[Dailydrool] Veterinary insurance pays off for once

[Val Brewer]

When our two bassets were young (aged 3 yo) and new to our home, and our cat was getting on in years ( aged 10 yo), we attempted to get veterinary insurance for all three. At that time all three were healthy. VPI accepted one dog (Bo) and rejected the other dog (Harley) and the cat (Lynx). Harley was rejected because there was a note in his veterinary chart that his balls were unusually large. (He was neutered later and it turns out he was just well endowed in that way that so many male bassets are). Lynx was rejected as too old.
 
So Harley has remained uninsured, and has not had a single noteworthy illness in his ten years of life so far, knock on wood. Lynx died after a short illness maybe four years ago. But Bo--ah, Bo--in the past four years it has been one medical thing after another, from unexplained internal bleeding to ulcerative colitis to ingestion of undigestible objects to four hernias to repeated rectal prolapses, all requiring surgery. Well, VPI Insurance, you gambled wrong.
 
But the point of this email is, I'd still recommend pet insurance IF you can get it! VPI has a policy that once a pet is accepted, it will not be dropped due to use of the insurance, and rates will go up a little each year as the pet ages, but not based on usage. So--Bo's insurance costs us about $40/month. His recent surgery for the most recent hernia and rectal prolapse cost $1400 or thereabouts. Today I got a check in the mail from VPI for $1000 or thereabouts. Do we save a LOT of money if we average the premium and compare it to the average yearly expenditure on his medical care taken over the lifetime of the dog? Probably not although I think we come out ahead most years. The great thing, though, is we don't get socked with humongous bills every couple of years that are hard to cover. True, if I put $40/month in a piggy bank every month for his medical expenses and it was just sitting there, maybe it would be cost effective, but who does that?
 (Although if we'd been insuring Harley, we'd have spent quite a bit without return by now). The nature of insurance. Anyway, today I am grateful for Bo's pet insurance. A lucky gamble.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20130516/4c7038a5/attachment.htm>