5 Quick tips before buying pet insurance

Often, readers email me detailing difficulties they face with the high costs of pet care. We all know that pet care is expensive - especially veterinary services. It just costs around $850 for tooth extraction of your canine. Figures can go up to $10,000 or more if it’s a serious disease and can ruin your finances if you don’t have any insurance for your pet. So if you don’t want to pay a hefty fee out of your pocket the next time your pet seeks a medical emergency, you ought to get an insurance policy for your pet. Here I have compiled 5 tips to keep in mind while buying pet cover.

Tip 01: Check what is covered and what not

Coverages you’re getting against the monthly premiums you’re paying should be clearly stated in the company’s website. Make sure your claim is never denied for one or another reason afterwards you’ve filed your claim.

Tip 02: Check for benefit schedule

Does your plan use a benefit schedule? A benefit schedule is a comprehensive list of diagnoses and the maximum sum that the insurance carrier will pay provided that your pet requires treatment for that particular diagnosis. In metropolitan areas like San Francisco, the actual payout you receive often is much less than what is needed for the treatment. As a result, you’ll be bound to pay a huge amount of the bill yourself in spite of having pet insurance. Pet insurance plans that cover for a portion of the actual pet care bills are easier to comprehend and calculate. You can easily figure out the coverage you will receive before you send in the claim.

Tip 03: Does the plan cover genetic conditions?

If you have either purebred dogs and cats, go though your pet insurance policy once again to check if it offers coverage against genetic conditions since these breeds often cling to genetic and hereditary illness. For instance, such disorders include hip dysplasia, all of the tumor-causing cancers and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition. The treatment for such kind of genetic conditions are very expensive and few pet care policies cover them. Check if your policy has the coverage.

Tip 04: Are there per-incident limits?

By per-incident it means any given illness or accident that your pet experience. If there is any per-incident limit, it’ll limit the overall amount you can be reimbursed. For instance, if your pet goes through a surgery, which adds up to $5,500 and the per-incident limit was $3,500, you’ll be liable to pay the rest $2,000 out of pocket. Discuss with your agent to know more about how these work so that you can make a claim without surprises.

Tip 05: What do the customers say about them?

Check for honest and candid reviews about both the product and the company. You can check either in review websites (Yelp, Google Reviews/Local/Places, and Yahoo Local Listings). You can also ask from friends and relatives who are already having insurance with the certain company.