September is national Pet Insurance Month, making it a perfect time to discuss your options as a pet owner.
Your dog or cat is a beloved member of your family and you want the best for them. If you want to provide your pet with high quality healthcare throughout his or her life, you should take a good look at pet health insurance. You can’t buy a policy for your dog or cat in an emergency, so now is the time to examine the options that could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Your Options
There are more and more pet health insurance options available to consumers each day. As with human health insurance, pet insurance coverage can vary widely. Classic pet health insurance is meant to cover expensive, unplanned events. There are monthly premiums and a variety of deductible choices, different coverage levels, co-pays, and caps that limit the total yearly or lifelong payouts. Policies may exclude older dogs, certain breeds, genetic and pre-existing conditions. There are, however, often discounts for covering multiple pets from the same household.
Basic types of pet health insurance include:
- wellness (preventative services like vaccines, check-ups, blood tests at set fee)
- prescription drug
- cancer treatment
- alternative therapies
- accidental death.
Finding the right care for your pet:
- Consider your pet’s health, age, predisposition to accidents and risk of inherited diseases to help determine what level of coverage you will need.
- Get price quotes from each company that appears to offer the coverage your pet requires. Here are a few companies to consider:
- Ask your veterinarian which pet health insurance s/he recommends.