All Content Copyright 2010 PetHealthInsurance.us Next - Is it for me Previous - How it works All Content Copyright 2010 PetHealthInsurance.us How do I Know if Pet Health Insurance Works for Me? Pet insurance will be a personal decision for both you as an owner and how you decide to meet the medical needs of your pet. Pet health insurance offers a number of affordable benefits that work for many people, but no one should make a decision based only on a sales category they are similar to. First, determine what type of plan works for you if at all. If you do decide you want a plan, then you need to determine which works better for your situation: a discount plan or one with comprehensive services. Second, check the plan offerings to see if you can use veterinarian offices that you prefer or if you have to use an approved network provider. Similar to human insurance, some companies reduce costs by keeping you in a circle of approved providers rather than just dealing with anyone. Third, understand that many pet health insurers will still require you to cover costs on a cash basis until they reimburse you after the fact. This allows the insurer to properly screen the expenses without having to fuss with the veterinarian office. Unlike human insurers, you will need to take a risk in understanding what costs are covered and which ones are not, and then finding out for sure at reimbursement. There will be an approval or waiting period before the plan kicks in. Make sure you understand this term before agreeing to a plan. You may be rudely surprised thinking a plan is in effect and expecting coverage when in fact your pet is still entirely your cost. Anticipate exclusions. Depending on the insurer, there are going to certain conditions or certain situation that the insurance policy offered will not cover under any conditions. These are situations where the insurer is convinced that they will never make any profit covering or the risk of cost will outweigh benefits of members in other areas. Many plans will emphasize routine checks and preventative care.  Finding issues early in pets can reduce overall cost coverage with less expensive early treatment. This includes vaccines, checking pets’ teeth, and testing for easy to cure parasites such as heartworm. Spay and neutering services tend to be very common offerings in many plans. This is part of the overall approach to animal control in many cities and jurisdictions, which veterinarians and pet health insurers support. The alternative is far more euthanized animals, which most stakeholders don’t want. It is very helpful to make sure that the plan you are considering includes prescriptions. Much of pet health treatment today, similar to humans, is performed through drugs. Without some prescription coverage, you could still find yourself being impacted financially without warning. The most critical question to ask is about the reputation and credibility of the pet health insurer. This is probably the toughest issue to evaluate since not much is available to help the consumer. In many cases the pet owner feels like he or she is taking a crapshoot trying out one plan after another to get the right fit for the cost. Fortunately the Internet today provides a good amount of feedback on pet health insurance. There are various columns and articles on the subject, and it is easy to search for customer feedback and complaints about specific insurers. Next - Summary Previous - Other options