Most households regard their pets as part of their family. For this reason, the pets receive the same amount of care and commitment to their well-being as any other family member would. An integral part of a pet or human being’s well-being is their health. When an individual or family decides to take on pet ownership, health is one of the first things that they think of. Pets require regular visits to the vet for check-ups, neutering, dental cleaning, and other important reasons. These regular visits may be quite expensive. Furthermore, pets get into trouble more often than expected. Such instances may require emergency and unexpected visits to the vet as well. The money spent in taking care of a pet’s health can amount to unimagined sums annually. For this reasons, pet owners are looking into pet insurance.
Pet Insurance
Pet insurance is a health care policy designed for pets that reimburses or compensates the owners for certain medical expenses. The aim of pet insurance is to protect the owners from the risk of spending a lot of money on medical expenses for pets and in worse scenarios having to put their pets down due to lack of finances to cover crucial medical expenses like surgeries.
Pet Insurance Plans Cover the Following
Accidents and unexpected medical emergencies may include cancer, accidents, hereditary illnesses and congenital conditions among other health-related conditions that cannot be anticipated. Regular healthcare involves regular visits to the vet for clinical care like dental cleaning and neutering among others.
Most insurance companies do not cover health charges for a preexisting medical condition. These are the health issues that the pet was already suffering from before the owner decided to get pet coverage. There are some illnesses like hip dysplasia and behavior related to illnesses or disorders that are also not covered depending on the type of plan the owner takes and the company offering insurance services.
How Does It Work?
The owner decides on the company and the insurance cover that best suits them. Then they buy the policy. This means that they agree to pay monthly charges to the company. Most companies require the owner to have made basic monthly pet coverage for a certain period of time before they begin catering for the health charges. It is important to note that insurance companies do not foot for all the medical bills. There are deductible rates and reimbursements levels as well as the annual maximum that come with the plan.
A deductible is an amount that the owner has to pay towards the medical bill before the insurance company pays. This can either be an annual amount or a certain previously determined amount per incident. Reimbursement level refers to the percentage that the insurer reimburses the owner once they have paid the deductible. Most insurance companies offer between 50 to 90 percent of the total bill. An annual maximum is an amount that the insurance company agrees to pay towards your pet’s medical bills every year. In cases where the charges incurred in a certain year are above the annual maximum, the owner has to pay the exceeding amount.
