After LSU running back Charles Scott scored the game-winning touchdown against Georgia on Oct. 3, Kevin Weeks’ 6-year-old German shepherd celebrated by jumping off the bed and tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left hind leg.
Weeks was faced with a choice of two surgeries for Loki Baldr (pictured)—one procedure that cost $800 and another that cost $3,000. Weeks chose the tried-and-true, less-expensive procedure, which included the operation, anesthesia, medication and overnight boarding.
When the charges for the original diagnosis and medication leading up to the surgery were added, the total bill approached $1,000. This for an 80-pound dog that had never been to the veterianarian for anything more than an annual checkup.
Medical procedures such as the one Loki underwent have spurred growth in pet insurance over the past 10 years. Three companies offered pet premiums in 1999. But in 2007, a dozen companies took in $248 million, a 21% increase from the previous year, according to the market-research Web site Packaged Facts.
The study also estimates there will be 25% to 33% annual growth for the industry through 2012. Those numbers are supported by the American Veterinary Medical Association, which estimates that in 2007, 72 million dogs and nearly 82 million cats were kept as pets in the U.S., and the National Commission on Veterinary Economic issues, which reports that only 850,000 pet policies were in effect that year.
Jack Stephens, founder and president of Pets Best Insurance, says pet owners should pursue insurance for the leverage it provides, the ability to budget and simply for the peace of mind.
“Pets are perpetual children and, like children, things will happen,” he says. “An insured pet owner knows they will have thousands of dollars of coverage from policy inception annually for unexpected care for their pet.”
Large companies like AOL, Disney, eBay, Google, Home Depot and HSBC now are offering health insurance for their employees’ cats and dogs. In general, companies receive a discount on insurance premiums for pets from the insurance companies they use for their employees. And employees are taking advantage: According to Packaged Facts, there currently are more than 1 million policyholders in the U.S., double the figure in 2002.
For between $40 and $100 a month, depending on the age, health and prior ailments of the pet in question, the owner gets guaranteed reimbursement for veterinary consultations, the costs of which increased by 84% between 1996 and 2006, according to the Labor Bureau.
Pet insurance might have made a difference for Weeks, who had not budgeted for Loki’s unexpected injury. Weeks says future coverage is an option because German shepherds are known to get hip dysplasia—an arthritic-like condition that occurs when bones in the hip joint don’t fit together, causing wear and tear.
“Pet insurance,” he says, “is definitely a possibility at some point.”
