I have accident/illness coverage for my 2 year old lab mix and im happy with it. My provider keeps emailing me about adding a wellness plan for $22/month. It covers annual exam, vaccines, heartworm test, fecal test, and one dental cleaning per year. Totals about $350 in coverage. So im paying $264/year for $350 in benefits. Is that $86 savings even worth the hassle? Or should i just pay out of pocket for routine stuff. What do you guys do
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I did the math on mine and it was basically a wash. Paying $20/mo for maybe $280 in covered services. I dropped it and just budget $25/month into a pet savings account instead. That way i keep whatever i dont spend
thats kinda what i was thinking too. the savings account idea is smart
I keep mine because it forces me to actually take my dog for her annual checkup and stay on top of vaccines. Without it id probably skip a year here and there tbh. The dental cleaning alone is worth like $300+ at my vet so if yours includes that its not bad.
The real value of wellness isn't the dollar savings, its catching problems early. Annual bloodwork caught my cats kidney issues at stage 1 when treatment is way cheaper and more effective. If i had waited until she showed symptoms it would have been stage 3. So the wellness plan paid for itself 10x over by catching something early that my illness coverage then paid for.
ok this is actually a really good point i hadnt considered. does your wellness plan include bloodwork?
yes mine covers one annual blood panel. not all of them do though so check the details. thats the one benefit i think makes wellness plans worth considering
with 3 dogs the wellness plans would cost me like $65/month total. hard pass. i just take them all in together once a year and negotiate a multi pet discount with my vet lol
I see both sides at work every day. The owners with wellness plans come in regularly and their pets are generally healthier because stuff gets caught sooner. The owners without wellness plans sometimes skip years between visits and come in when something is already really wrong. Its not the plan itself that matters its the behavior it encourages imo