Help with Insurance Recommendations

[tom456]

Copied from another post!:

Hello all,

Sorry if this doesn't belong here, I'm just trying to get some initial advice to begin my research into this.

I have a beautiful 2.5 year old 65 lb German Shepherd and Husky mix. She's my whole world. She has no preexisting conditions, but it feels like she's been to the vet several times already and the vet gets expensive. She's been there for her yearly checkup, for surgery when her paw pad was split open from playing outside which included pain meds and blood draw and anesthesia, getting spayed and random small things in between. Today was her last day of board training and the trainer thought she ate his sock and she almost had to be induced for vomiting and have x-rays taken and be given meds (luckily he found the sock and all was good). But this was my last straw with paying a lot for the vet. We (partner and I) don't ever want to NOT take her because we can't afford it.

So my question to you all is this: do you have insurance for your pup and which one is it? What visits does it include and how much does it cost? Ideally I'd like an insurance plan that covers the random things we've gone for or almost been for which includes yearly checkups, blood draw, Xrays and all of that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I just want my baby to have a long and healthy life and I think having insurance would help!

 

[afraidoftheend]

@tom456 We have Trupanion for accidents and illness - sounds like what you would need it for. Did a lot of research before choosing Trupanion, my second choice would be Healthy Paws and Nationwide would be third. These three seem like the best and most reliable to me.

 

[tom456]

@afraidoftheend Thanks a lot for letting me know which insurance you use and for the other options you bought up! I will for sure look into them!

 

[needypoorman]

@tom456 I have Nationwide from day 1 I got my pup! There’s a $250 deductible, then the insurance pays 90% of the bill. My pup’s yearly shots is right after the renewal, which pretty much is the deductible. We pay about $70 monthly.

My partner and I are always freaking out over the smallest thing since he is our first, so we went to the vet/ER for things that many people probably wouldn’t. The biggest vet bill we had came up close to $700. Included scans, blood work, medications, cones, etc and we only paid about $70.

You pay the upfront bill, then submit a claim to nationwide, and they will reimburse you. It’s still a lot to pay upfront, but nationwide has a really quick turnaround time for the claims. It takes about 24 hours on average for them to receive the claim, then on average 2 days to reimburse you the money.

Nationwide approved all of our claim submissions, very rarely they rejected it over the course of two years. The few times they rejected it was my own mistake for not attaching the itemized billing.

I think it’s really the best thing we did for our pup, because vet visits can be expensive. Even an eye infection visit was close to $300 (they did some tests on his eye to make sure there were no tears, and prescribed eye drops). Having insurance gave us a huge peace of mind because we were able to “afford” healthcare for our pup, and we never have to second guess going to the vet or ER for financial reasons. I’ve spent approximately over $5k in vet bills over two years and I only paid 10% of it.

I had friends who were under different insurance plans that took forever to reimburse their money, or rejected most of their claims, and I’m really grateful bc I never had to worry about any of that with Nationwide. They also cover most things, including dental health and pre-existing conditions. Hope that helps!

 

[tom456]

@needypoorman I sincerely appreciate your detailed response! This is me and my boyfriend's first pup too and everything terrifies us! I will definitely look into Nationwide!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@tom456 Healthy Paws!

 

[tom456]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Thanks for replying! I'll look into Healthy Paws!

 

[niun]

@tom456 I have healthy paws my corgi is over 2 yrs now and only used it once and I was able to submit my claim while I was still at the checkout at my vet I believe I just took a picture of the bill through the app and it was approved and my reimbursement direct deposited like the next day or something. Super fast and convenient. However I just received an email the other day saying they are raising my monthly premium like by $10 and I only used them once for like $100 for a blood test or something but other than that they say they don't raise your premium based on your claims. I think I'm going to stay but see if I can get on a lower monthly plan.

 

[tom456]

@niun Thanks for your response! Someone else mentioned Healthy Paws and I will definitely look into it! I hope you find a better plan that works for you and your pup!

 

[hawkerdriver1]

@tom456 Embrace pet insurance