Pet Insurance is meant to protect owners from paying excessively high medical bills when their pet falls sick or get injured. While pet care policies are convenient for your peace of mind, they can also cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. If you have confidence in your finances and believe that you are secure enough to pay for large sums out of pocket for emergency pet care, then you probably don’t need insurance. However, if you don’t want to spend thousands on unexpected treatment, then it’s best to take out an insurance policy. (Click here to find the best pet insurance providers on FindReviews. )

 

Are Pet Insurances Worth It? 

There are three questions to consider when choosing whether or not to get a pet insurance plan: 1. How much are you willing to pay if your pet has a serious emergency, 2. How much you could actually pay, and 3. How much tolerance you have for risk. If you wouldn’t be able to afford a significant operation, and you don’t want financial constraints to decide your pet’s health — this is when you should get insurance. 

For plans with decent coverage, the average cost of pet insurance is around $45 per month for dogs and $25 for cats. In most cases, the annual expenses of plans will be significantly less than a massive operation — consider that the surgery for removing a chew toy from a dog’s stomach can be as much as $7,000, while insurance will be roughly $300 and $600 per year. If we assume an 80% reimbursement level and a $500 deductible, we can use the table below to illustrate the costs versus the benefits of pet insurance. 

 

Condition Common In Treatment Annual Cost Yearly Savings
Sprains Dogs $250 $600 $0
Bladder Issues Dogs $625 $600 $0
Seizures Cats $2000 $300 $900
Fractured Pelvis Dogs $3000 $600 $1400
Swallowed Toy Dog $7000 $600 $4600
Cancer Both $10,000 $450 $7,150
Acute Kidney Failure Cats $15,000 $300 $11,600

 

While some of the treatment costs highlighted above are for the most severe cases, you can see how having a pet insurance plan can work to your advantage if the unexpected happens. And even though you can end up paying an insurance premium for years and never receive any benefits, it’s better to think of insurance as an annual cost. If nothing happens to your pet in the whole year, it’s still better to be prepared and have your pet and your wallet protected for the years to come. 

 

It’s also important to note that insurance is only helpful and worthwhile for significant, unexpected expenses and that most insurers do not cover preexisting conditions or routine checkups. You’ll still have to pay out of pocket for wellness exams as well as those treatments. And as such, the decision to purchase pet insurance comes down to one last question: how emotionally and financially comfortable are you with saving your pet’s life, knowing the risk of the bill being out of your price range.