Comments on: Pet insurer launches employer program

By: Grant Biniasz

Grant Biniasz — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:25:51 +0000

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

By: Eliza

Eliza — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:57:37 +0000

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.

By: Eliza

Eliza — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:56:13 +0000

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

By: explodinghed

explodinghed — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:35:11 +0000

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.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:22:42 +0000

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.

By: Brandi

Brandi — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:49:52 +0000

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.

By: Alex from Embrace

Alex from Embrace — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:20:09 +0000

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