 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsGeneral TopicsCat AnecdotesHealth and BehaviorRescue CatKB.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / October 2003Premier Pet Insurance
Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around? I want to get insurance for my 4 cats and it appears that this is a good plan/ I tried calling and I can't get through. I tried getting a quote from their website and it doesn't work. I feel that VPI has too many restrictions that's why I'm considering Premier. BYW - I have 2 3yrs old twins, in good health and 2 6month old twins in good health. We will get the kittens fixed in the coming months. Routine check ups for 4 cats over the year can get costly. If anybody knows about Premier, please post! PLease post with your comments, too! Thanks! > Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around? Premier was bought by another insurance company and is now called Pets Health Care Plan. The web site is: www.petshealthplan.com For what it's worth, I had been with Premier for a couple of years and was very happy with the coverage and the service. Since the new owners took over, however, everything has gone WAY downhill. Payments now take months, instead of weeks. And more importantly, they now insist that EVERY charge from my vet is over the customary cost for my area, and the premiums are no longer worth the paltry payouts they now provide. Whatever standards they are now using to calculate customary charges where I live (in the San Francisco Bay Area) are way out of whack with reality. I cancelled my policies with them two days ago. JP I had their insurance for my two cats for one year. Then I decided it would make more sense to put the $300 a year into a savings account for vet emergencies. I now have over $900 in the account. I had some vet bills this year (about $100 each for Tiger and Amber) but I didn't "raid" the emergency account for them. I figured that if I still had the insurance, it wouldn't have paid those bills anyway. -MIKE > I had their insurance for my two cats for one year. Then I decided it > would make more sense to put the $300 a year into a savings account for [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > -MIKE For what it's worth, Consumer Reports magazine did a report on pet insurance. Their website charges a subscription, and I believe in intellectual property rights, so I won't paste the contents here, but I will say that they said the emergency savings route is better in all cases but those pets with the most extreme health problems... and in some cases, it didn't even help there. Warren  Signature----------------------------------------------------------- Great gifts for cat lovers at http://www.officiallycute.com > > I had their insurance for my two cats for one year. Then I decided it > > would make more sense to put the $300 a year into a savings account for [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Warren Thanks for the information. That is the route I have been taking, and I'm glad to get some verification. I put $50.00 a month (for the two cat) into a savings account. Duffy is 5 years old and Holly is 8-1/2. I started their "savings plan" 6 months ago, so I hope I will have a pretty good amount saved for them before anything major might occur. Of course, you never can be sure -- but, then, there are also problems with insurance plans (low lifetime maximums, some that cover only listed problems, etc.). MaryL (take out the litter to reply) Photos of Duffy and Holly: >'o'< http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly) http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in") And more importantly, they now insist that EVERY charge > from my vet is over the customary cost for my area, and the premiums are no > longer worth the paltry payouts they now provide. Whatever standards they > are now using to calculate customary charges where I live (in the San > Francisco Bay Area) are way out of whack with reality. Jerold, The only "accepted" fee reference guide is the "Veterinary Fee Reference" manual published by AAHA. The guide lists fees charged for various services in various regions of the country as well as national average fees. The guide also lists the lowest, average, and highest fees charged for various services and procedures in various regions of the country, as well as the percentage of vets (surveyed) in each fee category. This is not only a good fee reference source for insurance purposes, its also a good guide for comparing your vet's fees with the fees charged by other vets in your region. However, it may be a little too expensive (>$100) to buy for only occasional use. If you need referenced fees to dispute your insurance company's "customary charges", I'd be happy to quote a few fees for you from mine. Phil > Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around? > I want to get insurance for my 4 cats and it appears that this is a [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Thanks! in UK I use petplan, not sure where you are from, I get a discount because I have 3 cats... be careful when taking out insurances because say e.g. cat breaks a leg, then they pay out fully the leg is no longer insured... also watch out for if life long medication is needed, some only pay out for a year! In uk we have lots of cheaper pet insurances that really are a waste of time having. SignatureLuv'n'Stuff *~*SooZy*~* New Pictures added every few days http://community.webshots.com/user/ragdollcatsuk >in UK I use petplan, not sure where you are from, I get a discount because >I have 3 cats... be careful when taking out insurances because say e.g. cat >breaks a leg, then they pay out fully the leg is no longer insured... also >watch out for if life long medication is needed, some only pay out for a >year! In uk we have lots of cheaper pet insurances that really are a waste >of time having. That's a good point to consider when weighing the pros and cons of pet insurance. Many people expect it to work the way health insurance for people does, but at least in the U.S., pet insurance is governed by a different set of rules. There are also generally a long list of exclusions, and one should also consider the maximum payouts per incident. For example, when we considered VPI, we found that they would have paid out about $400 of the $1100 bill we had last year for a cat hospitalized with a liver infection. If you subtract the $200 premium and $50 deductible per incident, it wouldn't have saved us much money. And under that plan, they would never cover that type of medical condition again. On the other hand, if your cat develops cancer or another condition expensive to treat, having pet insurance can help expand your treatment options. Years ago when I checked into pet insurance the first time, it was also customary to drop coverage once the cat got older--at age 10 or so. I'm not sure this is still the case, but IMO that's when you would need insurance the most, when the cat is older. > Years ago when I checked into pet insurance the first time, it was > also customary to drop coverage once the cat got older--at age 10 > or so. I'm not sure this is still the case, but IMO that's when you > would need insurance the most, when the cat is older. Also, the rules about pre-existing conditions also apply for animals. I got VPI for Shamrock last year before he turned a year old, but by that time he'd already been treated and had tests done multiple times for his skin allergies. Under the plan, ALL allergies are not covered now because of the way they categorize it. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.