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Not everyone will be able to get pet insurance for their animals. If you don’t have it, make sure you have savings instead.
I used to have pet insurance for both of my huskies. It was great until it wasn’t. There was an illness that was classed as connected to a previous problem and the insurance refused to pay out. The funny thing is that the illness had nothing to do with a previous problem, but the insurance deemed it so.
Then the insurance costs and deductible went up considerably when my female husky turned six. She was considered an “older dog” at that point.
So combined with that and the decision not to pay out when I needed it, I decided to scrap the pet insurance. However, I didn’t leave myself out of pocket.
Why you might get rid of pet insurance
There are a few reasons not to have pet insurance. You may not be able to cover previous health problems, or you may not have any details of previous health problems. This is a concern when it comes to rescues. If the insurance company has minimal details about the dog’s life beforehand, they may not cover the pet because of the higher risk.
Then as pets get older, there is more risk of health problems*. This leads to higher deductibles and the risk of the company not paying out. Some insurance companies won’t even offer insurance for older dogs. So, you’re left with issues in trying to get the coverage when you’re most likely going to need it.
Insurance companies won’t necessarily cover routine vaccinations and check-ups. These are preventable yearly expenses, and if the insurance company isn’t going to cover them, what’s the point in having the coverage? Sure, you have it for emergencies, but there is something else that you can do instead.
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Save up for potential problems in the future
Instead of paying the insurance premiums, I put those monthly premium costs in a high-interest savings account. This way the money is there to use for any sort of vet visit. It’s become useful when one of my dogs ended up with kennel cough and needed treatment.
It takes time to build up the account to the point that the insurance would have covered for some emergency needs. My vet bill was only $800, but it could have been a lot more. However, it is worth knowing that the money is available and I don’t have to pay and then ask the insurance company to cover it—only to be denied.
You will need to budget for this if you’re going to skip the pet insurance. For me, it’s $130 per month for the two dogs. That’s what the insurance premiums would have been. So, that’s the amount that I put away each month. If it’s something small like a routine vaccination, I tend not to take money out of it if I don’t need it, but that depends on cash flow for the month. You can even use the money on other items for your dog’s healthy and safety, such as pet cameras*. If you have cats, browse for their essentials at Catadorn.
I recommend putting it into an account where you have easy access to the money should you need it. A high interest savings account is good, and you end up with a little extra money each month on top of your “insurance premiums” that you pay into it. The pet insurance company isn’t going to offer interest on the premiums that you pay.
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Do you have pet insurance? What do you do instead? Share your thoughts in the comments below.