Embrace Pet Insurance Blog

What is an actuary?

Someone once told me that an actuary is a "pension engineer", which frightened the bejesus out of me as I was contemplating doing the actuarial science degree at the time (I did a pure mathematics one instead - much more exciting!)

So, if you are wondering what on earth an actuary is, here's a much better description from Society of Actuaries' What is an Actuary:

The future is full of uncertainty. Some of the events that can happen are undesirable. "Risk" is the possibility that an undesirable event will occur. Actuaries are experts in:

• evaluating the likelihood of future events,
• designing creative ways to reduce the likelihood of undesirable events,
• decreasing the impact of undesirable events that do occur.

The impact of undesirable events can be both emotional and financial. Reducing the likelihood of these events helps relieve emotional pain. But some events, such as death, cannot be totally avoided. So, reducing their financial impact is very important. Actuaries are the leading professionals in finding ways to manage risk. It takes a combination of strong analytical skills, business knowledge and understanding of human behavior to design and manage programs that control risk.

Wikipedia also has a good Actuary entry too.

As you can see, this description is extremely relevent for being a pet insurance actuary because there's really no other insurance that I know of that people get so emotional about. What do you think?

BTW, another tidbit about being an actuary - the actuarial profession has consistently been rated as one of the top five jobs in the United States according to Jobs Rated Almanac. To learn more about this, click here.

And finally, there are many actuary jokes since actuaries are stereotyped as being more boring than accountants (so we must be bad!) Here's one of my favorites to keep you amused:

What is the difference between an introverted actuary and an extroverted actuary? An introverted actuary stares at his own feet during a conversation, while an extroverted one stares at the other person's feet.

I left the male reference in the joke because there are still more men than women in the profession. Check out this site for more groaners.

The only full-time pet insurance actuary?

There aren't that many actuaries in the world, and there aren't that many people working on pet insurance full-time either, so when you put that together, you get only one actuary who works full-time on pet insurance - that's me (as far as I know).

I've been doing this for a while now and have not found anyone else to share this honor with anywhere. So please, if you know of any more actuaries who are working on pet insurance full-time anywhere in the world, get her/him to step forward (either through the comments or email me if you are shy) and reveal himself/herself. It would be fun to share war stories.

(that's me by the way, age 1)

New managed care organization for cats and dogs

Pethealth just announced "a strategic alliance agreement with USA Managed Care Organization, Inc., dba USA Pet Health Network, ("USA MCO"), the largest privately held self-developed Preferred Provider Organization in America. "

The idea is that they'll offer managed care services to U.S. pet owners for their dogs and cats. It's a bit odd since USA MCO is managed care for humans, not pets, so they'll be starting a veterinary network from scratch, which is no small feat.

Many vets I've spoken to are a bit leery of pet insurance just because they have seen what has happened to human medicine and insurance and the control the insurance companies have over the billing. Managed care for pets jumps right in that direction.

Midwest Pet, based in Wisconsin, was the only other company that we've seen sell policies using a preferred provider model but it failed when it could not develop the network needed to entice pet parents to sign up. I would think that an organization like USA MCO will do a much better job of that side of things.

I wonder what veterinarians will think about joining a network where their billing is controlled?

I wonder what pet parents will think about having to go to only those veterinarians in the network? Would they be interested if veterinary costs were lower than elsewhere?

What do you think?

What's happening in the US pet insurance world?

At the beginning of the year, I made some projections for 2006 in relation to pet-related small business trends and I've been thinking about those trends recently.

One projection I made was that at least one of the established companies would be acquired in 2006, possibly by a large insurance company trying to get into the pet insurance arena.. I've speculated in the past that it would be Veterinary Pet Insurance but when I was at the pet insurance conference in April, they vehemently assured me that they were not for sale.

So, I now cast my eye towards the Hartville Group, which sells pet health insurance policies in the US under the Pets Health Marketing brand. Given that they live down the road from us in Canton, Ohio (we're in Cleveland), we chat every now and then, but lately, they've been very very quiet.

I smell something going on - it's just not like them. We shall see.

Pet health story: Bronte, a Cocker Spaniel

Another moving pet story. I know so many friends just like Alexis here who spend whatever it takes to make it right for their pets.

Name:	Alexis S
Pet Name:	Bronte
Pet Age & Breed:	16 year old Cocker Spaniel
Pet Treatment:	Two patella surgeries before the age of 4. Fluid in the lungs after getting hit by a car at age 13. Cancer and eventual amputation of portion of front paw. Numerous "inner" eye lid problems and ear infections.
Pet Treatment Costs:	Literally 1000's of dollars over his lifetime. My clinic was very good to me and allowed me to set up a pay plan. My dog died just over a year ago and I will be paying for another 6 months.

Job opportunities - customer service with a twist

At Embrace Pet Insurance, we are looking for some good people to join us in our Embrace adventure. If you or anyone you know are based in the Cleveland area are interested in working for Embrace, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at hireme@embracepetinsurance.com.

Our first job posting is for Sales and Service Representatives - our Embracers.

Here's what we posted in the local newspaper:

CUSTOMER SALES & SERVICE REP:
ARE YOU AN EXPERIENCED CUSTOMER SALES & SERVICE REP WHO LOVES ANIMALS? Fast-growing, fun-loving pet insurer offering competitive salary ($25K - $35K), bonus, health benefits, and company ownership. Send resume to hireme@embracepetinsurance.com – use code WOOF01B

Do you like our code? And yes, we meant it when we said company ownership - "a piece of the pie" to be clearer.

Here's what Lea and Chris, two of our Embracers, say about their positions:

"While Embrace is still a company with a small staff, we’re headed for big things. We were attracted to Embrace for the opportunity to continue working with pets and the pet community. Having this goal in common has brought together a friendly and fun group of employees. But we’re also very professional and experienced in a range of pet care backgrounds.

Laura and Alex have worked hard over the past four years to build up a company that they want to succeed, and they’re set up their staff to succeed as well. We are always encouraged to think big, speak up, and pitch in. The training and support are thorough, and each staff member’s strong points are identified, in order to help them find the best position on the team. We are given encouragement and feedback daily, so that we can see the value of our contributions to Embrace. It’s good to know that we are recognized as an important asset to the company. On top of all of this, it’s nice to work for a technology based company that invests in progressive procedures, so that we can work efficiently.

We work hard along side of each other, and help our co-workers out when needed, so there’s flexibility in hours and there’s variety in the day to day projects. Our staff is treated well, and the benefits are very tangible. Each of us have a share in the company’s financial success, and we have both human and pet medical insurance available to us, as well as paid time off. It is clear that our company cares about us as staff, but also as real people.

Knowing that Embrace is going to be the trusted brand in pet insurance, and that we were there at the very beginning keeps our jobs exciting, and very fulfilling."

And they said all that without me standing right behind them :)

Seriously, send to your Cleveland-based friends if you think they'd be interested. The more, the merrier.

Introducing Sparkle and Punch

We love our new office but since it's a shared space with some other firms, we can't really bring our cats and dogs to work. The neighboring workers might not be so OK with Lily sitting on their keyboard or Tahlula curled up under the desk.

But we still wanted some animal friends around the place so Lea brought in her two dwarf hamsters, Sparkle (the white blur) and Punch (sitting in his dinner), who give us our animal fix when we need it.

We're thinking of doing a hamster cam but hamsters are nocturnal so you wouldn't see much during the day. It might be fun to see what antics they get up to when we're all out of the office. We shall see...