Another insurance question

[Aussiebean]

Hello

Going through insurance and while I am sure I will get life time coverage, I am unsure how much.

I am thinking about Petplan and their vet fees are 12000, 7 000 or 4 000

What would be a good amount?

12 seems too much, but worried 4 won’t be enough.

Any tips?

[BiteyShark]

I have £4k and I do wish I had gone for the maximum.

A severe case of D&V set us back just over £2000 with admissions and treatments. (that was with lots of discounts as we were part of the vets health plan).

We were referred to a specialist hospital after an accident and the cost of surgery would have been more than my yearly limit of £4k. Fortunately we didn't need the surgery. However, I looked on the price list and an MRI was £2000-£2500. Several surgeries were over £5k.

I also know someone who had a bill for over £10k one year for cancer treatment for a relatively young dog.

[tabulahrasa]

The highest you can afford...

Some things are just really really expensive.

[moosemama]

Having just spent (including insurance cover) over £21,000 in 18 months on one of our dogs, I would always go for the highest you can possibly afford. That amount is not including all the additional things we paid for ourselves on top of medical/vet bills or the eyewateringly expensive specialist meds we bought online via prescription (£400 for two weeks from the vets, just about half than online.)

It was frightening how quickly it added up. When he initially became ill and spent a week as an inpatient at a specialist veterinary hospital, with scans etc and £450 for each follow up appointment the final cost would have taken us straight over the £7,000 cover limit.

We were/are with PetPlan and I have to say they have been fantastic. Multiple huge claims were paid without question and although the premium did increase, it was nowhere near as bad as I had expected considering how much they had had to pay out for him.

[Scattyhattie]

I'd opt for highest you can afford as you can downgrade cover with petplan anytime but only increase it ( without starting a new policy) on annual renewal date they obviously won't increase to cover something that's cropped up in same way as new policy doesn't cover pre-existing conditions.

I'm lucky that vet bills here aren't as expensive as some areas of UK but I've had a dog that required 2 MRI's one year for different conditions & hospitalisation is very expensive. If its young dog the cover won't stretch as far either in old age due to inflation, which I hadn't considered with my first dog luckily the £4k policy was at least per condition per year.

[Aussiebean]

Thank you all