Looking to buy some insurance for my french bulldog.

Any good recommendations?

IMHO, few to none.

They like to cover a lot of preventative stuff, but don't cover much of the bill when something bad happens.

My dogs had a bunch of little stuff happen to them during the puppy phase, and at two, one had to have bilateral elbow surgery.  I sat down and figured out what the health insurance payments would have been for both of them, looked at my bills, and calculated what each of the plans would have paid.

Guess what... the best plan was barely a break-even.  I decided to self-insure.  

Now, my dogs are ten.  One of my girl got in a few scraps years back, and had to be stitched up each time.  My boy has been on antiinflammatories all of his life.  And, he just had bilateral ankle fusions a half year ago.  And, over the decade, I've come out money ahead for NOT having purchased the insurance.

Thanks for your reply.

I had no idea.

The coverages are getting better.  10 years ago I would have agreed that it is worthless for most people.  They used to pay out a couple hundred for a $2000 ACL repair, now they are getting more in line.  Some plans will reimburse 80% or more of major surgeries or illnesses.  Just like in the human insurance game, if you don't get sick, they win.  If your pet stays healthy and has no major issues you will lose money.  But all it takes in many cases is one major mishap and you have at least covered your costs, or come out ahead.  I have found Pet Plan has some of the best reimbursements, but it all depends on the plan you chose.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/august/money/pet-costs/pet-insurance-rarely-worth-the-price-in-our-analysis/index.htm

read the following article

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2010/08/is-pet-insurance-a-rip-off.html

Note these two parts

We all know that an insurance company's business is to take in premiums and pay out as little of those premiums as possible, right? So why is it a shock that they make it hard to get anything back.

FMF readers that have said they are counting on pet insurance to help them out in case of trouble might be in for a rude awakening. As the author of the Wise Bread piece said, "In this case we were lucky. 76 percent of $545 is something we can afford right now. But what if it was 76 percent of $7,000?" Yes, 76% of $7,000 would be trouble for many people.


Now, ALL insurance companies have the model if they get people to as a group pay in more than the insurance company pays out.  For human insurance, people are willing to take the hit for piece of mind and because  there are human health catastrophies that can easily reach $100,000...or in some instances a TON more.

Yes, pets are more a member of the family than ever before.  People are paying $10,000 to have issues corrected.  But they aren't paying $100,000.  People love pets as family members, but when a kid gets hurt you'll cash out your entire retirement savings, the college fund, and sell your house and live in a van if that's what it takes.  Truth be told few pet owners are going to sell the house to save the pet.

If you are the type of person who would sell the house to save a pet, who would honestly pay $50,000 to save your pet, insurance is probably a good deal for you because it offsets a possible catastrophic financial hit with a very real and certain minor financial hit.

For most people, they'd be better served by putting roughly the same amount as the insurance would cost away monthly in a generic mutual fund or heck just in the bank.

May not apply to YOU with respect to YOUR particular dog but...

Most of the pet insurance polices exclude a PILE of stuff and people 'should' read the fine print before signing up for ANY of them.

Examples of things commonly EXCLUDED:    A 'Guard Dog' is NOT going to be covered if injured while performing his 'work', Anything and everything related to a dog getting pregnant and/or having puppies will NOT be covered, A 'Racing' dog or dog used in competitive activities (competitions) will not likely be covered... (list goes on and on)

Also expect premiums to increase as dog gets older and expect limits on how much they will pay per year or per incident.

Expect that you will STILL have to be able to pay your Vet for any and all services rendered during an accident or emergency on the spot and that you 'may' be reimbursed at a 'later date' by said insurance company. Who knows how long that could take?


Insurance companies would NOT be in business long if they did not make a profit...

A few years back when I ran the numbers for what it would cost ME for the different policies - I quickly came to the conclusion that I would have to have at least one dog get hit by a car every year to break even. The money I 'could' have spent on the doggie insurance over the last few years adds up to a good bit more than what it would cost me to fly to Germany and get a REALLY nice replacement dog from a reputable breeder...

If you are really concerned about possible 'problems' later on down the road and want a better sence of financial security when it comes to being able to provide care for your dog - Set yourself up a 'Doggie Health Savings Account' and set aside the money you would have been spending on insurance in THAT instead. Write that account a check each and every month and pretend the money is NOT there unless 'needed' for an emergency. The money remains YOURS at all times and will build up over time to allow you to better deal with issues that may arise as the dog gets older. If your 'savings' never get used/depleted on this particular dog - the fund can be used for your NEXT dog... You will always be the one who gets to decide how YOUR money is used or IF it is used this way...  

People tend to spend money 'differently' when they have to pull out the cash or write the check on the spot vs when they pay it to an insurance company slowly and over long periods of time...

We use Banfield for our Maltese's health issues. It's some kind of health plan, so far it's saved us over 3K in one year. So the way I see it, it's worth it, like $34 month. Good piece of mind.

I use VPI.  I never had any problems with them.  I watched my folks spend a lot of money on their dog, so I got insurance in case the worse happens.

We have Trupanion with a high deductible, just for something catastrophic.

I have trupanion.  In my case it was one of 2 that my vet recommended.  It works out because the vet office is good w/ helping us submit the claims forms.

My Lab has been gone well over a year now.  We had Pet Watch which was very handy covering much of the cost for cancer treatment.  Customer service was not great.  I'm looking at a couple rescue Labs this week so I was checking out pet insurance and saw this.  Does anyone have any comments?

http://www.consumersadvocate.org/pet-insurance/best-pet-insurance.html?matchtype=p&keyword=pet%20insurance%20reviews&adpos={adposition}

Of those listed, clients have had the best coverage with PetPlan, TruPanion, and Pets Best.  VPI and ASPCA are OK.  I have no experience with Embrace or Healthy Paws.

I haven't ever had an insurance policy on any of my dogs or any pet I've had. My experience with them is the same as many other peoples, as in you pay alot for them, and then they pay very little when you actually use them.

IMO OP, you'd be better off taking the money that you are going to spend on the monthly premiums for the insurance policy and just put it in a savings account somewhere. Don't use it for anything else other than your dog's medical expenses. That shit adds up quicker than you think, and before you know it, you will have more than enough in there to cover whatever might happen, and probably even have some left over.