For me it was between HealthyPaws and Trupanion, but Trupanion would have been too pricey for my dog and cat, so I went with HealthyPaws which came out to $50 for both pets. Haven't had to use it yet, thank goodness, so I'm hoping its great insurance. It's #1 on an article about other pet insurance companies.

I have teh puppy wellness plan thru BANFIELD hospital. Royal (My 6 month old husky) just got neutered yesterday cost me $60 with the cone and Meds.

Hi all. Apologies in advance for not reading all of the posts before submitting my question. I'm currently suffering from a cold and my head is too fuzzy to think completely clearly.

Specifically, I wanted to ask if anyone has had good experience with a pet insurance for their husky around the 1 year old age mark? Red will be turning 1 next month and I'm due to renew her pet insurance this June. She is currently with VPI and I paid a little for $600 for one year's coverage. I did a lot of research at the time I was looking to purchase insurance and they seemed like the best at the time but now I'm questioning if I over paid as it seems like VPI didn't really cover a lot of her medical expenses that we've had over the year. I totally forgot the fact that I had a deductible that had to be met. While I'm extremely glad that Red was relatively healthy and didn't get into any serious accidents that required surgery, my wallet is still hurting from her last vet visit for her skin infection.

It varies not just from company to company but from one plan to another even from the same provider. VPI for example pays according to a benefits schedule and won't reimburse a lot and only covers accidents/illnesses, this is the plan that they’ve taken the most flack for online and it’s ridiculously low limits are what most of their complaints that I’ve read talk about. Recently, they added a plan to compete with healthy paws, trupanion, embrace, petplan, etc. and it covers 90% of all actual vet bills, does away with the benefits schedule and offers full genetic health coverage. The best advice I can give you is that, at least in my case pet insurance is very worth it and much cheaper than taking a risk on a purebred with as many potential health troubles as the husky. But spend a fair amount of time planning and researching, get a consensus and do a lot of homework by checking multiple sources like your vet, other husky owners online and in person and comparison/review tools, before enrolling. These are a few I used and found to be reliable and precise hopefully they’ll save you some time and give you the info you need to start to put the puzzle pieces together. Pm me if you want to.

Breed health issues and pet insurance info

http://www.petmd.com/dog/breeds/c_dg_siberian_husky
https://www.petinsuranceu.com/siberian-husky-pet-insurance/
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2010/09/is-pet-insurance-worth-the-cost/index.htm

this was the most reliable tool to compare coverage that I found

https://www.petinsuranceu.com/compare-pet-insurance/

I have VPI and its been a godsend. I originally got it when my pup was 1 (she's 4 now and we still have our policy).

First, my pup bit down wrong on a bone and cracked her right teeth and needed extraction and jaw surgery, over $4,000. (VPI covered all but 500).

Then 6 months later she got kennel cough from the dog park, and we took her to the emergency vet. $800...we paid $100 and VPI covered the rest.

THEN she got an impacted anal gland and needed multiple treatments ($600) then surgery (2,000). I paid just $300 out of that.

I am shocked VPI hasn't kicked me off. They've lost money on me.

kclee wrote:

Does anyone here have Vet Insurance on your dogs? What company do you think  offers the best premiums with the best coverage?

I do not have insurance on my pets. I'm fortunate that they've always been pretty healthy. The highest veterinary bill I've had to pay is when Romeo was 7 months old and needed hip surgery due to Legg-Perthes Disease. That cost me just under $1,000. I had a dog with elbow problems that cost me about $800 in one week getting the fluid drained from them. After that, the only major expense I had was dental bills for Romeo and Gypsy when they both had an abscessed tooth that needed to be removed. It cost about $300 and $400 respectively for the cleaning and extractions (Gypsy needed more teeth pulled than Romeo). They are both 11 years old, and that's when dental issues typically do strike the smaller breeds.

To pay for unexpected veterinary bills, I use Care Credit. I charge the bill on it, then pay it off with my tax refund the following year. I'm okay doing it this way. I know I could have a lot of the bills refunded to me if I had pet insurance, but I don't see the need. I feel like we pay out more in premiums over the lifetime of the pet than we actually spend on their veterinary bills. I think the only time insurance is useful is when the animal has a health problem, like diabetes or cancer. If I had a pet like that, then I'd buy insurance.

whitehusky3 wrote:

kclee wrote:

Does anyone here have Vet Insurance on your dogs? What company do you think  offers the best premiums with the best coverage?

I know I could have a lot of the bills refunded to me if I had pet insurance, but I don't see the need. I feel like we pay out more in premiums over the lifetime of the pet than we actually spend on their veterinary bills. I think the only time insurance is useful is when the animal has a health problem, like diabetes or cancer. If I had a pet like that, then I'd buy insurance.

That's what Consumer Reports concluded in the May issue. Problem is, if you buy the insurance AFTER you have a chronic illness, usually is not covered. So far mine has been exceedingly healthy. I've allocated an amount to cover significant illness or injury...hopefully, it won't come to that. Which reminds me, probably should get another lepto this spring...

You're right. Typically they don't cover an illness the dog had prior to being insured. But if I'm knowingly buying a dog with health problems (like from a rescue or a special needs puppy/dog from a breeder), I would pay for insurance before I brought them to the vet for the first time just to make sure the medical records come after the insurance starts.

I am SO thankful we signed Klaus up for pet insurance when we got him. Since he got cataracts Petplan has paid us back more than 4000 dollars for just that condition. That's more than we've paid for both years so far. We can never get rid of pet insurance now, because if we ever get off it will be a pre-existing condition. He is on eye drops for the rest of his life, which is about 30ish a month. They pay 90% of that! Petplan has been amazing for us, never an issue with coverage. We can make claims by mobile app, and get a check in the mail a couple days later. 24 hour customer service, always friendly! I just wanted to add my experience in for those considering

So my Vet asked if i was doing pet ins for the puppy, really was not thinking about it but started looking into it, maybe just for the first few yrs while he is crazy.

i think i want to go with Pet Best, does anyone here use them?
https://www.petsbest.com/coverage?ci=ADG&gclid=CjwKEAjw6e_IBRDvorfv2Ku79jMSJAAuiv9YOjuYYQVW8DOkZOR_CCVumnhW8ILgyygy9kv3rmMV8xoCPlbw_wcB

let me know, google had good reviews...

I haven't had pet insurance on any of my dogs - mostly because on my income it's prohibitively expensive and I've never had reason to use insurance in the 40+ years I've had a dog.
That doesn't mean that I haven't looked at it at various times.

Your question about PetsBest prompted me to take a look at them and I find them interesting. The plan that would suit me best is the simple accident coverage which would be $29 a month for all three pups and cover $100,000 per dog.

With accident and illness coverage and $1,000 deductible (the maximum deductible) the monthly premium would be $59 per month to cover all three - again not prohibitive. At $500 deductible the premium looks to be just shy of $100 a month. The premium does go up yearly until it levels off - and I didn't ask at what age it begins to level off.

So, Jennifer, thanks for asking your question - you've given me something else to consider spending money on ... but at least this looks to be considerably more affordable than some others.

I have been kinda thinking about pet insurance for Kye but wasn't sure if his HD and allergies being already diagnosed would make the premiums too much. Dealing with his allergies has been some serious expense so far in trial and error. I have a dna test sent out for him and depending on what comes back with it (I suspect deeper issues to come up with the genetic health panel) I may have to just bite the bullet with his pre-existing conditions and get the stuff.

Al, i was looking at the plus plan (middle one) with $1k deductible and 90% back, with $5k of coverage for the year. I liked them because the deductible was per year, NOT per claim. It would be just under $14 a month for him. Jack has been fine, but we all know how much Sierra has cost us.....
pretty much i would still be paying out of pocket for all his "dog" stuff that came up but if he needed surgery for some reason it would be covered minus the $1k. I just wonder how much a year it does go up, i could not get a clear answer from them.

Jenn, i think with Kye's issues they would not be covered and it would only help for things that have yet to happen, and if they are related to what he has not it still may not be covered, at least thats how i have been reading things.

My vet did not have anything bad to say about the company.

We used Trupanion for Anya for the first 2.5-3 years but never had to use it. It was kind of pricey but had good reviews at the time. We reenrolled Anya and added Kay this past Monday but almost immediately had buyer remorse because of the outrageous premiums. I ended up going with ASPCA insurance.

Trupanion has a 30 day money back guarantee but has been slow to cancel the policy! I've called twice and even notified them in writing via email.
I don't recommend Trupanion! Their customer service sucks.

My friend has a Great Dane that has been VERY sick, she has Trupanion and loves it. It's been a life saver for her. However, she has never had to cancel it so her opinion of them might change after that, but...one thing she has told me was that customer service (as far as things not related to cancelling, haha) has been awesome. She's never had any trouble with them as far as claims and stuff.

Yikes. After reading the fine print, I'm now realizing why ASPCA insurance is so cheap. They've built in all these loopholes that make it easy for them to back out of paying claims. I am canceling ASAP. We gotta do some more homework before picking another plan. We might just end up putting the money we'd be paying towards premiums and just deposit it into a savings account.

Erica,
I feel you on the reading of the fine print! that has been my hold up on all of this, but im not really finding anything alarming from pets best....

As for tucking $ away instead of paying the monthly premium, i have thought about that to. I have been tucking away $10 a week for 3yrs and only got $1200ish from saving for that long and that comes nowhere close to paying for a surgery. right now he would cost us about $14 a month for the ins.

I am still paying off Sierra's knees and it would be a HUGE hit to have a bill like that come up again before i pay hers off, that is why i was looking into the Ins. to have till i at least have her paid off.

I retract my comments about ASPCA insurance after a conversation I had with customer service. Apparently the new policies, including the one I am on no longer have the major loopholes. I decided to stay on the policy since the prices are very competitive.

I will describe these loopholes so you can make sure they are not included in your policy when shopping for pet insurance:

• Congenital defect exclusion: this means that an accident can be connected with a congenital defect that applies to ALL dogs (i.e. hip dysplasia can be connected to a leg injury) Here is a list of these conditions. This makes it very easy for pet insurance companies to back out of paying claims because almost anything can be connected to a "congenital defect"
  
• Bilateral exclusion:If your pet develops a Bilateral Condition before your policy effective date or during the waiting period, it will not be covered and if your pet develops the same condition on the opposite side after the waiting period it will not be covered. For example if a dog has been diagnosed with a cruciate tear in this left knee before the effective date or during the waiting period, a cruciate tear in the right leg will not be covered. Even if it happens after the waiting period. Bilateral Conditions are considered one incident for purposes of the maximum payout per incident. For example: Let's say your dog gets a cruciate injury on left leg after enrolled and after waiting period. If your dog gets a cruciate injury on the right leg in the future, treatment for the right leg will only be covered up to the maximum payout per incident which must be shared with the left leg. (source)
  
• exclusion of Continuing Care: chronic conditions will only be covered in the policy year they are diagnosed. When your policy renews the following year, the chronic condition will be considered a preexisting condition and will not be covered.
  

Here is a complete comparison of the old ASPCA plan versus the new one