Most pet insurance pays specified amounts for certain procedures.  They also
have their own ideas about what is ordinary and necessary in many
situations.  It is pretty standard for the vet to bill the owner and then
for the owner to have to try to get reimbursed by the insurance company.

There just isn't an up side for the vets to bill the insurance companies and
to accept what they pay as payment in full.

Jo

This isn't specifically an answer to your question about why some vets won't
accept pet insurance.  However, I did check on a number of policies after I
adopted Duffy, and I came to the conclusion that these policies are usually
a waste of money.  Most of them have a cap on what they will cover, and the
cap is usually unreasonably low.  Many cover only specifically listed
problems, and they leave out some of the more common and more expensive
issues.  Costs of the policies often rise with the age of the pet -- which
may make sense given that aging pets have a higher incidence of needs, but
that also means the policies become less useful as need rises.  Worse, there
are some that actually cut off at certain ages or reduce the actual amount
of coverage.

My conclusion:  I opted not to take out pet insurance and instead to "self
insure."  I have put a small amount into a savings account just for Duffy
and Holly, beginning in February 2003, the month after I adopted Duffy .  I
have never touched it because it is reserved for true emergencies or very
large expenses.  I do not use it for routine exams or even for
consultations/medications such as what I incurred this week when Duffy semed
ill.  Fortunately, it was one of those 24-hour problems, and Duffy is on the
way back to his usual, bouncy self -- but the point is that the savings
account remains intact for future emergencies.

I do realize that much of this is not helpful to you because you have
written about your financial problems that might make this process
impossible, and Persia is older than Holly and Duffy were when I started
down this road.  This type of action works best when started at a relatively
young age so there is time for the savings account to grow before it is
needed.  However, I am piggybacking off your question because I think this
is really an important topic to discuss.

MaryL

Photos of Duffy and Holly:      >'o'<
Duffy:  http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
Holly:  http://tinyurl.com/9t68o
Duffy and Holly together:  http://tinyurl.com/8b47e

  Minke is insured.  No earlier cats were insured but probably should
have been.  Too late for Nanki Poo: the cat has to be under a certain
age to be accepted.

  When we purchased Minke from the breeder she had a card to fill in
which gave us six weeks free insurance for Minke, and then we could
continue it or not as we felt.  No doubt the breeder got a commission.

  When you go to the vet they ask you whether you have pet insurance: it
is just normal.

<snip>

No vet I know takes pet insurance directly - if you have pet insurance here,
you have to pay the vet out of your own pocket and then claim back from the
insurance company. The insurance company will pay 80% of the bill.

Do the critters have pet insurance? No. It didn't seem worth it. The only
pet 'health' insurance I could find was $30 a month per pet. The maximum you
could claim per year was $1000, and it would only ever pay up to $500 per
'incident'. It had an excess of $100. It also insisted (possibly not
unreasonably) that before it would pay up on anything, that the animal had
to be fully vaccinated, chipped and had regular checkups, and wouldn't pay
out if it didn't have that proof.

It struck me that it wouldn't be worth it. I could cover $500 worth of
vetinary care if the need arose - its the bigger bills that I would want
help with. It also didn't help with the regular vetinary expenses of shots
or checkups, which are invariably just under $100 a pop. Seemed like a total
rip-off to me.

Now if I wanted to insure their lives, that was a different story, but
again, a nice  payout once they are dead is silly, i want the nice big
payout to save their lives if thats what it needed.

Nope, pet insurance seemed like a waste of money to me.

Your pet insurance might be different.

Yowie

The vet doesn't accept the pet insurance - you have to pay the vet and
then claim the money back yourself... we have the girls insured but
we've never claimed on it.

Consumers Reports says pet insurance is a rip-off because the policies
contain so many exclusions in the very fine print.

Martha

My vets here do accept pet insurance, but that insurance is carefully
calibrated that most routine visits for minor problems are not covered until
you have spent x amount over and above a couple of consultations.
You can ignore it unless your cat decides to have a horrible disease or get
multiple fractures, but as we all don't know if that will happen we often
risk it without insurance.
I don't have medical insurance for my cats.  I put away per month directly
from my wages a similar amount that the insurance would ask into a bank
account for my cats.  It is more than enough to fund their veterinary care.
I did it for my late dogs too and it built up to fund any/all the operations
and illnesses they needed as they got older and older.

Tweed