Vet Insurance vs. Pet Secure?

[Veesmart]

Ok so I think I've narrowed it down to these two pet insurance companies for my 7 month old (healthy so far) Chihuahua. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with either? Any first hand experience you can share before I dive in to a policy??

Feel free to PM me if you don't want to broadcast your stories.

Any info is MUCH appreciated!!!

[Masha]

Hi, I am with VetInsurance and i have nothing but good experiences with them. They always called back/emailed very promtly with replies to my questions, when i call them they dont keep me on hold and they always pay promtly. They dont have weird 'maximum per category' rules and stuff, i feel their terms are very straight forward and i always know how much i will get back. I had to put through sevveral claims (dental, x rays, blood work) and no issues with them. They even called me once just to ask how my guy was doing.... i like them, definitely was a good decision for us.

[Tundra_Queen]

Masha, I didn't think vetinsurance covered dental cost.

I have vet insurance for Willie, my cat. I have used it once and got the payment fairy quickly.

I did get notified a few months back that my payment was going up because they changed insurance companies, or something like that. It was only 3 bucks a month. I was surprised though cause when I signed up 6 years ago, they said it would never increase.

Debbie

[quincymycat]

Hey Veesmart. I have all 5 of my guys insured with Pet Secure. I have to be honest and say I did not know there was another option way back when, when I got my first 3 policies and it wasn't until I was having a wee bit of diffuculty with Pet Secure that one of the techs at my vet office told me about the other. Now, with my oldest being over 9 years old, I really cannot move the policies so with Pet Secure I stay.
It is overall a pretty good policy, but like most insurers, they are out to make a profit and although they always stress the " security to make tough decisions without major worries of money", I should tell you about when my Quincy suddenly developed paralysis and the specialist bills - which in my opinion were really pumped up with un-needed tests, but that is not the point of this assesment - amounted to well over $5,000.00. They were excellent in paying the specialist directly and therefore allowing me to only have to pay out of pocket my co-pay of 20%, the claim processor went out of her way to be helpful.
The problem I had was when Quincy's policy had to be renewed and Pet Secure was going to drop the amount payable on any claim to 50% and increase his deductible from $200 to $500.00. Their rationale was that according to the bills submitted by the specialist's office, he had heart problems, neurological problems and unknown abdominal problems. This is where the unecessary testing by the specialist became a problem...I was told he had a heart murmur which was NEVER heard by my vet in 7 years of seeing him, nor was it heard by the neuro. The cardio said she heard it. He HAD to have a cardiac ultrasound or no further tests could be done.......ultrasound clear...NO HEART MURMUR. Same with the abdominal ultasound...all clear, but since the insurance company saw all this testing, but not the results, he was judged to be a risk and therefore coverage was severely limited. I however have a big mouth and pushed and pushed until they looked at the results and they finally agreed with me that many tests were at best questionable if whether or not they needed to be done, and to their credit, re-instated his previous coverage. I was extremely upset that in one letter they did tell me NOT to view this as HEALTH INSURANCE BUT PROPERTY INSURANCE and those that use it pay higher premiums than those who don't. It kind of went against what they advertise, but that may have just been one person in a somewhat large organization.
Other than this, I have had no major problems. Deductibles WILL increase as your pet ages, regardless of whether you use the policy or not. I have dental on my policies, I am not sure if it is still included in new policies, but 1 cat is excluded from dental due to past dental problems...no problem..he has no teeth!
With money somewhat tight, I still pay my premiums religiously because the costs of progressive vet care rises and I always want to protect my guys. At this point, I don't really think they are making much profit from me though as the cost of the 5 policies is just a bit less than what I would have to put out for Quincy's routine meds. His policy again renews in July...I may have a different opinion then, but I feel somewhat safer with the coverage. I have been told to just put the premiums into a bank account and use it if needed, but with 5 cats, who is to say there may not be more than one at a time needing care?
I hope this helps. Good luck. Deb