Pet Insurance

[Chewbecca]

well, when there's a TRUE emergency, most vets will work with you, right?
I mean, if Ella had to have some emergency surgery that was going to cost, oh I don't know, we'll say...$7,000 or some crazy amount like that, it's not like they're going to hit us up for the ENTIRE $7,000 right there on the spot, right?
...I hope...

Our carecredit only goes to $5,000.

 

[houndlove]

It depends on the vet. But I think yes, most would ask for the total before you leave. Our emergency vet actually charges you 50% of their estimate of the total cost before they even start to treat. A regular or specialty vet? They might be willing to work with you in a limited way. But all my four-figure vet visits* I have been expected to pay at the time of service.


*sigh that that's plural

 

[Chewbecca]

WOW.

So, if Ella got hit by a car or some other devastating thing happened and she needed to have an EMERGENCY surgery to save her life, they'd be like (at the very least),"If you'll just go ahead and pay us $3,500 of that right now, we'll go ahead and start saving your pet's life."???

That's INSANE.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Lot of emergency clinics won't touch your pet till you've proven you can pay for it.. Which is why so many people here stress credit cards, whether normal ones or pet ones or a monthly savings account just for your pet. Because you'd have to still be able to have paid for it in the first place.

 

[houndlove]

Well, they'd probably stabilize first so you could make the decisions, but yes probably. The one time we had a real true emergency with Marlowe, they immediately admitted him and began to evaluate and stabilize him but they were not going to really start doing the tests and treatment until we agreed to their estimate of how much it was all going to cost and paid half of the low estimate (they give you a range). And of course we were like OMG where do we sign YES!!! At the end of the day that was a $1700 experience, but not all at once just because they released him to me to take to my regular vet for a day, then admitted him again and kept him for the weekend, so it was a bunch of separate payments (half of estimate for initial treatment on admission, balance for treatment thus far on release to vet, more money to vet for the day they kept him, readmission to clinic and half the next round of estimates, then finally release and payment of balance).

And yes, it kept me up at night thinking that might happen again (we just now a year later have pretty much paid off the credit cards) and I was getting grey hairs, so I got insurance. At least with insurance I'll get reimbursed.

 

[Chewbecca]

This is true.

And like I said we DO have the carecredit for $5,000 so that should cover what we'd have to pay up front if there were any emergency visits.
And we do have credit cards for the rest.


Mafia Princess-
I understand what you're saying, and it's not that we wouldn't be able to afford to pay the bill, but having the money all upfront is completely different than not being able to pay at all.

 

[sparks19]

But not everyone can get a credit card.

I have two credit cards but I would only allow a maximum limit of $500 because I was young when i got the cards and didn't want to end up being totally screwed if I discovered I was more irresponsible than I thought. That even if I was truly irresponsible I would only be $1000 in debt lol. The lady looked at me funny when she said I could have a limit anywhere from $500 to $10,000 and I said.... $500 please LOL She actually said "Well what is THAT going to buy you" I said "Not much.... but if I can't afford to pay cash I shouldn't be buying it now should I" lol

 

[houndlove]

If you're in good standing with your card (and actually even when you're not--irresponsible people are credit card co's best customers) you can usually call and have them instantly raise your limit though. As long as you would qualify for that limit anyway, just chose not to, you can get it.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

No I know Chewbacca. I'm just saying that it makes insurance non ideal if you don't have someway to cover the cost initially even if it wasn't paid for with real right then money out of your bank account.

Since you often have to find some way to pay it asap, it is great after the fact to have had insurance, doesn't do much for you at the time of accident or injury though.

 

[sparks19]

If you're in good standing with your card (and actually even when you're not--irresponsible people are credit card co's best customers) you can usually call and have them instantly raise your limit though. As long as you would qualify for that limit anyway, just chose not to, you can get it.

Oh yeah I know I could get a higher limit if I called but some people can't get credit cards at all because they have screwed up their credit that bad. I remember at one of my old jobs I was looking for something in my wallet and had everything pulled out of it and the one girl saw my credit card and said "Oh I can't even get credit cards anymore" and that sad part was.... she almost sounded proud of herself.

I wonder how long it would take for them to approve and activate a higher limit? because that is not actually something I even thought of but it's good to know just in case.

 

[Mac'sMom]

This reminds me so much of human insurance companies. We're self imployed and pay for all of our insurance. Every year it increases about $100. to the point we can hardly afford it anymore. Does the premiums for the pet insurance increase each year as well?

 

[houndlove]

Sparks, I think it's pretty much instant. You call their service line, they look up your record and over the phone approve you for a higher limit. You can see how this makes credit card companies basically twirl their collective mustaches with evil glee because I can guarentee you that most people who call and have this done are just looking at a cool new gizmo at Best Buy, not trying to save their best friend's life. And the cc co's are only to happy to have you by the short n curlies for whatever reason.

But if I had credit that was so screwed up that I couldn't get credit cards (and seriously, any more, you have to screw up APOCALYPTICLY BAD for this to happen), I'd either be socking away huge sums of cash in to savings, or I wouldn't have so many dang pets.

 

[sparks19]

Sparks, I think it's pretty much instant. You call their service line, they look up your record and over the phone approve you for a higher limit. You can see how this makes credit card companies basically twirl their collective mustaches with evil glee because I can guarentee you that most people who call and have this done are just looking at a cool new gizmo at Best Buy, not trying to save their best friend's life. And the cc co's are only to happy to have you by the short n curlies for whatever reason.

But if I had credit that was so screwed up that I couldn't get credit cards (and seriously, any more, you have to screw up APOCALYPTICLY BAD for this to happen), I'd either be socking away huge sums of cash in to savings, or I wouldn't have so many dang pets.

AH see I didn't know that. i have never tried to raise my limit lol and surprisingly they have never tried to raise it on me either. That's a good little piece of info to have there. Thanks

 

[MafiaPrincess]

It's instant. We put our new kitchen on plastic. Lady was surprised as my parents had a lot of available limit to go up to. Said mastercard must like them But in all seriousness they could have gone right then and maxed out their cards, soon as it was changed in the database it was good to go.

 

[houndlove]

You didn't hear it from me lol! I've never had to do that, just for the record 9we have one card with an insanely high limit and one with a pretty low and we've never needed anything else). I don't even know how I know that. I think I've had a friend or two that's done it.

 

[Rosefern]

I have PetPlan USA for my crew. They're all on the Gold Policy...I think it's around $70 a month total...not bad...

-Rosefern

 

[Chewbecca]

See, Sparks, we're like you.
Well, I don't have credit cards because my ex husband ran me into debt, I had to pay it all off and DID, and then I just threw out all my cards and closed the accounts.
And I don't have a job (my own business but it just started so I have NO idea yet what an annual income would be considered).
But Ben, my fiancee, refuses to buy ANYTHING on his credit cards that he CANNOT pay off by the time the bill is due.
He's the most financially responsible person I've ever met.

But if Ella were dying or something like that, he can carry a balance on a credit card for a month or two.

 

[sparks19]

See I would have thought I would have to apply for a whole new credit card to get one with a high limit. Shows how much I know LOL