Your Pet Insurance Guide

Providing Comfort and Care For Aging Pets

I came across an excellent article with information about the needs of our senior pets and products that can improve their quality of life and comfort. Many of these same recommendations are made by veterinarians to their clients with senior pets to help them manage various chronic conditions and meet their stage of life needs. Be sure to ask your veterinarian if using a particular product would be beneficial for your pet's condition and well-being. Have you used any of these or similar products, and if so, what was your experience? Read more →

Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) Will Become Nationwide Pet Insurance

Nationwide, one of the country's largest insurance and financial services companies, has been the underwriter for Veterinary Pet Insurance since it began in 1982. In the next few months, VPI will be rebranded as Nationwide Pet Insurance. I talked with Dr. Carol McConnell last week about this and other exciting changes that will be unveiled in the next year or so. I will let you know about these changes when they happen. Here is a blog post Dr. McConnell wrote recently about the changes. Read more →

Top 10 North American Pet Insurance Claims of 2013

The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) just released the Top 10 Claims list of 2013 gathered from proprietary data in its State of the Industry Benchmarking Report. Dogs: $40,606 Hip Dysplasia - 3-year-old female Border Collie Cross $36,485 Pleural Effusion (build-up of excess fluid between the layers of the pleura outside the lung) - 1-year-old male Rottweiler $29,173 Insulinoma; Post-Op Pancreatitis / Biliary Obstruction - 7-year-old male Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier $27,142 Toxic Myelodysplasia (serious blood condition) - 8-year-old female Beagle $25,442 Spay Complication / Systemic Infection - 1-year-old female mixed breed Cats: $17,685 Inflammatory Bowel Disease -... Read more →

A Industry Insider's Viewpoint On Rising Pet Insurance Premiums And What Can Be Done About It

In my last post, I discussed an article by a pet owner who received her pet insurance renewal letter and discovered the premium was increasing 52%! I ended the post asking this question, "What strategies can pet insurance companies put in place to greatly reduce the need to increase premiums dramatically at one time or is it simply unavoidable from time to time?" I've called on Dr. Jack Stephens, the veterinarian who founded the first successful pet insurance company in the United States (VPI) in 1982 and a second company (Pets Best) in 2005, to answer that question. In this... Read more →

Yikes! My Pet Insurance Premium Went Up 50% - Why And What To Do?

Laura Bennett, the CoFounder and CEO of Embrace pet insurance company recently posted a link to an article written by a pet owner who received her pet insurance renewal letter and discovered the premium was increasing by 52%! This article is perhaps the most well thought-out response to the issue of increasing pet insurance premiums I've ever seen. This is an issue that needs to be addressed by both the veterinary community and the pet insurance industry. The fact is, several companies have raised premiums at rates similar to those cited in this article. If not addressed, pet insurance may... Read more →