I got my new policy (renewal) from Petcare last week. They apparently have eliminated the 100%/zero copayment option. My new policy will only cover 90% and they have raised the per incident deductible to $100 from $50, all for the same premium i was paying, so they have reduced their coverage. It's still pretty good but I see that PetPlan does offer the $50 deductible and 0% copay, for the same premium i'm paying on PetCare. And, the coverage is $12,000 a year (at the highest coverage level option), whereas with PetCare, it's $6000 per illness category and a lifetime limit of $72,000. I don't think that PetPlan has a lifetime limit, not that someone would pay $72,000 during the life of their dog--unless you wanted to get into the still experimental mitral valve replacement which i think could cost that much.
As i said in my other post, i was put off from PetPlan only because on their website, in hard to find fine print, it said (as recently as when i posted about it on this thread) that the 0% copayment was only for primary care vet visits, while after hours emergency care and specialist visits had a 30% copayment. That's quite high, and was a deal breaker for me. But now, i don't see that on their website, i tried very hard to find it. It was hard to find before so it may still be there and i haven't uncovered it yet. Anyone who has PetPlan, Cathy?, do you know anything about whether they still have that 30% copay for emergency room and specialists? Barkleigh Bianca's mom/dad, did you have a 30% copay for the MRI or any of the specialist care? If they paid $2400 out of $2800 (good!), what was the $400 that you paid on the surgery? Was it a copay or deductible?
thanks for any info. I'm definitely considering switching because the premium is pretty identical, and the $12,000 a year is a lot better than Petcare's $6000 per illness category.
I was happy with Petcare because of the zero copay and $50 deductible, and their prompt payment of all my claims. I will have to keep them for my cat because she's 15 and i don't think there's any plan that would take her as a new client. But for Zack, i'm ready to switch, but don't like the idea of paying 30% in an emergency.
One other thing i remembered, for people who are shopping for insurance, there is also vetinsurance.com, it's canadian, sara barr has it, they don't have it in my state yet (CA); they do have it in some parts of the US. I wasn't able to figure out how to pull up their plans on the web just now, but i remember that one thing i liked about it was, they have $20,000 a year coverage and it was renewable, like if you used it up, they let you renew it and start over, and they have a 24/7 phone line where you can talk to someone, and they cover all cavalier conditions. Their minimum copay option was 10%. I dont' remember what the deductible was.