Pet Health Insurance

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What is pet health insurance

Pet health insurance is not very much like the health insurance that we are used to. For regular human health insurance, in many cases the person receiving the health care does not see the costs of their health care as the health care provider bills the insurance company directly. However, pet health insurance is different in that no pet health insurance provider in the United States pays the pet health care provider directly, instead you submit your claims to the insurer and you receive a reimbursement for expenses. Furthermore, pet health insurance is drastically cheaper than human health insurance as the upper end of veterinary costs, although rising, are significantly lower than that of human health care.

The purpose of Pet Health Insurance is to eliminate or reduce the final cost of veterinary care for your pets. Although the pet owner has to pay up front, indemnity payouts from the insurance provider are usually quite prompt, so if the pet owner does not have enough cash they can in theory put it on their credit card or work out a payment plan with the veterinary clinic first and once the payout is received, payoff any loan balance.

It is important to remember that Pet health insurance is not some sort of discount plan which is guaranteed to save you money. The majority of pet health insurance contract holders will actually lose money in the long run, if that were not the case than there would be no companies offering pet health insurance. However, what pet health insurance does or at least should provide to all subscribers is peace of mind in knowing that cost of veterinary care will not be a factor when deciding whether or not to continue the life of a beloved pet.

Rising cost of pet ...

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...due to hereditary factors. Interstingly the gold plan also provides for reimbursement for Vacation Cancellation (up to $1,000) due to pet illness, Death benefit (up to $1,000) due to accident or illness, Loss due to theft or straying (up to $500), advertising and reward for lost pet (up to $500), and Boarding/Kennel Fees (up to $500) in the case that the owner is hospitalized. However, the monthly premium on this Gold plan is reduced to about $23 if the copay is set to 20% the deductible is set at $200.

As with other forms of casualty insurance, the deductible has a great effect on the cost of premiums. After looking at various quotes and policies the most cost effective type of pet health insurance, in my opinion, is that with a moderate deductible ($200-$500), high annual limits on coverage, and wide coverage for illnesses(including congenital) and accidents.

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