Cute title, huh? I took it from Consumer Reports piece of the same title. In that article, they detail why they think pet insurance often isn't a great deal. The summary:
Checkup costs alone don’t justify insurance. Instead, factor them into your budget. Annual surgical vet visits cost, on average, $453 per dog and $363 per cat, says the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. If your pet is older and more likely to need extra treatment, and you can find an accident-and-illness policy that costs less than those amounts, consider it. If not, put the amount you’d pay in premiums into an interest-bearing fund.
In other words, save the money yourself in advance -- and self-insure against potentially high pet medical costs. Sounds like a good plan to me, but how many people are disciplined enough to save in advance? Not many I'd guess.
For more on this topic, see these links:
This is going to be an unpopular comment...
Why even own pets? Biggest waste of money ever! There are betters sources of companionship.
Posted by: A Tentative Personal Finance Blog | June 18, 2007 at 07:02 PM
That insurance came in handy when my cousin's dog got sick from the recent pet food tainting. You are right FMF, most people aren't disciplined enough to save, so pet insurance is a good way to go for those folks. The same argument could be made for health insurance: why spend the money now when you could save it and pay cash for health care. Do you think Oprah or Warren Buffett has an HMO?
Posted by: Ciji | June 18, 2007 at 10:32 PM
Luckily there are all sorts of people in the world. Some who love pets and others who don't. We'll enjoy our pets Commenter #1 while you enjoy your other forms of companionship.
As for Consumer Reports, their article on pet insurance was not up to their normal standard. I spent some time writing a rebuttal.
Posted by: Laura | June 19, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Yes, pets are the second biggest waste of money. First waste is kids. But we don't stop having kids and so as a society we probably won't stop having pets. But anyway dog insurance doesn't cover a lot of things, we have a stupid dog health plan. Sigh, whatever. It still costs a pretty penny. DH won't let me give it up and it cost us I think about $700/year not including meds, etc. I think once I did a calculation on what my dogs cost me. They basically cost me my cleaning lady, but I still love them.
Posted by: Livingalmostlarge | June 19, 2007 at 08:41 PM