Do you carry Pet Insurance on your Birds or Other Pets?

[Nazir's]

Originally Posted by Lisa B

orrrrrrrrr..everyone just needs to know a friend like Beaks(lol)
thats when we first started emailin, when my Sam was so sick

Just curious... Did VPI cover any pre-existing conditions?
I believe that I once saw a VPI plan that would for an extremely higher cost. Though, I could be mistaking as most insurances won’t cover pre-existing conditions.
Unfortunately, it's not until then that people start to seek them out.

[Lisa B]

Originally Posted by Nazir's

Just curious... Did VPI cover any pre-existing conditions?
I believe that I once saw a VPI plan that would for an extremely higher cost. Though, I could be mistaking as most insurances won’t cover pre-existing conditions.
Unfortunately, it's not until then that people start to seek them out.

no they dont. thats one drawback. you have to have it in force two weeks prior to any problems.

[Xray Susie]

I have it for my Great Dane puppy. It's VPI and it costs $208 per year. Danes are prone to bloat and hip displaysia, so it's a good thing for dogs. I haven't checked into insurance for parrots yet.

I can go to any vet. They just sign the form and I submit it to insurance and get reimbursed. I haven't had to use it yet. The puppy is only 8 months old. But my breeder and other Dane friends suggested it.

[starbird]

One comment on pet insurance. If your bird gets into trouble, even something uncomplicated like poisoning... You are looking at 5 days in hospital around $100 per day, meds, radiographs perhaps and all kinds of other fees. I dropped $2500 in two weeks of mild zinc poisoning and rocks in her gizzard. This is in addition to her bout with a malignancy a few years back. You don't even want to know what that cost.

For regular vet checks a savings account is fine, and if your account is flush with money, great. But if something really goes wrong... like the rocks, you will be paying and paying and paying. If I can't get the rocks to move with Metamucil and peanut butter, then she goes back in for another 5 days so her vet Dr. Attila Molnar can push them out, and if that new technique isn't effective enough, it's surgery.

If you think that an illness can't bankrupt you, you might want to think again.

bonnie jay

[Nazir's]

But you still will have to pay those fees out of your pocket prior to being reimbursed "by approval". What if at that time you just don't have it to foot, then what? With the likely hood of such accidents/occurrences, you're probably only getting back what you've already paid into your policy, if nothing more than a little extra.

I just pulled a quote from VPI. The Avian/Exotic Pet Plan for one two year old Cockatoo runs $23.25 per month. Two monthly premiums are due in advance of coverage. In addition to that there's an additional $12.00 per month fee for their lost & found coverage to take affect. Then you may still be subject to state surcharges. Let's not forget the deductibles and minimum allowance reimbursement amounts.

If you run into no accidents and visit the vet for nothing more than annual checkups, you're throwing your money away (IMO). In four years, the minimum that you've gave was $1692.00 but the max that they're responsible to reimburse for annual wellness exams is $65.00 (https://www.petinsurance.com/downloa...Sched-2002.pdf) minus your $50.00 deductable. VPI only reimbursed $15.00 which came out of your $1692.00.

In such a rare event that a bill accumulates to $2500.00-- I am almost positive that if you saved up and provided your vet with $1692.00 a payment arrangement could and would be made for the remaining balance of $808.00.
Plus, it's stress free. With some sort of savings, investments, or flex spend account your money builds interest, worry free. There's no maximum payable allowances that you'd have to worry about calculating, no deductibles, no state surcharges, no pending approvals, no losing money, not being dropped or policy laps, no subjection to a policy change, no submitting claims to get only a portion of your money back.

With a savings your money gains interest. I am just opposed to pet insurance only because you can easily lose much more than you gain. It’s a gamble but so is not having pet insurance. I am just the type that I’d rather gamble on myself oppose to policies. However, people accept policies daily so my theory is, to each its own. I believe that people should do what they are comfortable with, in hopes that it will work in their favor. Good luck to us all…