We enjoyed our interview with Dr. Bobbi Kotrba, Veterinarian at the Craven Animal Hospital. It’s being aired on New Bern’s News Talk Radio WNOS 107.5 and 1450AM. Listen to Laura Johnson’s interview with Dr. Bobbi here:
Dr. Bobbi Kotrba gave us some insight and advice regarding pet insurance. Here’s what she had to say:
Pet insurance is an up and coming thing in the animal world for pet owners. It works a little bit differently than your own health insurance. You pay a premium depending on the amount of coverage that you want; whether you want just accident care, just cancer care, or a total package wellness care.
It depends on which company that you go with as to what you’re going to pay as far as your premium. But they all work where you pay your veterinarian up front and then you present them with a bill and they reimburse the owner. So it’s not thru the veterinarian that they’re done, but they can make the difference between owners treating their pet or not treating their pet knowing that they’re going to get paid back that money that they invest in them.
Most of the companies work by; you pay a down payment or percentage 20% co-pay and then they pay a 100% or 80% after that to the maximum amount. So it ends up working out to be a really good deal in most cases, especially for those unexpected expenses.
I always use for an example that I have pet insurance on my own pet. He’s an older dog and we recently had to make the decision to take him to a specialty practice to get some more extensive testing done and the decision to do a couple of thousand dollars worth of work on him is easier to make knowing that I’m going to be reimbursed for this and I’m going to provide him with the best care possible because I’m taking out that financial decision for him.
So it really is a factor, especially if you get pet insurance at a young age.
Applying for the insurance is easy and there are many, many different companies out there, but your veterinarian will be able to help you decide which companies work best for you and you can also do some research yourself online as to what companies are available and which policies will work best for you.
For more information, please visit the Craven Animal Hospital at 1003 Hwy 70E, call 252-637-4541 or check out their website and Facebook page.
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Wendy Card