Pet insurance pays off for Utah pet owner


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SALT LAKE CITY — Some people probably have health insurance, but have they thought about health insurance for their pets?

Pet health care can be pricey, and Americans this year are expected to spend over $15 billion on veterinary care.

Aggie is pretty spry for being a 14-and-a-half-year-old Sheltie who is fighting for her life. Last year while at the groomers owner Ken Passarella learned something was wrong.

“Angela called me and said, ‘She’s ready to go, and by the way, her lymph nodes are swollen,’” he said.

Aggie had lymphoma, described by the veterinarian as "malignant and aggressive." Passarella said he had two choices: Either not treat Aggie and let the cancer eventually take her life, or try chemotherapy.

He said really there was no choice in his mind: “Her first battery of 16 treatments was a little over $4,300,” he said.

Passarella said he only paid $900 thanks to a pet insurance plan he bought on somewhat of a whim.

“I could choose a $300 deductible and pay $25-something a month. I thought, 'why not? I could afford that,'” he explained.

Sasha Reid manages the office for University Veterinary Hospital and she said one reason behind increasingly higher vet bills is vets now have access to increasingly sophisticated equipment.

“A lot of veterinarians now can produce higher quality medicine,” she said. “We have some of the same equipment that we use in people.”

Some of that same equipment includes a laser therapy machine to zap away pain, and a CT scanner. Such tools boost costs, but Reid said they also pick up problems that once would have gone unnoticed and untreated.

The key difference in how insurance for humans and pets work is in the billing: “The pet insurance pays you as the client,” Reid said.

With pet insurance, customers pay upfront for services and then get reimbursed. That means pet owners can take Fluffy or Fido to any office.

“So you can go to any veterinarian you want to," she said. "You don’t have to go to one they pick or choose."

Rates vary with insurance companies and factors such as the pet's age, breed, pre-existing conditions and options. Some plans cover just accidents, like a dog swallowing a sock or getting hit by a car. Others include that plus illness, prescriptions and hospitalization.

“Try to find a plan that’s simple that makes sense to you," Reid said. "There’s not a lot of gray area, and it’s affordable for you to pay out each month.”

The cancer Aggie fought off last year has recently returned and Passarella said he's not worried about vet bills.

“We’re taking it one day at a time," he said. "She always gives me a hug."

Insurance costs

A typical pet insurance plan costs around $30 to $40 a month. The reimbursement level can be as high as 80 percent or even 90 percent, depending on deductibles, co-pays, and annual or lifetime limits.

Many plans won't cover a pre-existing condition, and in some cases hereditary diseases such hip dysplasia in Golden Retrievers.

Generally the older the animal, the higher the premium.

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Bill Gephardt

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