Pet Insurance
Unfortunately, no one appreciates the fact that people love animals.
There are no discounts and no government help to assist your "best-friend" with medical care.
With the rising cost of pet care, it becomes more and more difficult for people (especially pensioners) to keep their pets at home.
For many, these pets are the only thing they have.
Pet insurance is a niche in the insurance market, which somehow accommodates the need for pet care.
There are some major insurance providers which may include your cat and dog in the overall home-and-content insurance.
However, this insurance seldom covers the medical costs for your pet. Thus, pet insurance provides some peace of mind but not all.
Pet Insurance Coverage
If you are going to purchase the pet insurance, make sure your read the small print. If you can't then ask you niece or nephew to read it for you! There are different ways your pet can be covered. There are also limits to how much can be drawn from the pet insurance policy. Your pet can be covered for accidental injury only. This means that illness and the routine care is not included. Most comprehensive pet insurance polices include:
- Accidental injury cover
- Illness cover
- Routine care cover
The price difference between the policy, which includes only the accidental injury and the comprehensive cover can be as much as 200% (in favour of the comprehensive plan).
Yet, the maximum, monetary value which can be drawn for the comprehensive cover is about 30% higher than that for the minimum plan.
Thus, you must be very careful when choosing the pet insurance.
The comprehensive covers allows you to treat your pet for more problems but the total available money is not proportionally higher from less impressive plans.
The pet insurance is almost the same for cats and dogs. The special and rare species may require additional covers.
Breeds which are susceptible to illness and injury will significantly increase the premium.
For example, the pet insurance for Bull Terriers can cost $100 more per year than that for the German Shepherd.
Pet Insurance Providers
There are many small and larger pet insurers. However, the specialised institutions are probably the best option to get a comprehensive pet insurance for your animals. RSPCA offers range of good value for money policy options. Currently, they offer PetCare, PetCare Plus and PetCare Premium plans. All three are good (but not excessively fantastic) ways to insure your pets.
Pet Insurance Prices
You can expect to pay around $300 per year for the basic pet insurance, which covers accidental injury only.
About $550 will give you a plan, which finances the accidental injury and illness of the animal.
The premium options, which cover accidental injury, illness and the routine care sell for about $700 a year.
There are limits to how much you can draw from your pet insurance polices.
Most basic options let you draw $5K-$6K.
The premium can reach $9K.
If you can save $5K-$6K per year for your pet's emergencies then you really do not need pet insurance.
In addition, healthy (carb free) diets will certainly help you keep your pet in the prime health.