You may be tempted to try and self-insure—setting aside money every month with regard to medical bills. But remember that if your pet is uninsured, a single emergency vet visit could wipe out years of personal savings. Saving money will be prudent for the predictable expenses in life, but you pay for insurance because so much of life is unpredictable. During the first year of self-insuring, you might save enough to cover a $1, 200 vet bill, while your own first insurance coverage premium payment will cover most veterinarian bills going forward, depending on the policy. Plus, care costs and the likelihood of illness will increase as your pet ages, likely outpacing your ability in order to save. It’s not hard to find stories of expenses that can wipe out the particular savings most people can accumulate: Radiation for some tumors may be up to $10, 000, kidney transplants can cost as much as $15, 000, plus bone-marrow transplants can be upwards of $20, 000. If you never have to make a claim, your premiums weren’t wasted—they were the cost of predictability, and of sleeping easier with a pet at your feet. But if you make a comfortable living and can afford to be hit with the big expenses, you may prefer to pocket the price of rates, since insuring a pet over their lifetime can cost twice as much as a single radiation treatment, as outlined in When you should get pet insurance policy . Still, a pet’s illness may become a chronic concern, and without an insurance plan, a person could be saddled with thousands of dollars within vet expenses for recurring treatments.
