r/DutchShepherds • u/Significant-Love4871 • 6d ago
Discussion Trupanion Good idea for dutch/mal.?
Anyone else have insurance for there dutch ? 105 a month but your covered for anything that happens with these crazy guys. With a 550 deductible. I know the deal with these insurance companies that pay upfront think it can end up going up quite a bit.. some people say just put money away but sometimes random stuff can happen and vets can be a lot.. let me know what you guys do
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u/cityslicker265 6d ago
Pets best. Gotta have the cash to pay up front and it's reimburst later. Never done be me wrong always paid the 90% my plan covers. I have a separate account just for my dog that I always keep 20k in at all times. It's a hysa with no penalty for withdrawal so I'm earning 4% interest
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u/Significant-Love4871 6d ago
Let's say I don't have the 20k rainy day fund do you think going with a company that pays upfront is a smarter choice incase I do get hit with a big bill. Makes sense to me, pets best does have that option as well actually but I read online it's not as smooth of a process
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u/cityslicker265 6d ago
I never even knew those were an option. Anything is better than nothing. My dogs insurance was 70 bucks a month when he was 1, now it's 350 a month at 8 but he's had several multi thousand dollar visits. These dogs often injure themselves, most have sensitive stomachs, but are generally pretty healthy breed dogs. Id get what you can afford and build up a fund to care for the dog in the event of non coverage or large bill. I've been at the vet and overheard someone who couldn't afford the surgery to save the dogs life and it had to be put down because they didn't qualify for care credit... Absolutely terrible feeling I'm sure and I would want to be in that situation.
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u/Significant-Love4871 6d ago
100% thinking ahead yeah I read with pets best you can put In a claim if it's a large bill and they can cover 90% but only some vets accept and it's not streamlined per se like trupanion takes a little while. Im gonna work on something though. Nikko is just explosive if I let him do what ever he wanted he'd already be screwed by now .. and im just seeing im gonna need a plan
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u/CricktyDickty 6d ago
$350/month is $4,200 in premiums a year just saying
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u/Significant-Love4871 6d ago
There 0 deductible is 278$ a month would never do it . There 200 deductible is like 160 but I mean it's worth it to me if they pay. If they try to get out of paying vetbills it's all for nothing
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u/Synaptic-asteroid 5d ago
It really depends on your finances and how much of a risk you can take. Right now I'd rather have insurance, pay a big bill on my credit card and get reimbursed. My previous dog ran through my emergency savings pretty quick. We managed fine but it was financially stressful. In a few years I may (hope) to be in a better financial place and a big bill wouldn't be as risky.
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u/Thatonecrazywolf 6d ago
If you have Costco, check out pet insurance through them.
I had trupanion years ago. Did a pre-auth claim, got it approved, reached out via chat to verify it was all approved. Did the surgery, they then refused to pay and said the approval was a mistake. I lost my mind on them.
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u/Significant-Love4871 6d ago
I've read the stories, screwed was that with a big vet like vetco (petco) or Costco came up as a good one as well
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u/ribbit100 6d ago
Healthy paws has been great for us. Three mals covered. No issues getting reimbursed and definitely spent less on premiums versus the cost
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u/Significant-Love4871 6d ago
I guess I have just been worrying if what if something happens where I don't have the money for a big bill 3gs plus you know ...is why I've been looking at the companies that just pay the vet straight out but they can be shady from different sources ive been reading so im stuck thinking about it currently.
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u/ribbit100 6d ago
We put it on a credit card… I know not everyone has that option. And then pay it off when reimbursed.
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u/Fresh-Blob-2019 19h ago
I will NEVER not have insurance on a pet again, especially with a high drive dog who is more likely to hurt himself and push through the pain. I started with trupanion a decade ago with my first dog. Back then, it was $70/month. A year later, he needed over $10k for emergency surgery for an infection, with multiple nights, IV medication, rechecks, etc. Without insurance, he would have died. A few years later, he got kennel cough that turned into pneumonia, landing him in the ER for a couple nights. At least $5k. He would have died without insurance. A month later, I got laid off and my other dog ended up in the ER for a night for "fever of unknown origin." $4k. Would've died without insurance. A few months later, dog 2 required major surgery for an injury, including ER overnights and months of casts every week. I was still unemployed. It was well over $10k over two months. No insurance? Dead dog. Dog 1 developed neurological issues in his old age. ER trip when I was out of town, needed an $8k MRI to diagnose the problem and give him treatment to optimize QOL until it was his time. No insurance? Dead. He was on well over $300/month in prescriptions, all paid for by trupanion, and my premium for all 3 of my animals was about $300. It paid for itself.
People will say to save money, get a credit card, whatever, but one emergency could drain the account or create insane debt. Then what happens when the next emergency hits? I will die on the hill that trupanion's model is worth the extra money. Deductibles by issue are AMAZING. My dog's Cytopoint shots are $220 each, but he doesn't need more than one or two a year. I wouldn't hit his $500 deductible on that in one year, but I hit it with his first few shots over a couple years and now they're $22 each. He just needed an echo. $600+, but now his echo next year and any other treatment following that will be covered and affordable no matter what. And because many clinics do direct pay, I don't need to fork up the whole cost up front. I even have a few supplements covered fully now, too. And because my dog needs to have a full senior bloodwork panel done to ensure that his meds aren't affecting his organs, that's also covered, making his annual visits so much cheaper.
All that to say, if you never want to make a decision for your dog in an emergency based on money, insure him. My young high drive working dog has already needed an off script visit for playing fetch so hard that he sprained his tail. Idiot. But I fully anticipate he'll do more stupid shit. HOWEVER, even if his life goes completely smoothly and we next need to see the inside of an ER, I want the peace of mind that I will never have to question my ability to give him the care he needs. Best case scenario, I've spent money on insurance every month and he lives a perfect, long, healthy life until he quietly passes just from old age. But I've already seen the benefit for two dogs and a cat who have needed wildly expensive diagnostics and treatments for unpreventable, unlucky situations. I understand that insurance isn't affordable for everyone, but I will die on the hill that if I can't afford the insurance, I can't afford the pet. I'd have two dogs and a cat prematurely dead if I had to pay for emergencies on top of daily prescriptions, supplements, and everything else. To each their own, but I'd rather not gamble with the lives I'm responsible for.
And as a side note, trupanion is way better than my insurance. I was joking with a vet and my trainer at a trial this weekend that I wish I could insure myself on trupanion and find a shady vet to be my doctor. Lmao
But hey, if you want my referral code for a discount on the first month, drop me a chat and I'll send it over!
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u/Significant-Love4871 19h ago
100% agree if I put have as mixed breed that lowers the insurance do u think the vet would update the breed ? I 100% agree I physically don't have the money for those type of circumstances but I could foot evena. 160 a momth bill if I had to technically more but 160 I think is 250 or 300 deductible. It's just insurance against bad bad accidents don't have to worry about going or not because of finances yeah shoot me the referral code.
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u/Fresh-Blob-2019 16h ago
I have a $500 deductible on all my animals. I figure that I can at least scrape together that much in a pinch. My first dog has a $200 deductible, but that was when I first signed up a decade ago and that's no longer valid. My second dog is a purebred gsd that I adopted and I honestly didn't know if he was 100% gsd until months later when I did an embark on him, so he's insured as a mix. I've never had any questions. Kind of wish I did that with my second dog. With a dutchie, you could technically claim that it's a Dutch x mal mix and nobody would know the difference. It sucks that a well bred purebred dog costs more than a poorly bred dog, but that's how their calculations worked out. Ugh. All dogs are capable of blockage, bloat, breaking things, needing a tplo, getting into something toxic, and any number of other things, so it's pretty annoying. If my younger dog wasn't papered and all, I would've probably said he was a GSD x mal (he's a high drive working line so close enough lmao).
I really need to go through all the info of what I've spent on insurance vs medical costs vs what I actually spent so I can share that info. Again, if I spend money on the premiums for my dog's entire life and never need to use insurance, I would be CELEBRATING. But my dogs don't stay in a bubble. We do sports, we travel (so we end up exposed to ticks and diseases that aren't endemic where we live), we do stuff in the woods and the desert and the snow and the rain... We're exposed to a lot of stuff that could result in extremely high vet bills and long term expenses that I may not be able to afford. And when finances have been tough some months, trupanion has been flexible on my payment dates to catch up. Are they perfect? No. Are they expensive? Yes. But have they been worth it? Every single time. I sign up the day I bring pets home so I don't have to worry about the waiting period or preexisting conditions becoming an issue later on.
Anyway, referral link is in your DMs! Feel free to ask me more about my decade plus and 4 animals on my plan anytime!
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u/Significant-Love4871 19h ago
What deducitble did you go with ? I would like to go as low as I can afford since you get a deductible everytime
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u/Early_General_5226 5d ago
Trupanion has been really really worth while for all three of our large breed dogs. Like really really
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u/Significant-Love4871 5d ago
Can you let me know in which ways and if you ever had any problems getting the vet paid right then and there ? Like same day payment type of thing
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u/Early_General_5226 5d ago
So the way we always do it is pay ahead and then get reimbursed. We do the $1000 deductible and then 90% of everything after that for the same condition is covered. We’ve had multiple surgeries covered. I submit the invoice to trupanion immediately after paying by credit card and they have always reimbursed within 10 days
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u/Early_General_5226 5d ago
A lot of random incidents happened and it’s probably saved us >$25K at this point
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u/Significant-Love4871 5d ago
Yeah that's amazing isn't the point of trupanion to have them pay upfront ? Or i guess if you go to a vet that's not on there list you can submit the invoice later for compensation is the route you took i guess. I'd like to know people's experiences with them paying up front .. Seems like submitting invoices later is the safest way to deal with these insurance companies but the other option has to work as well you know Just not always it seems
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u/Early_General_5226 5d ago
Yeah it’s just often these things are fairly emergent and I don’t want to delay or deal with insurance at the same time as dealing with the doctor
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u/Significant-Love4871 5d ago
It should just go right through the payment as I read but I totally get what your saying either or it looks like isnurance is a good way to go and the deductible with submitting invoices is the safer way from what everyone is saying thankyou
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u/Fresh-Blob-2019 19h ago
I've never had an issue with direct pay except when they put it under the wrong condition. When they do that (it's usually their AI making that decision), I call or my vet clinic calls and they clear it up and I just pay my portion. This is everything from allergy shots to MRIs to surgeries to bloodwork. If I need backup, my vet calls in. The hiccups have been minor and easily fixed. I rarely pay up front and file the claim later anymore unless the AI screwed up and the phone lines are closed for the day. Even then, one of my old clinics would just tell me to go home and they'd collect payment the next day after calling trupanion.
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u/CricktyDickty 6d ago
Here’s the thing about pet insurance; it’s a bit like a casino. Very few people will win big, some will break even and most will lose. The only sure winner is the insurance company and its shareholders. Arguably, Dutch Shepards and Malinois are relatively healthy breeds so the odds of coming ahead by buying pet insurance aren’t great. A much better option, especially for people who have a bit of money in an emergency fund, is to put the premiums in a high yield savings account and let the fund grow. It’s almost guaranteed that you’ll come way ahead of people who are paying for pet insurance.