records. Anything noted in the first thirty days is excluded, although some exclusions are temporary, like for one year, while others are permanent. MVD was what i was thinking about when i got the insurance. What they do or don't exclude depends entirely on how it's written up by a vet. I don't know if there's a way of describing those murmurs in a way that wouldn't end up excluding future treatment for MVD if needed.

Depending on your circumstances, it might or might not still be worth your while because of other conditions that would not be excluded, such as muskuloskeletal things, eyes, SM. For good money managers, it's probably best to sock away a lump of money, have it earning interest, but have it liquid so you can use it if you need it, you're not paying any premiums--i would think the amount would be at least $10,000 per pet for their lifetime.

I have my dog and cat insured, and zack is insured at the highest level of insurance which is 100%, no copayment. The premiums are high for that. The other option with that plan is to have a 30% copayment. The premiums are quite a bit lower for that. With my plan, the 100% coverage, there's a $50 per illness/accident deductable, which is like having a copayment, but when the bill is large, it doesn't seem like much. For the 70% coverage plan, the deductable is $100. Then, with each of those plans, there's also the option of getting double illness coverage. the regular coverage is $3000 per illness. I got the double coverage, $6000 per illness. So the premiums depend on those choices. They have another plan which has a lower premium than what i'm paying with $5000 per illness coverage, 70%.

My premium for Zack is about $53 a month. For years, my premium for Fluffy was $10 a month, but i just upgraded it and i'm not sure what it is. I pay them in one payment a month for both which is sixty something. The premium also varies a little by state. They have a few other plans besides this one.

You get a 10% discount for three or more pets. There's also a 10% discount for registered service dogs and therapy dogs, but you can only have one discount per dog. They also have a 5% discount for microchipping wiht a certain program.

If the animal is insured before age 8, then they are insured for life. I guess that means if you insure them after 8, they can be cancelled?

[Cathy Moon]

Thanks for the information, Judy. It took a lot of effort to write all that!