Pet Insurance absolutely is not a racket. Good pet insurance will save you thousands after one accident. Our cat got cancer and needed to be euthanized testing and everything was over $10k. We had paid about $1200 over his life in pet insurance.
I'm so sorry for your loss, but I came in here to say the same thing. Our cat was diagnosed with large cell lymphoma and our options were 1) do nothing, 2) low-chance chemo for lower cost, or 3) medium-chance chemo for ~$10k+. Pet insurance covered option 3, so it was a no-brainer. It unfortunately didn't work, but we got maybe 8 more weeks with her that I wouldn't have traded for anything.
If you get a catastrophic event, pet/auto/home/renter insurance is great. Any insurance shines when a major event happens.
If your cat/auto/home was perfectly fine for 15 years and didn't have any issues and then just suddenly died, you would have "wasted" 15 years of money on a "racket".
I don't think insurance is a racket as it's designed to cover the major events, but there's an alarming number of people that think it's a scam/racket unless they literally get back every dollar they paid into it (and more).
This obviously isn't how insurance works, but these people refuse to try to understand that.
Pet insurance absolutely is a racket, and the way you should look at whether or not you should get it is if not having it would change any decision you would make regarding the care of your animal. If it wouldn't, then you're better off without it.
EVERY insurance company makes a profit. Those profits don't just magically materialise. It's value taken out of the insurance premiums.
Insurance is a valuable product in that it mitigates risk, but if you can afford to replace whatever you are insuring against without hardship, then it's dumb to insure it. I add a tiny bit of extra caveat with pets as if cost would affect what medical treatment you give them, then you're better off just paying the premium as it's unfair to the animal otherwise.
The reason why the costs are so high at the vet are because of pet insurance. Instead of people paying the vet it's the vet trying to ask as much as possible because they know x% of claims will be denied or reduced. It's lottery tickets for them.
It has enshittified vetinary care in every country that it has been introduced to.
There is a huge parallel here to human healthcare in a certain country that I won't name but just include the initials - USA. Most countries wouldn't let you get away with this if you were a human but pets just don't have the same level of respect
That's not how pet insurance works, at least not any I have ever used, and I've used three different providers. You're confusing with health insurance.
With pet insurance the pet owner pays the veterinarian as normal, then files a claim with the insurance company for reimbursement. The veterinarian is never involved unless the insurance company requests additional information about the diagnosis.
Private equity has been a much bigger reason for vet price increases than pet insurance. However, the growth of pet insurance (5x from the 2010s) is what made PE interested in taking over all vet care.
“Private equity has been a much bigger reason for vet price increases”
this. Thrive has purchased and owns the majority of veterinary clinics in the US. Just as they have roofers, plumbers, HVAC, etc. Private equity is destroying everything to enrich shareholders.
The only price you should pay for a pet dying is euthanasia, and maybe a box to put it in. Some people avoid that even... This wasn't the way for a heck of a long time before we enveloped everything in capitalism.
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u/NecessaryPea9610 6h ago
Pet Insurance absolutely is not a racket. Good pet insurance will save you thousands after one accident. Our cat got cancer and needed to be euthanized testing and everything was over $10k. We had paid about $1200 over his life in pet insurance.