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Deductible for Pet Insurance

Emcannon

Active member
Hi all! I am finally a cavalier mom-- I adopted Summer, a beautiful 9 year old Blenheim the first of this week. I would like to get pet insurance for her and my vet has recommend Trupanion and I see a lot of you are fans of them as well. Summer does not have any pre-existing conditions and unfortunately had to have all her teeth removed in foster care so I don't have to worry about dental care so I'm trying to figure out the best place to set my deductible at to get her the care she will need as she ages and protect my wallet! I am a first time dog mom so pretty clueless about how many times a year I will be taking her to the vet for routine things as well as the things that will surely spring up. Any advice/input anyone has for structuring a policy would be MUCH appreciated!
 
Are you in the US?

I have a $200 deductible (per condition) for both of my boys with PetPlan. After that, insurance pays 100%.

That said, depending on what company you are going with you might also be able to adjust the co-insurance to reduce the amount that the insurance pays after your deductible - that could save you more money on the premium, since it is less risk for the insurer. I just feel better knowing that if a really big expense comes, I just have to pay $200 and the rest will get reimbursed by insurance.
 
I have this little "trick" with insurance deductibles. I go for a touch higher deductible than I am comfortable with so I end up paying a smaller month amount HOWEVER I trained myself to then save money (and keep it in a separate saving account) to cover said deductible at any given moment. Alright, Fletcher's deductible is $200, and my homeowners is $500, car is $500 (we are lucky no health insurance deduct RIGHT NOW) so I keep roughly $1000 in that "special" account sure if something happened to my house, my car AND my dog all at once then I would have a problem but.....

If you are asking how much coverage should you have like what kind of vet needs a 9 year old cavalier may or may not need. Well, I have this to say: make sure the policy covers heredity illnesses (check cavalierhealth.com for more on that) accidents cause well they happen, because you do not need to worry about teeth I personally would not worry about "regular vet visits" (which could be minimal at her age). I do think you are right to get insurance and DO IT NOW its amazing you have such a healthy girl. Remember almost all cavaliers end up having heart problems (a murmur) by age 10 so you are blessed!!!!
 
In the UK a deductible is known as the excess for those who might be confused. Some companies charge an excess and a proportion of the remaining bill - especially for older dogs. It can be hard to obtain cover for older dogs so you may need to contact a few companies. Make sure you are happy with all the policy conditions if you do go ahead.

Premiums will increase annually, and this is Often also in relation to any claims you have made ie a big claim may give rise to a huge increase.

You are very sensible to obtain insurance, bills can easily run into hundreds and thousands of dollars...

A clear heart at 9 is fantastic, great news.

There is a thread with links at the top of the health forum called insurance which may be helpful.

ALL cavaliers should have at least one annual health check - over 7s at least every 6 months, so that any problems can be picked up quickly.
 
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