Insure your home. Insure your car. Insure your health, your life. Insure … Fluffy and Spot?
Maryland pet owners in increasing numbers are taking out pet health insurance for their four-legged friends, and business has been booming for the industry nationwide over the last few years.
“It?s the same reason we have health insurance ? the costs can be pretty significant,” said David Drake, director of development and marketing for the Maryland SPCA, based in Baltimore.
“People are spending more for veterinary care for their animals than they have in the past,” he said. “More treatments are available, and pets have become part of the family, and people are willing to go to further lengths to care for them.”
The Maryland SPCA offers two insurance plans for adopted animals, through partner insurance companies. One starts at $8.33 per month with benefits of up to $8,000 to $15,000 per year, while the other for $12.95 per month offers a fixed payment per incident or illness, Drake said.
Nationwide, 3 to 4 percent of dogs and cats have health insurance, up from less than 1 percent about four years ago, according to Julianne Galvin, a veterinarian who educates veterinary hospitals and training schools about pet insurance for Veterinary Pet Insurance, the nation?s oldest pet insurance company.
Galvin attributes the increase to baby boomers who, with their own children moved out or without children of their own, now lavish attention on their pets.
“The human-animal bond has become so much stronger in the last few years,” she said. “They?ve gone from household animals that are easily replaceable to family members.”
Dr. Jack Stephens founded Veterinary Pet Insurance 25 years ago, and now heads another pet insurance company he founded, Pets Best Insurance. Stephens said the average veterinary bill has ballooned since he started his first company.
“Before, the average vet bill was rare to be more than $400 or $500,” he said. “Now it?s rare to have a vet bill under $1,000.”
The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association projects owners will spend $9.4 billion on veterinary care in 2007. It?s a figure far larger than Stephens remembers from his first days of selling pet insurance.
“It was horrible back then. I was a veterinarian, I saw owners putting pets to sleep because they didn?t have the money to help them, and I wanted to do something about it,” he said. “They insure them for peace of mind and their health.”
