Owning a pet is very common, and most of us relate to the love that pet owners have for their furry friends. A whopping 88% of American pet owners consider our pets to be a part of the family, according to research from polling firm YouGov [1]. Obviously, with that level of dedication to these animals, it is clear that most Americans would do almost anything to keep their pet safe and healthy. However, it turns out that only one to two percent of pet owners carry pet insurance on their animals, according to reporting from the New York Times. This seems to imply that most pet owners are not being fully informed about the vital nature of pet insurance and why they should have it on any and all pets in their home.

The Problem With Not Having Pet Insurance

Despite the fact that at least 98% of people have declined to purchase pet insurance, it seems fairly obvious why this type of coverage is so important. If one goes without it, then they may be left to make a terribly difficult decision if their pet winds up at the animal hospital at some point in the near future [2]. They may have to make a painful choice between paying for the care that the pet clearly needs, and having to let them go peacefully as a result of not being able to afford the procedures. This is a terribly sad reality in the economics of the veterinary business. A client’s ability to pay determines what level of care that pet may receive in many cases [3]. This is not the fault of some money-hungry veterinarian somewhere. Rather, the cost of schooling for vets is so astoundingly high that they must have high standards for their clients as well. In other words, they cannot bend the rules constantly to allow certain pets to receive free care if they are unable to offer this mercy to all of their clients.

Nerdwallet.com reports that the average cost of a vet school program is at least $200,000 for an in-state student, and closer to $275,000 for an out-of-state student [4]. Those enormous numbers are what make it necessary for vets to claim as much money as they can from the procedures that they do. Besides that, no one in their right mind would agree to work for free when they have put so much time, effort, and money into their education. Society doesn’t expect lawyers or doctors to work for free either, so why should vets?

Choosing Care From The Veterinarian Of Your Choice

There are some differences between human health insurance plans and a plan that you pick up for your dog or cat. One major upside is that the plan you pick up for your pet is more flexible in terms of which doctors that animal sees [5]. People prefer this because they want to be able to go to a vet that they have been to with their pet before and that their pet is clearly comfortable with. Also, people tend to like the flexibility that they get when they get to select their own vet because it means that they won’t be negatively impacted in the event that they have to pick up stakes at some point and move somewhere else. This happens all the time, and it shouldn’t have a negative impact on your insurance coverage. With pet insurance it doesn’t!

Pet Insurance Is Highly Affordable

What a lot of pet owners don’t know is that pet insurance is incredibly affordable compared to many other insurance products on the market. It is perfectly reasonable to expect to pay between $25 to $70 per month for dogs and $10 to $40 per month for cats, according to figures compiled by valuepenguin.com [6]. They derived these numbers by reviewing 11 different leading pet insurance providers to see what prices they currently had on offer for their products. They were then able to throw all of those together to come up with figures that made sense based on their research.

These are numbers that most people would find to be affordable on their budget. When you think about paying this amount versus the agony of having to make decisions about your pet’s health based on your financial situation, it becomes obvious that carrying pet insurance is the way to go. After all, who wants to look their dog or cat in the eyes and tell them goodbye when there medical procedures that could help save the life of that animal? Most people can see clearly that pet insurance can help them avoid that devastating scenario, and that is the route that they want to take as a result.

What Pet Insurance Covers

Be sure to check any pet insurance policy that you are considering purchasing very carefully. There is not a set list of things that every policy covers. That said, most are known to cover important ailments such as hereditary and congenital conditions like cancer [7]. There are other coverage areas likely to be included in the plan as well, such as coverage for accidents, training for behavioral issues, and coverage for simple illnesses as well. Again, always go over the plan line by line before assuming that it covers anything. It is better to be safe and know what is in your plan than to make an assumption and be unpleasantly surprised when it turns out you are wrong about that.

At the end of the day, we all want to keep our pets safe, happy, and healthy. Pet insurance is a great way to bring some peace of mind to your day on these issues. You can pay the affordable premiums and then allow yourself some grace and peace of mind that things are handled.

sources:

[1] https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2019/12/13/how-americas-pet-owners-feel-about-their-furry-fri

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/well/family/pet-insurance-is-the-latest-work-perk.html

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/nov/09/dogs-poor-poverty-vets-pets

[4] https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/how-much-is-vet-school

[5] https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-pet-insurance.html

[6] https://www.valuepenguin.com/pet-insurance/average-cost-of-pet-insurance

[7] https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/research-and-compare/pet-insurance-basics/whats-covered/