When I talk to people about pet health insurance, I'm often asked why pet insurance is more important now that before. To me, there are a couple of forces at work: the increasing cost of veterinary care and the growing presence of the pet in the family (not more cats or dogs in the family but they are a bigger part of the family than ever before).
The costs are growing because vets can do more for your cats and dogs than ever before. But, pet owners pay the increased costs because their pets are family to them. To highlight this trend, check out this article in CNN Money. Here's an interesting snippet for you, which highlights what I'm always talking about:
The pet health care industry is driven by free-spending empty nesters who spend money on pets instead of children, according to analysts. Some of them are baby boomers whose kids have left the house, while others are young professionals without children. Many of these pet owners treat their animals as humans. The pet health care industry, which closely trails human care in levels of technological advancement, is becoming more and more capable of accommodating pet owners seeking treatment for life-threatening maladies.
"I think 10 years ago you couldn't even get this kind of care," said Daniels, the William Blair analyst. "If you had a dog with a tumor, they used to just let the tumor grow and put the dog to sleep. But the human-animal bond is growing."
Have you ever been faced with a choice of costly treatment or putting your dog or cat down?
