Pet insurer launches employer program
By Christie Keith
July 9, 2007
Via a friend at CatHobbyist.com, this news from a leading insurance industry newsletter:
Embrace Pet Insurance has launched a new program that enables employers to offer pet insurance to their employees.
“Embrace Your Employees” is available immediately so that employers can build the plan into their upcoming employee health benefits open enrollment programs.
The pet health insurance plan costs employers nothing and allows employees to choose a plan that meets their needs. Pet owners can build a custom, online pet insurance policy tailored to their budget, by specifying maximum cash outlay, deductible, co-pay and optional coverage.
I went over to the pet insurance company’s website to see what they offered, and found that neither of my dogs qualified for their program due to their age. So I made up a dog, and found that the premium for Kyrie, my Borzoi, were she four years old instead of eight, would have run me between a little under $18 and just over $73 a month, depending on my selected co-pays, maximum per year, and other features of the plan.
It also seemed that coverage was limited to the current policy period, so if your pet’s illness required treatment beyond that period, you had to purchase additional insurance to continue to cover them, or risk that covered condition being considered “pre-existing” for future years.
I had VPI Insurance for Kyrie for a few years, my first experience with pet health insurance. I was happy enough with it, and loved how they sent her an annual birthday card. In fact, I still haven’t cancelled her policy, even though I signed her up with Pets Best after that company announced it would waive the deductible for its clients whose pets had become ill from recalled pet food. They, unlike VPI, also agreed to cover Rebel, my Scottish Deerhound, although they did exclude his pre-existing cystinuria and its complications. I haven’t made a claim on that policy yet, so I can’t comapre it to VPI, but the payments by VPI for two minor problems Kyrie had were a drop in the bucket compared to her bills.
Do you have pet insurance? Would you like to have it, but don’t find it’s worth the expense? Would you like to see your employer offer it as a benefit?
Christie
Coverage is only limited to the current policy period if the pet parent wishes it to be that way. At Embrace we are trying to draw attention to the fact that some of the pet insurance plans on the market restrict coverage either with caps of various types, including per-incident, per body system, or just not covering chronic conditions.
The default setting for all of our policies is to include chronic & recurring condition coverage. Very few of our customers choose not to take it.
Your comment that VPI’s payments on two minor claims for your dog, Kyrie, were a “drop in the bucket” is something we hear regularly too. The problem is that their plan pays to a benefit schedule that hasn’t been updated in over 5 years so they are effectively treating your claims payments in 2002 dollars, a half decade ago. In the last 5 years veterinary fees in metro areas have risen nearly 40% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
-Alex Krooglik
Comment by Alex from Embrace — July 9, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
My husband laughed at me a couple of years ago when I mentioned pet insurance for our 4 cats. Now that we have 2 with chronic renal failure and one with struvite crystals, I bet he would rethink his response now. Maybe I should look into getting it for our only “healthy” boy.
Comment by Brandi — July 9, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
I’ve considered getting pet insurance, yeah. I had a horrible rash of kitty cancer—one with lymphoma, one with squamous cell carcinoma in her mouth, and one that had some tumors in his abdomen who was so miserable we didn’t even investigate what it was.
I only have one elderly cat now, and he seems to be healthy. Of course, the three who had cancer seemed really healthy, too, until they weren’t.
Comment by Katherine — July 10, 2007 @ 8:22 am
insurance companies exist to make money. it’s an insidious form of gambling: you bet that your pet(s) gets sick; they bet that your pet(s) will not. since sooner or later all pets get sick, unless they die in an accident, or in that extremely rare event where they lay down for a nap and just sleep away, the odds would seem to be in favor of the pet’s owner. how does the insurance company swing the odds in their favor? three ways… they charge premiums in excess of what they would statistically be expected to pay out for the average animal, they write lots of exclusions into their policies, and they deny legitimate claims. count me out.
Comment by explodinghed — July 10, 2007 @ 8:35 am
I had my dog Hanna insured with VPI for most of her 6 years. Actually my daughter who is a vet recommended it. They covered part of a couple of small procedures (relating to foxtails), but when she was at age 6 diagnosed with a liver shunt and had an operation at U C Davis and did not make it, they would not cover a penny of the nearly $8000. Mind you she was worth it, but I would never use them again. I understand that they are a business, but how many dogs gets diagnosed with a liver shunt at age 6, most are failure to thrive puppies that die before age 1. They could have covered it.
Eliza
Comment by Eliza — July 10, 2007 @ 10:56 am
I do have to say that getting insurance through your employer is usually pre-tax and thereby you are only paying .60 on the dollar. So look at it that way too.
Comment by Eliza — July 10, 2007 @ 10:57 am
Christie,
VPI’s goal is customer transparency. We believe firmly that no policyholder should ever be confused by filing a claim or surprised when they receive a benefit check. We also believe that a benefit schedule model allows for optimal transparency.
Let me explain. VPI reimburses policyholders using a predetermined benefit schedule. After a $50 per incident deductible, policyholders receive 90% of the benefit allowance for the diagnosis. You will find that other pet insurance companies reimburse up to 80% of what they determine are “usual, customary and reasonable” fees. Other companies determine what is “usual, customary and reasonable” by following a published guide of average costs for veterinary services — in other words, a benefit schedule. This hidden benefit schedule surprises a lot of people. We hear complaints from people who didn’t know their company was using the ambiguous “usual, customary and reasonable” clause to veil a benefit schedule that they knew little or nothing about.
VPI’s benefit schedule is made clearly available online and sent to all policyholders upon enrollment, so they can know exactly what to expect. We believe that this is good business. I encourage you to do your research on pet insurance. With more than 445,000 pets insured nationwide and 25 years of experience, we are the nation’s oldest and largest pet insurance provider. We are the only pet insurance company that provides coverage for exotic pets and one of the few pet insurance companies to reimburse for the vaccination and routine care services that pet owners use most. We believe that pet insurance is worth it, and worth doing right. Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.
Regards,
Grant Biniasz
Veterinary Pet Insurance
Corporate Communications Specialist
Comment by Grant Biniasz — July 11, 2007 @ 1:25 pm