Pet health insurance companies hope that one-day pet owners in the United States will catch up with European pet owners. A recent survey of US pet owners found that about three percent have purchased health insurance for their pets. A veterinarian interviewed after the survey was stunned by the results. She felt the survey was generous. She thinks less than one percent of her patients have health insurance.
In Europe, about twenty-five percent of all pet owners have health insurance for their pets. The numbers are even higher in Sweden, where around 50% of pet owners use health insurance to help pay for their pet's medical costs.
Some experts believe that the reason so many pet owners in the UK have pet health insurance is because of a law passed in 1971. In the UK, dog owners are liable for any accident for their animal is found responsible. This means that if a dog dashes into traffic and causes a seven-car pile-up, the dog's owner must pay for all damages. Unwilling to dip into their own funds to cover their pet's mishaps, pet owners in the UK take out so-called 'third-party insurance. Third-party insurance is simply civil liability insurance specially designed for pet owners.
Many US pet owners are unaware that similar pet liability insurance plans exist in the United States. Pet owners who wish to purchase pet liability insurance to cover any damage their pet may be responsible for should be aware that certain dog breeds are listed as high-risk cases and owners will be required to pay higher insurance policies.
It's unclear why more pet owners in the United States aren't purchasing pet health insurance. One possibility is that pet owners simply don't understand how expensive pet healthcare is. Fifteen minutes spent in a veterinarian's office can sometimes cost up to a hundred dollars.
When pet owner has to deal with the cost of emergency surgery or has to take their pet to a teaching hospital for treatment, they find themselves wishing they had enough to pay for the cost. Huge vet bill. Too often, pet owners who find themselves in an emergency situation are forced to euthanize their beloved animal for economic reasons.
Pet owners who live in town probably think they don't need to worry about something like pet health insurance because they can't predict when they'll need it. Their pets live indoors, what could happen to them? What these pet owners don't realize is that the disease can sometimes hit pets harder because their immune systems haven't had a chance to develop resistance.
Farmers and ranchers have a very good idea of how quickly accidents happen and how much veterinary care costs. Most of them would like to insure the health of their pets, but they just don't have enough money to pay the monthly premiums. Herders and farmers also tend to have a working knowledge of disease and injury that allows them to care for their animals themselves.