ARKLE Veterinary Care / Pet Health Insurance

Veterinary medicine is advancing on an almost daily basis, providing more information, procedures and treatments that can help your pet. Figuring out how to pay for all the healthcare available for your pet can be intimidating. Being proactive allows you to make decisions and choices before there is a problem with your pet. Preventing a problem from either developing or worsening is better for your pet and your billfold. If you need to start at the begining, here's a good page to start on: http://petinsurancereview.com/101.asp

Providing at least once a year veterinary examinations and following common veterinary preventative care recommendations, feeding high quality food and ensuring your pet has adequate human companionship, supervision and mental stimulation can all help decrease the total lifetime cost of caring for your pet. High-deductible health insurance coverage may be a way to ensure you can afford the care your pet needs when emergiencies arise. To read AAHA's brochure about pet health insurance, please click HERE.

To choose which pet health insurance company is best for you and your pet, we recommend you compare what the different companies offer. Another veterinarian has a great webpage on Pet Health Insurance. The page is dated 2008, so please check insurance companies for any changes since then. You can also do a web search for pet health insurance providers. Select a few of the companies that come up on the search and visit their websites. You might want to call a company's customer service number for additional information and to decide if they sound helpful and genuinely concerned in your pet's welfare.

Questions to ask about pet health insurance

1. Are chronic or pre-existing conditions covered?
2. Are some types of health problems excluded?
3. Does this provider cover birth defects or inherited conditions?
4. What is NOT covered by the policy?
5. Does this provider have good ratings at independent websites that review and/or publish customer ratings of pet health insurance companies?
6. Is this insurance available in my state?
7. Is my pet eligible for insurance with this company?(Example: some companies will only issue policies for pets under 7 years of age)
8. Is coverage of preventive care available, and how much does it cost? (Do the math and determine if it is more cost effective to pay for preventative care yourself.)
9. Can I afford the monthly premium, deductible and required co-pay?
10. Does this provider offer multiple pet discounts?
11. Can I use my current veterinarian or is there a "network" of vets for this provider?
12. How is a claim submitted and will my premium change based on how many claims I submit?
13. How is the amount of my reimbursement calculated? Is this consistent with what my veterinarian expects to charge?

14. How long does it take to receive my reimbursement?