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Insurance Cost of medical care for pets is rising fast which is spurring on sales for pet insurance. Pet owners can choose from a large variety of policies, featuring alternative-medicine treatments. Some focus on accidents and illnesses. Others include wellness checkups and shots. Hereditary conditions, which weren’t originally covered, are now paid for under many plans.

Insurance Many pet policies can be just as confusing as plans for yourself. Pet insurance often places strict limits on how much it will pay for particular procedures. Premiums vary from around $10 to $75 per month depending on various factors, including location, animal’s breed and age.

Insurance This year, pet owners are expected to spend around $12.2 billion for veterinary care. It was $11.1 billion last year and $8.2 billion five years ago. Various procedures widely used for people, including chemotherapy and dialysis, are now available to pets, causing the prices to spike.

One Million Insured According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, around a million U.S. pets are insured. The number is growing about 10% per year. This group guesses that this only covers a fraction of all pets.

Insurance Around 90% of all insured are dogs. The remaining 10% are cats and a small number of other animals. The biggest U.S. pet-insurance company, Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), a unit of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, says it has written policies for hedgehogs, snakes, turtles, and geckos.

Donna Oliver Lives in Austin, Texas She has paid about $32,600 since 2007 to care for two dogs who passed away this year. Marley, a Labrador, got stem-cell therapy for his arthritis, surgery on his windpipe to deal with a condition that was cutting off his breathing, and, at the end, medication to ease the pain of advanced cancer.

Maddie, a corgi mix, suffered from Cushing’s disease, a hormonal disorder, and got treatment including surgery to heal ulcers on her corneas. She said, “It does cost a lot if you want to do the right thing by them.” She recently bought insurance for her three remaining dogs, Chelsea, Jasmine, and Runner.

Workplace Benefit Consumers may also be able to buy pet insurance through their workplace, which is often cheaper than buying it on their own. Around 19% of employers offer the policies as a voluntary benefit. This includes firms such as Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

Tips on Buying Insurance Check out some of these sites: petinsurancereview.com dogtime.com petinsuranceguideus.com

Industry and Veterinary Group Sites American Animal Hospital Association North American Pet Health Insurance Association American Veterinary Medical Association

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