Pet Insurance Redux

The "Cranky Consumer" in Monday's Wall Street Journal authored an article comparing pet health insurance policies that really did little to shed light on an often confusing subject. Suzanne Barlyn decided to compare the effectiveness of 4 different pet insurance policies by insuring 4 different pets--a fair enough premise. The problem was that she chose 4 pets of widely differing ages, two of whom had chronic conditions which rendered any comparison between policies virtually impossible.

The first rule of pet insurance is that it is only cost effective when the pet is a puppy--with no pre-existing conditions. Frankly, I'm surprised that Ms. Barlyn was able to obtain insurance at all for their 15 year old cat, who actually expired three months after they purchased the insurance. When they tried to collect for fees accrued as a result of the cat's rapidly deteriorating condition, they were told they were not eligible for reimbursement because they occurred during the 30-day waiting period. Even Ms. Barlyn admits, "The terms were laid out clearly in our policy, so we should have known." Well, yeah.

Similarly no surprise on my part when VPI refused to insure a pug with bladder stones without x-rays because of potential complications. Well, yeah. Ultimately VPI did insure said pug but to Ms. Barlyn's surprise, "We were still on the hook for Pablo's chronic skin condition and ....prescription dog food for the bladder stones." Well, yeah.

And Ms. Barlyn somehow finds it unusual when Petshealth Care Plan required her to send her 2 year old pug's health care records--wouldn't have happened with a puppy--and complains that the policy did not cover routine dental care. Some policies do but then the premiums are probably higher per month.

The only part of the article that I found to be fascinating was the fact that there are actually 4 different pet insurance companies to compare. When I purchased pet insurance for my dogs six years ago, VPI was the only game in town. According to the American Pet products manufacturers Association, there are currently two million pet insurance subscribers in the United States--about 3% of pet owners with the number expected to increase.

So viva the marketplace and here's to the educated consumer, which Ms. Barlyn, did little to help create.