Premier Pet Insurance

Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around?
I want to get insurance for my 4 cats and it appears that this is a
good plan/ I tried calling and I can't get through. I tried getting a
quote from their website and it doesn't work.
I feel that VPI has too many restrictions that's why I'm considering
Premier.
BYW - I have 2 3yrs old twins, in good health and 2 6month old twins
in good health. We will get the kittens fixed in the coming months.
Routine check ups for 4 cats over the year can get costly.

If anybody knows about Premier, please post!
PLease post with your comments, too!

Thanks!

Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around?

Premier was bought by another insurance company and is now called Pets
Health Care Plan. The web site is: www.petshealthplan.com

For what it's worth, I had been with Premier for a couple of years and was
very happy with the coverage and the service. Since the new owners took
over, however, everything has gone WAY downhill. Payments now take months,
instead of weeks. And more importantly, they now insist that EVERY charge
from my vet is over the customary cost for my area, and the premiums are no
longer worth the paltry payouts they now provide. Whatever standards they
are now using to calculate customary charges where I live (in the San
Francisco Bay Area) are way out of whack with reality.

I cancelled my policies with them two days ago.

JP

Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around?

Premier was bought by another insurance company and is now called Pets
Health Care Plan. The web site is: www.petshealthplan.com

For what it's worth, I had been with Premier for a couple of years and was
very happy with the coverage and the service. Since the new owners took
over, however, everything has gone WAY downhill. Payments now take months,
instead of weeks. And more importantly, they now insist that EVERY charge
from my vet is over the customary cost for my area, and the premiums are no
longer worth the paltry payouts they now provide. Whatever standards they
are now using to calculate customary charges where I live (in the San
Francisco Bay Area) are way out of whack with reality.

I cancelled my policies with them two days ago.

JP

I had their insurance for my two cats for one year. Then I decided it
would make more sense to put the $300 a year into a savings account for
vet emergencies. I now have over $900 in the account. I had some vet
bills this year (about $100 each for Tiger and Amber) but I didn't
"raid" the emergency account for them. I figured that if I still had
the insurance, it wouldn't have paid those bills anyway.


-MIKE

I had their insurance for my two cats for one year. Then I decided it
would make more sense to put the $300 a year into a savings account for
vet emergencies. I now have over $900 in the account. I had some vet
bills this year (about $100 each for Tiger and Amber) but I didn't
"raid" the emergency account for them. I figured that if I still had
the insurance, it wouldn't have paid those bills anyway.


-MIKE

"Jerold Pearson" wrote in message
.103...

And more importantly, they now insist that EVERY charge
from my vet is over the customary cost for my area, and the premiums are
no
longer worth the paltry payouts they now provide. Whatever standards they
are now using to calculate customary charges where I live (in the San
Francisco Bay Area) are way out of whack with reality.

Jerold,

The only "accepted" fee reference guide is the "Veterinary Fee Reference"
manual published by AAHA. The guide lists fees charged for various services
in various regions of the country as well as national average fees.

The guide also lists the lowest, average, and highest fees charged for
various services and procedures in various regions of the country, as well
as the percentage of vets (surveyed) in each fee category.

This is not only a good fee reference source for insurance purposes, its
also a good guide for comparing your vet's fees with the fees charged by
other vets in your region. However, it may be a little too expensive
($100) to buy for only occasional use. If you need referenced fees to
dispute your insurance company's "customary charges", I'd be happy to quote
a few fees for you from mine.

Phil

"Jerold Pearson" wrote in message
.103...

And more importantly, they now insist that EVERY charge
from my vet is over the customary cost for my area, and the premiums are
no
longer worth the paltry payouts they now provide. Whatever standards they
are now using to calculate customary charges where I live (in the San
Francisco Bay Area) are way out of whack with reality.

Jerold,

The only "accepted" fee reference guide is the "Veterinary Fee Reference"
manual published by AAHA. The guide lists fees charged for various services
in various regions of the country as well as national average fees.

The guide also lists the lowest, average, and highest fees charged for
various services and procedures in various regions of the country, as well
as the percentage of vets (surveyed) in each fee category.

This is not only a good fee reference source for insurance purposes, its
also a good guide for comparing your vet's fees with the fees charged by
other vets in your region. However, it may be a little too expensive
($100) to buy for only occasional use. If you need referenced fees to
dispute your insurance company's "customary charges", I'd be happy to quote
a few fees for you from mine.

Phil

"Cthrd3" wrote in message
m...
Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around?
I want to get insurance for my 4 cats and it appears that this is a
good plan/ I tried calling and I can't get through. I tried getting a
quote from their website and it doesn't work.
I feel that VPI has too many restrictions that's why I'm considering
Premier.
BYW - I have 2 3yrs old twins, in good health and 2 6month old twins
in good health. We will get the kittens fixed in the coming months.
Routine check ups for 4 cats over the year can get costly.

If anybody knows about Premier, please post!
PLease post with your comments, too!

Thanks!

in UK I use petplan, not sure where you are from, I get a discount because
I have 3 cats... be careful when taking out insurances because say e.g. cat
breaks a leg, then they pay out fully the leg is no longer insured... also
watch out for if life long medication is needed, some only pay out for a
year! In uk we have lots of cheaper pet insurances that really are a waste
of time having.
--
Luv'n'Stuff
*~*SooZy*~*
New Pictures added every few days
http://community.webshots.com/user/ragdollcatsuk

"Cthrd3" wrote in message
m...
Does anybody know if Premier Pet Insurance is still around?
I want to get insurance for my 4 cats and it appears that this is a
good plan/ I tried calling and I can't get through. I tried getting a
quote from their website and it doesn't work.
I feel that VPI has too many restrictions that's why I'm considering
Premier.
BYW - I have 2 3yrs old twins, in good health and 2 6month old twins
in good health. We will get the kittens fixed in the coming months.
Routine check ups for 4 cats over the year can get costly.

If anybody knows about Premier, please post!
PLease post with your comments, too!

Thanks!

in UK I use petplan, not sure where you are from, I get a discount because
I have 3 cats... be careful when taking out insurances because say e.g. cat
breaks a leg, then they pay out fully the leg is no longer insured... also
watch out for if life long medication is needed, some only pay out for a
year! In uk we have lots of cheaper pet insurances that really are a waste
of time having.
--
Luv'n'Stuff
*~*SooZy*~*
New Pictures added every few days
http://community.webshots.com/user/ragdollcatsuk

"~*SooZy*~" wrote:

in UK I use petplan, not sure where you are from, I get a discount because
I have 3 cats... be careful when taking out insurances because say e.g. cat
breaks a leg, then they pay out fully the leg is no longer insured... also
watch out for if life long medication is needed, some only pay out for a
year! In uk we have lots of cheaper pet insurances that really are a waste
of time having.
--
That's a good point to consider when weighing the pros and cons of pet
insurance. Many people expect it to work the way health insurance for people
does, but at least in the U.S., pet insurance is governed by a different set of
rules.

There are also generally a long list of exclusions, and one should also
consider the maximum payouts per incident. For example, when we considered VPI,
we found that they would have paid out about $400 of the $1100 bill we had last
year for a cat hospitalized with a liver infection. If you subtract the $200
premium and $50 deductible per incident, it wouldn't have saved us much money.
And under that plan, they would never cover that type of medical condition
again.

On the other hand, if your cat develops cancer or another condition expensive
to treat, having pet insurance can help expand your treatment options.

Years ago when I checked into pet insurance the first time, it was also
customary to drop coverage once the cat got older--at age 10 or so. I'm not
sure this is still the case, but IMO that's when you would need insurance the
most, when the cat is older.