December 5, 2023 • 46 mins
Would you be able to cover a $5,000 emergency vet bill today?
In this episode, Amy Castro talks with Kristin Lynch, Executive Director of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), about how pet insurance can help protect both your finances and your pet's life when unexpected medical costs arise.
They explain the types of coverage available, how pricing varies based on species, breed, and age, and why enrolling early matters.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL DISCOVER:
- What pet insurance covers and what it doesn’t
- Why so many pet parents delay coverage until it’s too late
- How to find a plan that fits your pet and your budget
SHOUTOUTS IN THIS EPISODE:
NAPHIA Pet Insurance Finder
USAA Pet Insurance
P.S. You may hear us refer to the show as Starlight Pet Talk in this episode. That was our original name. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Castro (00:00):
Have you ever wondered what you would do if
your pet was sick or injured andyou couldn't afford their
treatment?
Well, unfortunately, many, manypet parents are faced with that
situation every single day.
So much so that there's now aterm that I'm hearing a lot
called economic euthanasia.
Basically, that means that thepet parent chooses to euthanize
their pet primarily because offinancial reasons.
(00:22):
I know I never want to be inthat situation and I don't want
you to be either.
Today's episode is going toshare the number one thing that
you can do to avoid findingyourself in this situation, so
stay tuned.
You're listening to StarlightPet Talk, a podcast for pet
parents who want the best petcare advice from cat experts,
dog trainers, veterinarians andother top pet professionals who
(00:45):
will help you live your verybest life with your pets.
We also share inspiring rescueand adoption stories from people
who've taken their love of petsto the next level by getting
involved in animal welfare.
My name is Amy Castro and I'mthe founder and president of
Starlight Outreach and Rescueand a columnist for Pet Age
Magazine.
I've rescued thousands ofanimals and helped people just
(01:06):
like you find the right pet fortheir family.
My mission is to help petparents learn all the ways that
they can care for, live with andeven have fun with their pets
so they can live their very bestlives and their pets can too.
Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk.
I'm your host, amy Castro, andour subject today is such an
important one that I'm going totell you right up front that I
(01:29):
want you to share this with allof your friends and family that
have pets.
My guest today is Kristin Lynch,and she has been the executive
director of NAFIA, which is theNorth American Pet Health
Insurance Association, for about12 years now, and Kristin
started in this position as apart-time person and it has
grown into a full-time positionas the industry has grown and
(01:52):
evolved, and I know I have seenthat just in my experience.
When I first started in workingin veterinary medicine as a vet
assistant, there was no suchthing as health insurance, and
then, when my years went on, acouple of companies popped up,
but it still wasn't somethingthat people were using.
But today, I hope at the end ofthis episode, we have convinced
every pet parent out there toinvestigate it for themselves
(02:14):
and their pets, for a variety ofreasons that we're going to
touch on.
So, kristin, thank you so muchfor making the time to be here
with me today.
Kristen Lynch (02:21):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited to talk toyou.
Amy Castro (02:24):
Thank you.
So, kristin, tell us what NAFIAdoes.
Kristen Lynch (02:29):
So NAFIA is a trade association and I mean our
first mission is to educatepeople about pet insurance what
it is and, probably moreimportantly, what it isn't, what
people shouldn't expect andthen what they should expect
from it.
And when I say educate people,I mean pet owners, but we also
(02:52):
mean the veterinary profession,folks who work in the veterinary
profession that aren't vets,but you run the practices and do
a lot of the work behind thescenes.
We speak to other organizationsin the animal health community
and we also try to work withregulators and legislators to
explain to them what petinsurance is, because it's a
(03:13):
little bit of a mixed breed ofcoverage.
It's got the health piece,which is really important,
because it's not life insurance,it's not liability insurance
for pets.
It really is about coveringhealth care for your pet.
But because the law sees petsas property, it also is property
and casualty insurance, so itoperates sort of between the two
(03:36):
lines of those types ofcoverage.
Amy Castro (03:39):
And that's interesting.
But yet another thing I didn'tknow about pet insurance has it
kind of always been that way, orhas that been part of the
evolution of pet insurance?
Kristen Lynch (03:49):
Yeah, so when it was first launched in the US I
think it was around the late 80sand it was a company called
Veterinary Pet Insurance thatlater became nationwide the very
first pet that was ever insuredwas actually Lassie, the
television dog, and it has grownpretty steadily since then.
(04:09):
But yes, it has always been.
Pets were deemed as propertyunder the law and so the
coverage got treated that wayfrom a regulatory perspective.
Immediately and, as you couldguess, because Lassie was in
California and that's where thehome office of that particular
company was based that was thefirst state that started
(04:32):
offering it, but it rolled outacross the country very quickly
and I think up until thepandemic our growth has been
pretty steady as an industry.
We've had new companies comingon, but it's really been the
past three, four years that thebig insurance companies that
offer home and auto and otherkinds of personal lines of
(04:53):
coverage have taken an interestin the product and said, first
of all, we want to add this toour lines of business because it
makes sense, but also, veryclearly, their customers love
and care about pets and theyrecognize that it's sort of a
companion product for a lot ofthe other coverage they offer.
(05:13):
It makes good sense to have itin their bundle of coverage.
Amy Castro (05:17):
When I was logging on because I have USAA insurance
as a former military person andI could swear I saw the other
day that they're offering petinsurance and I was very
surprised by that.
Kristen Lynch (05:27):
Yeah, when they first looked at it they
approached the association andthat's often what happens.
So there's a couple ofdifferent ways that coverage is
offered.
So there are underwriters thatsort of take the risk of the
coverage, and you'll see that inalmost any kind of coverage.
There are brands that arespecific to pet and then there
are brands that have evolved outof other property and casualty
(05:52):
lines.
So that's where you start tosee the big companies.
And then there's sort of awhite label type of coverage and
it's no different from anyother coverage.
But what it is is that a brandwill see like a USAA or maybe
thinking like a financialcompany or another.
Aspca is a good example of that,where they say, hey, this is
(06:14):
something we want to be able todeliver to our members or our
customers or our shareholders orour employees, and we're going
to partner with a provider todeliver that and we're going to
shape it under our brand andoffer services and everything
that fit our brand.
And so it's sort of offeredthose different ways and they're
(06:37):
all the same.
It doesn't mean I'm not sayingthe coverage is exactly the same
, but the quality of coverage,the dependability of the company
, the way it's underwritten theway it's regulated.
It's always the safe, secureand trusted.
Amy Castro (06:52):
That's good to know.
And when you're looking at sucha wide variety of organizations
that are offering the insuranceand we're going to get to the
issue of kind of picking throughsome of that and how to make
decisions, because the decisionis going to be different for
each pet parent.
But before we get into that,why would you say because I know
what my answer would be but whydo you think it's so important
(07:15):
that pet parents have petinsurance these days?
Kristen Lynch (07:18):
Yeah, I think the first thing is that since the
pandemic, I think we havereached a pivotal state of the
way we view our pets In thehuman health and in the animal
health world.
There's sort of these conceptsof the relationship between us
and pets and the benefits ofthat, and one of the things that
you'll hear people refer tomore and more is what they call
(07:41):
the human-animal bond.
There's actually anorganization, a really good one
out of Washington called Habri,that is doing some amazing work
in that space and advocating forthe value of that for people
and their pets, so that Ibelieve that bond we've been
waiting for that to reach thissort of really unique state.
(08:03):
And I think the pandemic wassort of that turning point for
us as a society, where we wereat home, we were living
alongside our pets every day.
We weren't leaving them andthen coming back and spending a
couple of hours with them atnight and then going to bed.
We were playing with them.
They came with us out for walks.
(08:23):
I know people who bought petsfor their pet during that time.
Me too, fluffy needs a friend,so we're going to get one, and I
think it changed the way we seethem and the way that we care
for them and the way that wevalue them.
And I think that is sort ofthat big turning point that
(08:43):
we've seen and that is impactingthe way we want to care for
them.
And we are pet families now.
We are not pet owners, we'renot pet parents so much as one
person and a pet is still afamily and that's how you view
your pet and I think if you viewyour pet and value your pet
that way, it's important for youto be able to go gee, not only
(09:06):
can I feed my pet today, but canI care for them?
If something happens and it does, it always does.
Just like with people, pets getsick and their lives,
unfortunately, are shorter andmore concentrated.
So those things happen in adecade versus over 50, 60, 70
years.
So it's more concentrated in apet.
(09:27):
So I think if you love your pet, if you don't have insurance,
you have to make sure that youhave that financial ability to
be proactive and take care ofthem the way you would take care
of another family member.
Amy Castro (09:40):
Yeah, I mean, that's so true and that's something
that we face in our rescue andstarlight outreach and rescue
and lots of rescues is Peoplewanting to.
They're contacting us to giveup their pets for economic
reasons.
You know they're moving, theycan't afford this, they can't
afford that.
But probably the most sadsituation is when I've got
somebody that calls me in tearsbecause their animal Got
(10:01):
heartworm, their animal got outthe front door and got hit by a
car and they can't afford to paythe thousands of dollars for
treatment, for whatever it mightbe, and so, because they want
their animal to have a chance atlife, they would rather give it
up to us than to do.
What a lot of pet parents areforced to do is to make Decision
(10:22):
to euthanize a pet on afinancial basis.
You know the pet pet could besaved, but we're using this term
a lot in nowadays Economiceuthanasia.
When you've got a situationwhere somebody is primarily
euthanizing their pet Forfinancial reasons, they just
can't afford to pay to fixwhatever is going on with their
pet and it's tragic and sad whenyou've got somebody that loves
(10:43):
their pet and is a good petowner and it's just this one
thing, it's the financial.
That is just they can't swingit.
Kristen Lynch (10:51):
You're right.
Yeah, the Funny.
You say that it.
People are hearing that termnow, but it's actually the
reason that a veterinarianstarted the very first pet
insurance company in the US.
He was a vet.
He saw that happen in hispractice.
He I think he tells the storyof you know a family, a child,
saying to him why do we have todo this?
(11:12):
You know, and I've read numbersthey probably have changed now
but because of inflation andthings like that.
But they're saying thatthreshold is around $600 is the
threshold where someone willconsider euthanasia Because they
can't afford to do it.
And I have to think thatthere's got to be some impact on
(11:32):
the veterinary practice as well, because people are
surrendering pets they can'ttreat to them.
These are people who, yes, theyrun a business in that, but
they're also called to care forpets and they're having to Make
those decisions themselves ortake on the cost of treating
pets.
They're seriously ill,seriously injured, and then that
(11:54):
reflects in the cost of carefor all of us, right?
Amy Castro (11:58):
Yeah, absolutely, and I work closely with my
veterinarian who who helps uswith the rescue, but also, you
know, with with otherveterinarians in the area and in
in my regular work, and Peopledon't realize what the
veterinarians and thetechnicians go through when
they're on the other side ofthat.
(12:18):
You know, when they get accused, all you care about is money
and it's like you know, I can't.
People don't understand that ifthey Did everything for free,
then they wouldn't be inbusiness.
I mean, it's like I can't helpyour pet if I'm not able to keep
my business afloat and pay myemployees.
Kristen Lynch (12:35):
So you know another thing in this in this
sort of economic environment youyou were talking about, you
know why the growth of Coverageand what's happened with pet
insurance in recent yearsInflation is an increasingly
great concern for every family,for every household, and again,
when I say families, that's aperson and a pet to me.
So I think that what I'mreading Veterinarians are facing
(12:59):
incredible inflation and we weforget to think about that.
So you know, does the cost ofcoverage go up?
It goes up with the cost ofcare, and that cost of care is
not about making money all thetime.
That is the cost of labequipment.
I read something.
It's gone up like I don't know,30, 40 percent.
(13:20):
You're seeing, you know, 20, 30year, 20 or 30 percent
increases year over year, andthen sometimes there's delays in
the rates getting approved atthe state level for pet
insurance companies and thenthose Increases get compounded.
So all of a sudden there's abig jump in the cost, right, but
(13:42):
but if you think about it, thatcost of coverage, those rate
increases, are based on whatthat company Experienced from a
claims perspective the yearbefore.
They're not making thosenumbers up out of the blue and
they can't raise rates Withoutgoing to the states and making a
case, state by state, for whythe cost is what it is, and that
(14:06):
base is based on the market.
It's based on veterinary costs,it's based on the cost of
actually providing the insuranceto people and what people are
actually claiming for.
In that previous year.
Amy Castro (14:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's gotta be obviously a huge piece
of it.
And you know, it reminds mewhen you talk about inflation
and you had mentioned earlierthat the threshold for a lot of
people To not be able to affordcare is $600.
And now, granted, as a rescueperson, my vet bills are
thousands of dollars a month,but $600 is not a lot in the
(14:38):
grand scheme of things.
I mean, that's an.
That's probably an exam forx-rays, some medication, you
know, maybe some type of minorprocedure.
It's not major orthopedicsurgery, or my dog got hit by a
car kind of thing, or my dog hascancer and needs chemotherapy.
Kristen Lynch (14:53):
That's a visit to the vet for yeah, you know, in
many instances when we talkabout and whenever I hear people
talk about insurance, theyalways think of sort of
catastrophic Accidents.
But I think that illness is amuch greater Concern.
The costs are greater becausethey happen very quickly and
they escalate.
So, you know, you take your petin for something that seems
(15:16):
minor, they do the basic things.
A couple of days later they'renot getting better, they do a
little more and they do it basedon the economy of that too
right, they start with thethings that they think are less
serious and they hope thatthat's what they are.
But they go up and I think we'realso starting to see that the
(15:36):
reason that these great big vetbills are coming in is that
people have delayed taking theirpet to the vet in the first
place because of financialreasons or Because we just don't
want to see those things and wedon't want to have to pay them
so and we don't want the pet tobe sick.
So we're kind of dealing with alittle bit of denial and we put
them off, and we put them offand then, you know, the vet
(15:59):
recommends some things to us andwe only do some of them Because
that felt a little expensive,or we didn't want to have to pay
for those pills, or the dogdidn't like them, so we didn't.
We make sure that they tookthem, and then it gets worse,
and it gets worse, and then it'scompounded, right?
So you end up with a veryserious illness and, yes, a
great big bill that probablycould have been prevented had we
(16:21):
Been more proactive at thebeginning.
Okay, you know from working in apractice, you also know that
pets love us and they want toprotect us and they mask a lot
of the things that they'refeeling and Experiencing until
they can't anymore.
So you know, they go and hideor they wag their tail and you
think, oh, they're fine, right.
And then all of a sudden, bang,they're not, and right, serious
(16:44):
, and you have to take them in.
Amy Castro (16:46):
Yeah, kind of seemingly sneaks up on you, but
in reality it's been there for awhile.
Kristen Lynch (16:50):
I don't have an insurance on one of mine either,
and because it wasn't mydecision, we I met my now
husband.
His pet wasn't insured.
He didn't even know petinsurance existed.
So I have the comparison of twopets, one of which is getting
very old and of course thosethings are starting to happen
all the time and he's alwayssurprised oh, it's a thousand
(17:12):
dollars.
Oh, but you know you pay thosethings out for other things in
your life and this is the petyou love.
So I always find it reallyinteresting how people kind of
straddle those love andfinancial decisions.
And you wouldn't make thosedecisions around another family
member that way and you know weneed to not make those decisions
(17:36):
around our pets that way.
We need to make their emotionaldecisions and they're
challenging and you'restraddling the financial and the
economical impact on your homeand your life.
And pet insurance is a proactivetool.
It's not a reactive tool.
It's not like credit rightwhere you sure there's lots of
credit out there for everyonethere's doesn't need to be pet
(17:59):
credit.
It can be any kind of credit.
But we live month to month.
We are not a nation of savers,so we live month to month.
If we make a lot of money.
We have that money plannedevery month.
It's accounted for, it's goingtowards our kids university,
it's going towards, you know,fixing our roof or our next
vacation or our braces, or youknow those things.
(18:21):
Our mortgage, our car payments.
Those are the basics.
But when something happens, youneed the safety net and knowing
you have that coverage empowersyou to make different decisions
, make them quicker, be moreproactive about how you're going
to treat your pet.
It gives you that confidencethat you can do those things and
(18:42):
I think that's a big reason whypeople should think about
getting it and get it when theirpet's young, before the cost
has gone up, because your petalready has pre-existing
conditions and, just like us, aswe age, we have increasing risk
of getting ill and having majorillnesses and having accidents.
Amy Castro (19:02):
So yeah, and we pay accordingly.
It's more expensive.
So it's the same, like you say,with our pets.
You wait until something'swrong and either A it might not
be covered at all or it's goingto cost you, and that actually
you know when you said somethingabout you know not taking our
pets in because we don't want to, we don't want to pay the $50,
(19:22):
$100 for this or that, and so wejust kind of avoid it.
I have found that the peoplethat I know that have pet
insurance do the routine, theannuals that they're supposed to
be doing to, you know, headthings off at the past for lack
of a better term or to maintaintheir pet's health, instead of
trying to fix their pet's health, because that's one of the
benefits of having that petinsurance is that that routine
(19:45):
stuff is covered in some form orfashion.
Kristen Lynch (19:48):
Yeah, in some cases it's covered, in some
cases it's not.
But what it also does is itmeans that you don't have some
big catastrophic bill thatprevents you from doing the
preventive things right.
So there is wellness availablefor in a lot of forms.
There is a pet insuranceversion of wellness.
Many companies are offeringthat now and then, as you know,
(20:10):
there are other wellnessprograms.
For me, wellness means I'm doingthe expected things right, I'm
being proactive about spay orneuter, I'm doing flea and tick,
I'm doing my vaccinations everyyear and those types of things,
and I'm planning out thosecosts.
I'm sort of amortizing thosecosts so that I don't get hit
with them all at one time.
(20:31):
And then the actual pet healthinsurance piece is for the
unexpected, which is alwayssurprising to me, because of
course they're going to get sick, of course there's going to be
injuries and accidents.
It's a life.
And if they don't, you'rereally lucky, right, but be
prepared for not being lucky.
And then if you have paid outthat, it doesn't matter about
(20:51):
the return on investment, it'sthe peace of mind and you don't
have to worry about it, right?
And that is another piece thatso many people come to me and
say is it worth it?
And they do the calculationsWell, I don't not ensure my
house, right.
I don't not ensure my car andthen go at the end of it.
I didn't have an accident or myhouse didn't burn down, so was
(21:12):
it worth it?
Did I get my return oninvestment?
This is your pet.
Stop thinking about it likethat.
It's insurance.
It's not an investment.
It is a proactive financialtool that is about mitigating
risk and your pet it'sprotecting their health and it's
making sure that you canprovide for that throughout
their life.
Amy Castro (21:32):
Yeah, definitely so is pet insurance.
Is it the same across thecountry, like if I go with a
certain company, let's say, andI live in Maine, is it going to
cover the same things as it doesin Texas or California, or does
it?
You mentioned before that itsounds like a lot of things are
regulated and go through thestate.
Kristen Lynch (21:51):
Yeah, so it's not like some forms of mandatory
coverage where it has to be thesame everywhere and in in
reality, no insurance is thesame in every state because
insurance law and consumer lawand other types of laws vary
from state to state.
But there is a movement in thepet insurance world right now.
It's called a model law thatwas passed by the National
(22:15):
Association of InsuranceCommissioners two years ago and
that model law is rolling outacross the country so that
states do adopt a law for petinsurance and it can be more
unified across all the states.
So, that said, every state hastheir flavor, right.
Some states, for example,there's consumer protections
(22:38):
like free look.
In California it's 30 days.
Some states might say we wantit to be 15, some might make it
shorter, some might not believein a free look.
So free look is basically your,your ability to return the
coverage if you haven't used itin that first 30 days and have a
chance to change your mind orget different coverage or or
(22:59):
whatever.
But so those types of thingscan change and but typically a
company designs their coverageand then they file that coverage
in each state with certainrates and that gets approved by
the Department of Insurance inthat state and then that's what
they sell it for, and it'smostly sold online and virtually
(23:22):
so in a customer center.
So people are talking to thecompany.
It feels the same doesn'tmatter where they are, and if
they happen to move from onestate to another, that may
slightly change the policy inthe next year when it renews,
but for the most part you'regoing to experience the same
coverage across the country.
Amy Castro (23:42):
Yeah, and the, the categories or the things that
are covered, because you hadmentioned the idea of there's
the health piece and thenthere's the, the wellness piece.
Yeah, what are some of thosebuckets that people might want
to be aware of?
As as to, you know, notnecessarily choosing a
particular company, but when I'mtrying to make a decision as to
, okay, I know my pet, I knowthis situation, I know how I
(24:06):
want my pet to be cared for, Iknow what support or help I
might need from an insurance,what, what are the buckets that
I might be looking at?
Kristen Lynch (24:14):
so I mean the two big types of coverage.
The main coverage is accidentand illness combined and
accident only.
And you know, when I first gotinto pet insurance someone pet
insurance first got into themarketplace, everyone thought of
accidents because when we weregrowing up we lost our pets to
accidents.
We didn't know they hadillnesses, because they weren't
(24:35):
being diagnosed and things likethat.
So you know, we always thoughtabout, oh, my pet got hit by a
car or like an accident wouldtake a pet right.
But illness is far more likelyand because pets are living
longer, because veterinary careis following human care in terms
of the sophistication and whatthey can do for your pets, and
(24:56):
we want our pets to live longer,healthier lives, so I think
that's like something like 98 or99% of coverage now is accident
and illness combined.
So there's some other thingsthat people should think about
you mentioned, you know, I knowmy pet.
But every breed you know,whether your dog is large or
small, whether it's a mixedbreed or not, is prone to
(25:18):
certain conditions.
You can talk to your vetpractice and say you know what
are some of the conditions thatare likely for my pet that I
should be watching for, and alot of.
That is a good thing to do in afirst visit with your practice.
Ask them and what are the coststo care for those type of
things?
And then the next piece is tosay what am I likely to need?
(25:40):
You know, for some people it's,as I said, month to month.
They don't necessarily have asuper fixed income or they have
funds that they can pull fromother things that are
discretionary, whereas otherpeople have such a tight budget
they don't have that flexibilityand so they they need a
different kind of coverage.
There are a couple of differentways that benefits are paid out
(26:01):
.
So sometimes it's a great bigbucket.
If you're looking at thecompanies, it's a lifetime
coverage, or maybe $100,000 foryour pet's life, and you have
this big bucket to draw from nomatter what, and of course that
would be more expensive becauseit's really comprehensive and
it's a large amount.
Others is you have what arecalled per condition limits and
those are.
(26:21):
So if they have diabetes, youhave $2,000 or $5,000 and you
have that pocket or an envelope,almost that you can draw on
until that is used up.
And then there are renewablelimits where they renew each
year.
So, for example, my dog, I havecoverage, that is, I think it's
$5,000 per condition and thosecondition amounts renew every
(26:45):
year.
And that's because I have alarge standard poodle.
I talked to my vet and saidwhat are some of the things that
can happen to that dog?
And when they do happen,they're big, they're fast and
they're expensive.
Right, he had an ear condition.
I think it cost me like earinfection cost me like $3,000 in
the first couple of years ofhis life.
It took almost a year to getrid of it.
(27:06):
He's fine.
He has nothing else now.
But thank goodness I had thatcoverage, because who has three
grand on a month-to-month basisto pay for that?
And it was just a recurringamount of him trying different
things and taking him back andthen other things popping up
because of that condition.
So for me it was.
I wanted renewable coverageevery year.
(27:29):
It kind of is like a reset andI knew I needed a larger amount.
If you have a small dog, youtalk to your vet and they say
you know what, not as expensiveto treat, not as you know, if we
have to put your pet under forsurgery, we don't have to use as
much anesthesia.
The medicine is cheaper, it'ssmaller, they take less of it.
(27:49):
So those types of things arealso considerations, right, and
they tend to live longer.
So you get it early and you getsomething that you can keep
over their whole lifetime,whereas the larger breed dogs
tend to not live as long andthose kinds of costs come
earlier and those are sadrealities.
But as a pet owner, when youpick a pet and you love a breed
(28:11):
and or you have a mixed breedand you know that it has sort of
the it might be a Labradoodle,it might be a Terrier,
poodlecross or something it'slikely to have some of the
predispositions of both of thebreeds that you're getting in
that mix, right, if you knowthat I think almost every rescue
dog has some Husky and some LabRight, pretty true, and so
(28:37):
those conditions are likely, youknow, knees, hips, those types
of things Hot spots, big dogs ingeneral too.
Amy Castro (28:45):
I mean it's just, you know, the bigger the dog,
the more likely some of thoseissues can be.
And I think it's so importantthat you mention you know,
because there's two pieces towhat you said that I want to
make sure everybody really heardis number one, you know, to
have those conversations withyour veterinarian and to really
dig in and the whole team, yeah,yeah.
(29:05):
And it is so important to do itearly.
No, not only because I'massuming and you can tell me I
get a new puppy or I get a newdog or whatever the case may be
that I get the insurance rightaway, versus waiting until I
start realizing, oh, this dog'scost me a lot of money because
it's got a lot of problems withthis or that.
Why is it so important to dothat early?
(29:26):
It's like I know that it's gotto be the cost for one thing,
but is it the coverage as well?
Kristen Lynch (29:31):
Yeah.
So when coverage isunderwritten, when you're
enrolled, a pet insurancecompany takes three to four
things.
There's three things, butthey're like technically four.
First of all, is it a dog or acat?
So that's sort of the obviousone.
And then the next is what isthe breed?
Right, and they know from theirown insurance claims over many
(29:53):
years what the risk of aparticular breed is.
Some of them are very prone tocertain conditions, so all that
is factored in and they knowthat it's calculated at the time
you enroll.
And then the age of the pet,obviously, and we talked about
that just because as we agewe're more prone to having
diabetes, heart disease, dentalissues, all of those things.
(30:15):
So same with pets, and again,that happens in a much tighter
time period than it does inhuman health.
And then the last piece, whichis not something people
typically think about, is yourpostal code.
And that's because the cost ofveterinary care varies depending
on where you live.
So if you're in downtownManhattan, you can bet that the
cost there is going to be higherthan it is going to be in the
(30:38):
middle of Ohio or something likethat.
So they kind of have thosepostal codes worked out inside
of the insurance underwriter.
They know the cost of careacross the country because they
have millions of pets insuredand they know what those claims
are going to cost.
And so that's the factor.
If you move, and you move to aplace that's less expensive,
(30:59):
over the next year you might seesome changes in your coverage.
It may not go up the wayinflation does in another place
because the place you've movedmight be less expensive to treat
that particular pet.
So again, what you get is yourpremium is reflective of what
the insurance company knows isgoing to be the cost to treat
(31:20):
your pet and the likelihood thatthat pet is going to become ill
or injured in their lifetime.
Amy Castro (31:24):
Right, which is pretty much what all insurance
is based on.
I mean it's that risk benefitor not risk benefit, but the
risk analysis that goes alongwith it.
You had mentioned that part ofit is your pets breed.
So in rescue the question weget all the time with dogs is
what is it?
It's like I don't know.
I mean I, we don't DNA testevery dog that comes in.
(31:46):
So what is a pet parent to doin that instance when I, you
know it's great if I know astandard putals a stand up.
Who do a doberman is a doberman.
But I mean I've got a friendthat got a golden retriever from
a golden retriever rescue and Iwould swear it's a golden
retriever, not a show qualitygolden retriever.
Has no golden retriever in theDNA, theoretical and again, is
that accurate?
(32:07):
I don't know.
But what do you do in thoseinstances?
Do you have to DNA test yourpet to tell him the breed?
Kristen Lynch (32:13):
or do you know they're?
They have when you're enrolling.
There's sort of a drop downmenu or you can talk it through
with the customer rep thatyou're talking to, but there's
mixed breed and, if you have noidea and it looks like a whole
bunch of things, there's justmixed breed, right?
Amy Castro (32:30):
Yeah, they don't have mine's 57, but yeah right
and I'm assuming that might bebetter to choose that than to
guess a breed.
I would agree because you mightbe, you know, you might be
throwing in something that maynot even, like I said, the
golden retriever no goldenretriever in that dog, but if
you saw it you probably thinkit's a golden retriever to you.
I was surprised exactly.
Kristen Lynch (32:50):
Just because it looks like that doesn't mean
that's what it is, so yeah.
Amy Castro (32:54):
And I'm not sure, just showing more and more that
pets that are mixed breeds arealso less prone to certain
conditions what do you think aresome of the things, and we may
I think we've hit on some ofthem, but I just want to make
sure we didn't miss anythingthat pet parents are kind of
surprised about when it comes toinsurance either.
You know, maybe it's thingslike oh, I thought it would have
covered that and I maybe I justdidn't read the fine print or I
(33:15):
didn't realize that was one ofmy benefits.
Is any anything in particular?
Kristen Lynch (33:19):
Yeah well, so first of all, insurance
companies are pretty friendly.
They have customer centers.
They're very geared aroundbeing transparent, answering
questions.
Most people don't read theircoverage.
Most policies today are writtenin plain language.
They'll say these things arecovered and they'll say these
things are not covered.
So one of the things I say topeople is get your pet insured
(33:41):
quickly and as young as possibledoesn't mean that if they're a
little older you can't stillcover them, and you can, but you
know that the cost is going tostart lower.
It may go up a bit as the petages and there are other things
that do go up, like they.
There are deductibles and thedeductibles can go up because
the likelihood of claiming ishigh.
(34:01):
And what?
And I also remind people thatone of the unique pieces of pet
insurance is its insurance thatyou use, people claim all the
time.
It's not like your carinsurance or house insurance
where you avoid claiming yeah,it's like you will claim if you
don't have to, yeah and if youdon't use it, you're super lucky
and you should feel really goodabout that.
You shouldn't go G?
Should I cancel my coveragebecause I've been super lucky,
(34:24):
right that's.
Amy Castro (34:25):
That's saying I'll stop wearing my seat belt
because I've been super luckyand not had a right, because I
haven't been in an accidentexactly.
Kristen Lynch (34:31):
But people do funny things so.
So we do that stuff and youknow what.
Look at and talk to a couple ofdifferent companies, see what
feels comfortable for you, tryon a few things.
It's just a couple ofconversations.
It's not super complicated, butwe make it complicated, you
know.
We Make charts and we comparethings, get the one that feels
right for you.
If your pet hasn't developed apreexisting condition, you can
(34:54):
continue to look, but you knowyou have that coverage in place,
you're safe.
Good point, so make a decisionquickly.
I know so many people that haveput it off and put it off and
said, oh yeah, every time, youknow, because I work in the
industry, they, theyautomatically say to me oh, you
know, I'm gonna get thatcoverage, and they don't.
And then they're Seriousillness and they say to me I
(35:15):
wish I had coverage.
And then the next time theyhave a pet they get the coverage
right away.
Right, and that's what we'reseeing, unfortunately, because
pets live shorter lives and weknow we're gonna have more than
one pet in our lifetime,sometimes at the same time.
It's that next generation thatends up getting insured.
Because it's just like my ownhousehold my pet is insured my
(35:35):
husband's pet isn't, because hedidn't know about it at the time
.
That yeah so, yeah.
So people need to really kindof think about those things
quickly, make a decision fairlyquickly.
You can always cancel thecoverage and get a different
coverage.
But get it in place and mosttimes you're gonna stick with it
because you're gonna use it andit's worth it to you.
Amy Castro (35:57):
Does not have tools on your website that will help a
parent, because people aregonna research, no matter how
much you tell him, you know,don't go crazy over the research
.
But I don't know that as a petparent.
If I just said to myself, okay,I need to get pet insurance, I
just got this new puppy or thisnew kitten or whatever, so I'm
gonna go out to Google and I'mgonna Google pet insurance and a
gazillion different articlesand companies and whatever is
(36:17):
gonna come up and it's gonna beoverwhelming, and then I just
shut the laptop and walk away.
Kristen Lynch (36:22):
Yeah, we have a lot.
So, first of all, under ourfind pet insurance tab you'll
see all the companies listedthat we have as members.
We estimate that we have aboutninety.
Ninety eight percent of thecoverage in the US is Offered by
our members, so that means thatthere's a couple of companies
(36:42):
that haven't joined us andthat's just because they're
starting up or May only be in afew states and they're not at
the national level yet.
But all of those companies havegreat products, have a range,
typically, of coverage, sothere's sort of lighter or more
comprehensive coverage you canchoose and it's very easy.
(37:02):
There's a little guide forquestions to Ask yourself and
ask your veterinarian and again,it doesn't hurt for people to
take a look at the websites ofthose companies, get a quote and
compare what kind of coveragethat they're looking at.
Do they need a big lump sum?
Do they want something in themiddle or do they just want to
(37:24):
have something like because theyknow that they just need that
little bit of help that monthand if something bigger comes,
then they can move things aroundand pay for it afterwards.
But just be honest withyourself about what it is that
you'll need when that crisishits and also remember that it's
gonna hit it's whether that pethits when it's young, when it
hits when it's, you know, sortof a couple years old, or
(37:46):
whether it hits later.
Yourself said you had cancerand it was treated.
Cancer and pets is beingtreated all the time and pets
continue to live for many yearsafter that.
So just a responsible thing toknow, and don't be afraid to
download policies.
Most companies have samplepolicies on their website, the
written in plain language.
(38:06):
You can look at them and readthem and then you can ask
questions about them.
You know my pet gets cancer.
Is that covered?
If my pet has this condition,would that be covered?
How?
How does this work.
Amy Castro (38:18):
Yeah, that is so.
I think that is so important asbeing willing to ask those
questions, because I think toomany times and I guess that I'm
facing this with my own, my owninsurance it's like the monthly
cost really gets your attentionand you kind of get focused on
that.
But what are you paying for?
You know, that's what'simportant.
It's not because that lowercost you may be kicking yourself
(38:40):
later on because it doesn'tcover the things that your pet,
that you could have predictedthat your pet was gonna need.
I mean, we can't predicteverything, but we want to make
the smartest decision wherewe're balancing our financial
good judgment with our pets.
Health care, I mean those,those are two, two things that
are hard to juggle.
So you want to make sure youmake a good decision.
Kristen Lynch (39:00):
Well, and you know, the other funny thing we
do is we have a tendency to liketo pay for the fun things, so
we think nothing.
I mean, I go down to the petstore on a Friday night and I
walk out with a chew.
That's you know fifteen dollarsfor my dog.
It's got a little salmon on itor something and I get sucked
into that.
And then I'll look at my billevery month and go, oh gee,
(39:22):
should I keep paying this?
You know, fifty, sixty, seventydollar, thirty dollar policy.
And I don't think about all thebells and whistles and things
that I've done throughout themonth and cutting back on those.
Instead, I look at the thingthat's the target of my credit
card statement or you know, onmy automatic withdrawal that
month, and you're right, wehyper fixate on that thing and
(39:45):
go, that's gonna make such a bigdifference for us.
It isn't in the big thing, yeahthings.
But that $3,000 hit, or eventhat 3,4, $500 hit in the middle
of a month where things aretight.
My mortgage payment just wentup and the interest is going up
in my mortgage payment.
You know it's costing more tofill my car at the gas station,
(40:05):
those types of things.
And then we look for that.
We think that little saving ofthis amount is going to be the
thing that saves us.
That's actually when you needyour coverage, is when you're
financially strained.
That's when you should bethinking boy, am I ever lucky
and glad that I got thatcoverage in place, because now
I'm protected.
Amy Castro (40:24):
That's such a good point is to really look at what
you're spending, because that issomething that we see and I try
not to be judgy.
I try very hard not to be judgyin rescue, but I sometimes will
see things where people willcall and they're looking for
maybe not to surrender their pet, but they're looking because we
do provide financial assistancefor pet owners to keep their
pets and it's like, okay, youwant me to pay for that, but
(40:49):
you've been spending your moneyon this, this, this, this and
this.
And I think you know, again,try not to judge, but when we're
judging ourselves, maybe weneed to look at.
You know how many times did Ibuy unnecessary clothes or toys
or things?
Kristen Lynch (41:02):
that might.
How often am I getting my nailsdone?
You know those types of things.
Amy Castro (41:06):
Oh yeah, stuff for yourself, yeah.
Kristen Lynch (41:07):
It's really surprising when people are
looking at those things, sayingthat they can't afford that but
they're carrying, you know,their expensive coffee.
When they come in and sayingthey're broke right, and I just
think a couple times a week thecup of coffee that you're buying
would cover your pet for themonth, 100%.
Amy Castro (41:24):
that's such a good point.
So make your coffee at home andcover your pet so you're not
crying at the vet's office.
Kristen Lynch (41:29):
I still buy that, but don't target that one thing
as the thing that you're goingto save your money on that month
, right?
Amy Castro (41:36):
Yeah, good point and .
Kristen Lynch (41:38):
I do say all the time the cost of coverage is
reflective of the cost of care.
If care is going up and again.
Not targeting veterinarypractices because I have
tremendous respect and empathyfor the work that they do for
the costs and impact ofinflation on their business
right now and the fact that youknow to go to a veterinary
(41:58):
school or to be trained as a vettech these days is like
sometimes hundreds of thousandsof dollars or, you know, many
thousands of dollars of debtthat they carry for many years.
They're not making the bestwages in the world.
They're not being paid what ahuman doctor is or you know even
what our average income thesedays.
So a lot of them are not makingthe best money, have debt and
(42:21):
are in this because they lovepets and they're very dedicated
to it, so no one's begrudgingthem that and their need to keep
their practice running and toprovide that important service
right.
So it's just where we all live.
The world is a riskier placeright now and it's a more
expensive place and it justhappens to be the environment
(42:42):
that we're in, and I think petinsurance is a really great way
to be proactive and plan forthose known costs we're going to
have to spend at some point inour pets life.
Amy Castro (42:57):
Good point.
So any final thoughts, anythingthat I missed that we want to
hit on?
Kristen Lynch (43:04):
I think that the biggest thing that I like to
remind people is that petinsurance companies are used to
talking to pet owners.
They talk to them every day.
It's an emotional product.
People are emotional whenthey're making the decision
because they're thinking abouttheir pet.
They're emotional when they'reclaiming because their pet is
sick and they're having to maketough decisions at a time when
(43:25):
they're dealing with theemotional impact and stress of
their pet's illness at the sametime as they're dealing with the
emotional and stress of theeconomic impact On their lives.
And you know, when we meet withregulators to talk about pet
insurance, it's emotional.
It's an emotional conversation.
People love their pets.
We care for them very deeply.
(43:47):
The people who work in petinsurance have pets, love pets
and they're in it because theystumbled into this really unique
little product and they end outstaying because they're
passionate about it and theyreally believe that it's a very
positive way to be able toprovide for a pet that you love.
So I just like to remind peopleto not put off those
(44:08):
uncomfortable conversationsaround money, not put off those
the reality of owning a pet andloving a pet and them being part
of your family and to look atpet insurance as an option for
providing that care that we wantto be able to provide, and not
hesitating to provide that care,not waiting it out.
Amy Castro (44:29):
Yep, that's good advice to leave everybody with.
Well, Kristen, thank you somuch for being here with me
today and taking the time toeducate us on the importance of
pet health insurance.
I really appreciate it.
Kristen Lynch (44:43):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm always happy to answerthese questions and you asked
some really good ones and I willprovide you with a couple links
to some pages on our websitewhere people can go and look at
all the different coverages thatare available.
You said you were surprised tofind out that USAA had one.
People might be surprised tofind out a brand that they
already know, love and deal withhas one that they might be able
(45:04):
to have access to.
Amy Castro (45:06):
Yeah, definitely so.
We'll add that to the shownotes for all of our listeners.
Thank you to everybody forlistening to another episode of
Starlight Pet Talk.
I hope that this convinced youthat you need to investigate pet
health insurance and pleaseshare this with other pet lovers
, pet owners, family members whoare shopping for a pet right
now, because it's a life savingdecision that you're going to
(45:29):
make for you and for your pet.
Thank you for watching the show.
If you enjoyed and found valuein today's episode, we'd
appreciate a rating on Apple, orif you'd simply tell a friend
(45:51):
about the show, that would begreat too.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode of Starlight PetTalk and if you don't do
anything else this week, giveyour pets a big hug from us.
Have you ever wondered what you would do if
your pet was sick or injured andyou couldn't afford their
treatment?
Well, unfortunately, many, manypet parents are faced with that
situation every single day.
So much so that there's now aterm that I'm hearing a lot
called economic euthanasia.
Basically, that means that thepet parent chooses to euthanize
their pet primarily because offinancial reasons.
(00:22):
I know I never want to be inthat situation and I don't want
you to be either.
Today's episode is going toshare the number one thing that
you can do to avoid findingyourself in this situation, so
stay tuned.
You're listening to StarlightPet Talk, a podcast for pet
parents who want the best petcare advice from cat experts,
dog trainers, veterinarians andother top pet professionals who
(00:45):
will help you live your verybest life with your pets.
We also share inspiring rescueand adoption stories from people
who've taken their love of petsto the next level by getting
involved in animal welfare.
My name is Amy Castro and I'mthe founder and president of
Starlight Outreach and Rescueand a columnist for Pet Age
Magazine.
I've rescued thousands ofanimals and helped people just
(01:06):
like you find the right pet fortheir family.
My mission is to help petparents learn all the ways that
they can care for, live with andeven have fun with their pets
so they can live their very bestlives and their pets can too.
Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk.
I'm your host, amy Castro, andour subject today is such an
important one that I'm going totell you right up front that I
(01:29):
want you to share this with allof your friends and family that
have pets.
My guest today is Kristin Lynch,and she has been the executive
director of NAFIA, which is theNorth American Pet Health
Insurance Association, for about12 years now, and Kristin
started in this position as apart-time person and it has
grown into a full-time positionas the industry has grown and
(01:52):
evolved, and I know I have seenthat just in my experience.
When I first started in workingin veterinary medicine as a vet
assistant, there was no suchthing as health insurance, and
then, when my years went on, acouple of companies popped up,
but it still wasn't somethingthat people were using.
But today, I hope at the end ofthis episode, we have convinced
every pet parent out there toinvestigate it for themselves
(02:14):
and their pets, for a variety ofreasons that we're going to
touch on.
So, kristin, thank you so muchfor making the time to be here
with me today.
Kristen Lynch (02:21):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited to talk toyou.
Amy Castro (02:24):
Thank you.
So, kristin, tell us what NAFIAdoes.
Kristen Lynch (02:29):
So NAFIA is a trade association and I mean our
first mission is to educatepeople about pet insurance what
it is and, probably moreimportantly, what it isn't, what
people shouldn't expect andthen what they should expect
from it.
And when I say educate people,I mean pet owners, but we also
(02:52):
mean the veterinary profession,folks who work in the veterinary
profession that aren't vets,but you run the practices and do
a lot of the work behind thescenes.
We speak to other organizationsin the animal health community
and we also try to work withregulators and legislators to
explain to them what petinsurance is, because it's a
(03:13):
little bit of a mixed breed ofcoverage.
It's got the health piece,which is really important,
because it's not life insurance,it's not liability insurance
for pets.
It really is about coveringhealth care for your pet.
But because the law sees petsas property, it also is property
and casualty insurance, so itoperates sort of between the two
(03:36):
lines of those types ofcoverage.
Amy Castro (03:39):
And that's interesting.
But yet another thing I didn'tknow about pet insurance has it
kind of always been that way, orhas that been part of the
evolution of pet insurance?
Kristen Lynch (03:49):
Yeah, so when it was first launched in the US I
think it was around the late 80sand it was a company called
Veterinary Pet Insurance thatlater became nationwide the very
first pet that was ever insuredwas actually Lassie, the
television dog, and it has grownpretty steadily since then.
(04:09):
But yes, it has always been.
Pets were deemed as propertyunder the law and so the
coverage got treated that wayfrom a regulatory perspective.
Immediately and, as you couldguess, because Lassie was in
California and that's where thehome office of that particular
company was based that was thefirst state that started
(04:32):
offering it, but it rolled outacross the country very quickly
and I think up until thepandemic our growth has been
pretty steady as an industry.
We've had new companies comingon, but it's really been the
past three, four years that thebig insurance companies that
offer home and auto and otherkinds of personal lines of
(04:53):
coverage have taken an interestin the product and said, first
of all, we want to add this toour lines of business because it
makes sense, but also, veryclearly, their customers love
and care about pets and theyrecognize that it's sort of a
companion product for a lot ofthe other coverage they offer.
(05:13):
It makes good sense to have itin their bundle of coverage.
Amy Castro (05:17):
When I was logging on because I have USAA insurance
as a former military person andI could swear I saw the other
day that they're offering petinsurance and I was very
surprised by that.
Kristen Lynch (05:27):
Yeah, when they first looked at it they
approached the association andthat's often what happens.
So there's a couple ofdifferent ways that coverage is
offered.
So there are underwriters thatsort of take the risk of the
coverage, and you'll see that inalmost any kind of coverage.
There are brands that arespecific to pet and then there
are brands that have evolved outof other property and casualty
(05:52):
lines.
So that's where you start tosee the big companies.
And then there's sort of awhite label type of coverage and
it's no different from anyother coverage.
But what it is is that a brandwill see like a USAA or maybe
thinking like a financialcompany or another.
Aspca is a good example of that,where they say, hey, this is
(06:14):
something we want to be able todeliver to our members or our
customers or our shareholders orour employees, and we're going
to partner with a provider todeliver that and we're going to
shape it under our brand andoffer services and everything
that fit our brand.
And so it's sort of offeredthose different ways and they're
(06:37):
all the same.
It doesn't mean I'm not sayingthe coverage is exactly the same
, but the quality of coverage,the dependability of the company
, the way it's underwritten theway it's regulated.
It's always the safe, secureand trusted.
Amy Castro (06:52):
That's good to know.
And when you're looking at sucha wide variety of organizations
that are offering the insuranceand we're going to get to the
issue of kind of picking throughsome of that and how to make
decisions, because the decisionis going to be different for
each pet parent.
But before we get into that,why would you say because I know
what my answer would be but whydo you think it's so important
(07:15):
that pet parents have petinsurance these days?
Kristen Lynch (07:18):
Yeah, I think the first thing is that since the
pandemic, I think we havereached a pivotal state of the
way we view our pets In thehuman health and in the animal
health world.
There's sort of these conceptsof the relationship between us
and pets and the benefits ofthat, and one of the things that
you'll hear people refer tomore and more is what they call
(07:41):
the human-animal bond.
There's actually anorganization, a really good one
out of Washington called Habri,that is doing some amazing work
in that space and advocating forthe value of that for people
and their pets, so that Ibelieve that bond we've been
waiting for that to reach thissort of really unique state.
(08:03):
And I think the pandemic wassort of that turning point for
us as a society, where we wereat home, we were living
alongside our pets every day.
We weren't leaving them andthen coming back and spending a
couple of hours with them atnight and then going to bed.
We were playing with them.
They came with us out for walks.
(08:23):
I know people who bought petsfor their pet during that time.
Me too, fluffy needs a friend,so we're going to get one, and I
think it changed the way we seethem and the way that we care
for them and the way that wevalue them.
And I think that is sort ofthat big turning point that
(08:43):
we've seen and that is impactingthe way we want to care for
them.
And we are pet families now.
We are not pet owners, we'renot pet parents so much as one
person and a pet is still afamily and that's how you view
your pet and I think if you viewyour pet and value your pet
that way, it's important for youto be able to go gee, not only
(09:06):
can I feed my pet today, but canI care for them?
If something happens and it does, it always does.
Just like with people, pets getsick and their lives,
unfortunately, are shorter andmore concentrated.
So those things happen in adecade versus over 50, 60, 70
years.
So it's more concentrated in apet.
(09:27):
So I think if you love your pet, if you don't have insurance,
you have to make sure that youhave that financial ability to
be proactive and take care ofthem the way you would take care
of another family member.
Amy Castro (09:40):
Yeah, I mean, that's so true and that's something
that we face in our rescue andstarlight outreach and rescue
and lots of rescues is Peoplewanting to.
They're contacting us to giveup their pets for economic
reasons.
You know they're moving, theycan't afford this, they can't
afford that.
But probably the most sadsituation is when I've got
somebody that calls me in tearsbecause their animal Got
(10:01):
heartworm, their animal got outthe front door and got hit by a
car and they can't afford to paythe thousands of dollars for
treatment, for whatever it mightbe, and so, because they want
their animal to have a chance atlife, they would rather give it
up to us than to do.
What a lot of pet parents areforced to do is to make Decision
(10:22):
to euthanize a pet on afinancial basis.
You know the pet pet could besaved, but we're using this term
a lot in nowadays Economiceuthanasia.
When you've got a situationwhere somebody is primarily
euthanizing their pet Forfinancial reasons, they just
can't afford to pay to fixwhatever is going on with their
pet and it's tragic and sad whenyou've got somebody that loves
(10:43):
their pet and is a good petowner and it's just this one
thing, it's the financial.
That is just they can't swingit.
Kristen Lynch (10:51):
You're right.
Yeah, the Funny.
You say that it.
People are hearing that termnow, but it's actually the
reason that a veterinarianstarted the very first pet
insurance company in the US.
He was a vet.
He saw that happen in hispractice.
He I think he tells the storyof you know a family, a child,
saying to him why do we have todo this?
(11:12):
You know, and I've read numbersthey probably have changed now
but because of inflation andthings like that.
But they're saying thatthreshold is around $600 is the
threshold where someone willconsider euthanasia Because they
can't afford to do it.
And I have to think thatthere's got to be some impact on
(11:32):
the veterinary practice as well, because people are
surrendering pets they can'ttreat to them.
These are people who, yes, theyrun a business in that, but
they're also called to care forpets and they're having to Make
those decisions themselves ortake on the cost of treating
pets.
They're seriously ill,seriously injured, and then that
(11:54):
reflects in the cost of carefor all of us, right?
Amy Castro (11:58):
Yeah, absolutely, and I work closely with my
veterinarian who who helps uswith the rescue, but also, you
know, with with otherveterinarians in the area and in
in my regular work, and Peopledon't realize what the
veterinarians and thetechnicians go through when
they're on the other side ofthat.
(12:18):
You know, when they get accused, all you care about is money
and it's like you know, I can't.
People don't understand that ifthey Did everything for free,
then they wouldn't be inbusiness.
I mean, it's like I can't helpyour pet if I'm not able to keep
my business afloat and pay myemployees.
Kristen Lynch (12:35):
So you know another thing in this in this
sort of economic environment youyou were talking about, you
know why the growth of Coverageand what's happened with pet
insurance in recent yearsInflation is an increasingly
great concern for every family,for every household, and again,
when I say families, that's aperson and a pet to me.
So I think that what I'mreading Veterinarians are facing
(12:59):
incredible inflation and we weforget to think about that.
So you know, does the cost ofcoverage go up?
It goes up with the cost ofcare, and that cost of care is
not about making money all thetime.
That is the cost of labequipment.
I read something.
It's gone up like I don't know,30, 40 percent.
(13:20):
You're seeing, you know, 20, 30year, 20 or 30 percent
increases year over year, andthen sometimes there's delays in
the rates getting approved atthe state level for pet
insurance companies and thenthose Increases get compounded.
So all of a sudden there's abig jump in the cost, right, but
(13:42):
but if you think about it, thatcost of coverage, those rate
increases, are based on whatthat company Experienced from a
claims perspective the yearbefore.
They're not making thosenumbers up out of the blue and
they can't raise rates Withoutgoing to the states and making a
case, state by state, for whythe cost is what it is, and that
(14:06):
base is based on the market.
It's based on veterinary costs,it's based on the cost of
actually providing the insuranceto people and what people are
actually claiming for.
In that previous year.
Amy Castro (14:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's gotta be obviously a huge piece
of it.
And you know, it reminds mewhen you talk about inflation
and you had mentioned earlierthat the threshold for a lot of
people To not be able to affordcare is $600.
And now, granted, as a rescueperson, my vet bills are
thousands of dollars a month,but $600 is not a lot in the
(14:38):
grand scheme of things.
I mean, that's an.
That's probably an exam forx-rays, some medication, you
know, maybe some type of minorprocedure.
It's not major orthopedicsurgery, or my dog got hit by a
car kind of thing, or my dog hascancer and needs chemotherapy.
Kristen Lynch (14:53):
That's a visit to the vet for yeah, you know, in
many instances when we talkabout and whenever I hear people
talk about insurance, theyalways think of sort of
catastrophic Accidents.
But I think that illness is amuch greater Concern.
The costs are greater becausethey happen very quickly and
they escalate.
So, you know, you take your petin for something that seems
(15:16):
minor, they do the basic things.
A couple of days later they'renot getting better, they do a
little more and they do it basedon the economy of that too
right, they start with thethings that they think are less
serious and they hope thatthat's what they are.
But they go up and I think we'realso starting to see that the
(15:36):
reason that these great big vetbills are coming in is that
people have delayed taking theirpet to the vet in the first
place because of financialreasons or Because we just don't
want to see those things and wedon't want to have to pay them
so and we don't want the pet tobe sick.
So we're kind of dealing with alittle bit of denial and we put
them off, and we put them offand then, you know, the vet
(15:59):
recommends some things to us andwe only do some of them Because
that felt a little expensive,or we didn't want to have to pay
for those pills, or the dogdidn't like them, so we didn't.
We make sure that they tookthem, and then it gets worse,
and it gets worse, and then it'scompounded, right?
So you end up with a veryserious illness and, yes, a
great big bill that probablycould have been prevented had we
(16:21):
Been more proactive at thebeginning.
Okay, you know from working in apractice, you also know that
pets love us and they want toprotect us and they mask a lot
of the things that they'refeeling and Experiencing until
they can't anymore.
So you know, they go and hideor they wag their tail and you
think, oh, they're fine, right.
And then all of a sudden, bang,they're not, and right, serious
(16:44):
, and you have to take them in.
Amy Castro (16:46):
Yeah, kind of seemingly sneaks up on you, but
in reality it's been there for awhile.
Kristen Lynch (16:50):
I don't have an insurance on one of mine either,
and because it wasn't mydecision, we I met my now
husband.
His pet wasn't insured.
He didn't even know petinsurance existed.
So I have the comparison of twopets, one of which is getting
very old and of course thosethings are starting to happen
all the time and he's alwayssurprised oh, it's a thousand
(17:12):
dollars.
Oh, but you know you pay thosethings out for other things in
your life and this is the petyou love.
So I always find it reallyinteresting how people kind of
straddle those love andfinancial decisions.
And you wouldn't make thosedecisions around another family
member that way and you know weneed to not make those decisions
(17:36):
around our pets that way.
We need to make their emotionaldecisions and they're
challenging and you'restraddling the financial and the
economical impact on your homeand your life.
And pet insurance is a proactivetool.
It's not a reactive tool.
It's not like credit rightwhere you sure there's lots of
credit out there for everyonethere's doesn't need to be pet
(17:59):
credit.
It can be any kind of credit.
But we live month to month.
We are not a nation of savers,so we live month to month.
If we make a lot of money.
We have that money plannedevery month.
It's accounted for, it's goingtowards our kids university,
it's going towards, you know,fixing our roof or our next
vacation or our braces, or youknow those things.
(18:21):
Our mortgage, our car payments.
Those are the basics.
But when something happens, youneed the safety net and knowing
you have that coverage empowersyou to make different decisions
, make them quicker, be moreproactive about how you're going
to treat your pet.
It gives you that confidencethat you can do those things and
(18:42):
I think that's a big reason whypeople should think about
getting it and get it when theirpet's young, before the cost
has gone up, because your petalready has pre-existing
conditions and, just like us, aswe age, we have increasing risk
of getting ill and having majorillnesses and having accidents.
Amy Castro (19:02):
So yeah, and we pay accordingly.
It's more expensive.
So it's the same, like you say,with our pets.
You wait until something'swrong and either A it might not
be covered at all or it's goingto cost you, and that actually
you know when you said somethingabout you know not taking our
pets in because we don't want to, we don't want to pay the $50,
(19:22):
$100 for this or that, and so wejust kind of avoid it.
I have found that the peoplethat I know that have pet
insurance do the routine, theannuals that they're supposed to
be doing to, you know, headthings off at the past for lack
of a better term or to maintaintheir pet's health, instead of
trying to fix their pet's health, because that's one of the
benefits of having that petinsurance is that that routine
(19:45):
stuff is covered in some form orfashion.
Kristen Lynch (19:48):
Yeah, in some cases it's covered, in some
cases it's not.
But what it also does is itmeans that you don't have some
big catastrophic bill thatprevents you from doing the
preventive things right.
So there is wellness availablefor in a lot of forms.
There is a pet insuranceversion of wellness.
Many companies are offeringthat now and then, as you know,
(20:10):
there are other wellnessprograms.
For me, wellness means I'm doingthe expected things right, I'm
being proactive about spay orneuter, I'm doing flea and tick,
I'm doing my vaccinations everyyear and those types of things,
and I'm planning out thosecosts.
I'm sort of amortizing thosecosts so that I don't get hit
with them all at one time.
(20:31):
And then the actual pet healthinsurance piece is for the
unexpected, which is alwayssurprising to me, because of
course they're going to get sick, of course there's going to be
injuries and accidents.
It's a life.
And if they don't, you'rereally lucky, right, but be
prepared for not being lucky.
And then if you have paid outthat, it doesn't matter about
(20:51):
the return on investment, it'sthe peace of mind and you don't
have to worry about it, right?
And that is another piece thatso many people come to me and
say is it worth it?
And they do the calculationsWell, I don't not ensure my
house, right.
I don't not ensure my car andthen go at the end of it.
I didn't have an accident or myhouse didn't burn down, so was
(21:12):
it worth it?
Did I get my return oninvestment?
This is your pet.
Stop thinking about it likethat.
It's insurance.
It's not an investment.
It is a proactive financialtool that is about mitigating
risk and your pet it'sprotecting their health and it's
making sure that you canprovide for that throughout
their life.
Amy Castro (21:32):
Yeah, definitely so is pet insurance.
Is it the same across thecountry, like if I go with a
certain company, let's say, andI live in Maine, is it going to
cover the same things as it doesin Texas or California, or does
it?
You mentioned before that itsounds like a lot of things are
regulated and go through thestate.
Kristen Lynch (21:51):
Yeah, so it's not like some forms of mandatory
coverage where it has to be thesame everywhere and in in
reality, no insurance is thesame in every state because
insurance law and consumer lawand other types of laws vary
from state to state.
But there is a movement in thepet insurance world right now.
It's called a model law thatwas passed by the National
(22:15):
Association of InsuranceCommissioners two years ago and
that model law is rolling outacross the country so that
states do adopt a law for petinsurance and it can be more
unified across all the states.
So, that said, every state hastheir flavor, right.
Some states, for example,there's consumer protections
(22:38):
like free look.
In California it's 30 days.
Some states might say we wantit to be 15, some might make it
shorter, some might not believein a free look.
So free look is basically your,your ability to return the
coverage if you haven't used itin that first 30 days and have a
chance to change your mind orget different coverage or or
(22:59):
whatever.
But so those types of thingscan change and but typically a
company designs their coverageand then they file that coverage
in each state with certainrates and that gets approved by
the Department of Insurance inthat state and then that's what
they sell it for, and it'smostly sold online and virtually
(23:22):
so in a customer center.
So people are talking to thecompany.
It feels the same doesn'tmatter where they are, and if
they happen to move from onestate to another, that may
slightly change the policy inthe next year when it renews,
but for the most part you'regoing to experience the same
coverage across the country.
Amy Castro (23:42):
Yeah, and the, the categories or the things that
are covered, because you hadmentioned the idea of there's
the health piece and thenthere's the, the wellness piece.
Yeah, what are some of thosebuckets that people might want
to be aware of?
As as to, you know, notnecessarily choosing a
particular company, but when I'mtrying to make a decision as to
, okay, I know my pet, I knowthis situation, I know how I
(24:06):
want my pet to be cared for, Iknow what support or help I
might need from an insurance,what, what are the buckets that
I might be looking at?
Kristen Lynch (24:14):
so I mean the two big types of coverage.
The main coverage is accidentand illness combined and
accident only.
And you know, when I first gotinto pet insurance someone pet
insurance first got into themarketplace, everyone thought of
accidents because when we weregrowing up we lost our pets to
accidents.
We didn't know they hadillnesses, because they weren't
(24:35):
being diagnosed and things likethat.
So you know, we always thoughtabout, oh, my pet got hit by a
car or like an accident wouldtake a pet right.
But illness is far more likelyand because pets are living
longer, because veterinary careis following human care in terms
of the sophistication and whatthey can do for your pets, and
(24:56):
we want our pets to live longer,healthier lives, so I think
that's like something like 98 or99% of coverage now is accident
and illness combined.
So there's some other thingsthat people should think about
you mentioned, you know, I knowmy pet.
But every breed you know,whether your dog is large or
small, whether it's a mixedbreed or not, is prone to
(25:18):
certain conditions.
You can talk to your vetpractice and say you know what
are some of the conditions thatare likely for my pet that I
should be watching for, and alot of.
That is a good thing to do in afirst visit with your practice.
Ask them and what are the coststo care for those type of
things?
And then the next piece is tosay what am I likely to need?
(25:40):
You know, for some people it's,as I said, month to month.
They don't necessarily have asuper fixed income or they have
funds that they can pull fromother things that are
discretionary, whereas otherpeople have such a tight budget
they don't have that flexibilityand so they they need a
different kind of coverage.
There are a couple of differentways that benefits are paid out
(26:01):
.
So sometimes it's a great bigbucket.
If you're looking at thecompanies, it's a lifetime
coverage, or maybe $100,000 foryour pet's life, and you have
this big bucket to draw from nomatter what, and of course that
would be more expensive becauseit's really comprehensive and
it's a large amount.
Others is you have what arecalled per condition limits and
those are.
(26:21):
So if they have diabetes, youhave $2,000 or $5,000 and you
have that pocket or an envelope,almost that you can draw on
until that is used up.
And then there are renewablelimits where they renew each
year.
So, for example, my dog, I havecoverage, that is, I think it's
$5,000 per condition and thosecondition amounts renew every
(26:45):
year.
And that's because I have alarge standard poodle.
I talked to my vet and saidwhat are some of the things that
can happen to that dog?
And when they do happen,they're big, they're fast and
they're expensive.
Right, he had an ear condition.
I think it cost me like earinfection cost me like $3,000 in
the first couple of years ofhis life.
It took almost a year to getrid of it.
(27:06):
He's fine.
He has nothing else now.
But thank goodness I had thatcoverage, because who has three
grand on a month-to-month basisto pay for that?
And it was just a recurringamount of him trying different
things and taking him back andthen other things popping up
because of that condition.
So for me it was.
I wanted renewable coverageevery year.
(27:29):
It kind of is like a reset andI knew I needed a larger amount.
If you have a small dog, youtalk to your vet and they say
you know what, not as expensiveto treat, not as you know, if we
have to put your pet under forsurgery, we don't have to use as
much anesthesia.
The medicine is cheaper, it'ssmaller, they take less of it.
(27:49):
So those types of things arealso considerations, right, and
they tend to live longer.
So you get it early and you getsomething that you can keep
over their whole lifetime,whereas the larger breed dogs
tend to not live as long andthose kinds of costs come
earlier and those are sadrealities.
But as a pet owner, when youpick a pet and you love a breed
(28:11):
and or you have a mixed breedand you know that it has sort of
the it might be a Labradoodle,it might be a Terrier,
poodlecross or something it'slikely to have some of the
predispositions of both of thebreeds that you're getting in
that mix, right, if you knowthat I think almost every rescue
dog has some Husky and some LabRight, pretty true, and so
(28:37):
those conditions are likely, youknow, knees, hips, those types
of things Hot spots, big dogs ingeneral too.
Amy Castro (28:45):
I mean it's just, you know, the bigger the dog,
the more likely some of thoseissues can be.
And I think it's so importantthat you mention you know,
because there's two pieces towhat you said that I want to
make sure everybody really heardis number one, you know, to
have those conversations withyour veterinarian and to really
dig in and the whole team, yeah,yeah.
(29:05):
And it is so important to do itearly.
No, not only because I'massuming and you can tell me I
get a new puppy or I get a newdog or whatever the case may be
that I get the insurance rightaway, versus waiting until I
start realizing, oh, this dog'scost me a lot of money because
it's got a lot of problems withthis or that.
Why is it so important to dothat early?
(29:26):
It's like I know that it's gotto be the cost for one thing,
but is it the coverage as well?
Kristen Lynch (29:31):
Yeah.
So when coverage isunderwritten, when you're
enrolled, a pet insurancecompany takes three to four
things.
There's three things, butthey're like technically four.
First of all, is it a dog or acat?
So that's sort of the obviousone.
And then the next is what isthe breed?
Right, and they know from theirown insurance claims over many
(29:53):
years what the risk of aparticular breed is.
Some of them are very prone tocertain conditions, so all that
is factored in and they knowthat it's calculated at the time
you enroll.
And then the age of the pet,obviously, and we talked about
that just because as we agewe're more prone to having
diabetes, heart disease, dentalissues, all of those things.
(30:15):
So same with pets, and again,that happens in a much tighter
time period than it does inhuman health.
And then the last piece, whichis not something people
typically think about, is yourpostal code.
And that's because the cost ofveterinary care varies depending
on where you live.
So if you're in downtownManhattan, you can bet that the
cost there is going to be higherthan it is going to be in the
(30:38):
middle of Ohio or something likethat.
So they kind of have thosepostal codes worked out inside
of the insurance underwriter.
They know the cost of careacross the country because they
have millions of pets insuredand they know what those claims
are going to cost.
And so that's the factor.
If you move, and you move to aplace that's less expensive,
(30:59):
over the next year you might seesome changes in your coverage.
It may not go up the wayinflation does in another place
because the place you've movedmight be less expensive to treat
that particular pet.
So again, what you get is yourpremium is reflective of what
the insurance company knows isgoing to be the cost to treat
(31:20):
your pet and the likelihood thatthat pet is going to become ill
or injured in their lifetime.
Amy Castro (31:24):
Right, which is pretty much what all insurance
is based on.
I mean it's that risk benefitor not risk benefit, but the
risk analysis that goes alongwith it.
You had mentioned that part ofit is your pets breed.
So in rescue the question weget all the time with dogs is
what is it?
It's like I don't know.
I mean I, we don't DNA testevery dog that comes in.
(31:46):
So what is a pet parent to doin that instance when I, you
know it's great if I know astandard putals a stand up.
Who do a doberman is a doberman.
But I mean I've got a friendthat got a golden retriever from
a golden retriever rescue and Iwould swear it's a golden
retriever, not a show qualitygolden retriever.
Has no golden retriever in theDNA, theoretical and again, is
that accurate?
(32:07):
I don't know.
But what do you do in thoseinstances?
Do you have to DNA test yourpet to tell him the breed?
Kristen Lynch (32:13):
or do you know they're?
They have when you're enrolling.
There's sort of a drop downmenu or you can talk it through
with the customer rep thatyou're talking to, but there's
mixed breed and, if you have noidea and it looks like a whole
bunch of things, there's justmixed breed, right?
Amy Castro (32:30):
Yeah, they don't have mine's 57, but yeah right
and I'm assuming that might bebetter to choose that than to
guess a breed.
I would agree because you mightbe, you know, you might be
throwing in something that maynot even, like I said, the
golden retriever no goldenretriever in that dog, but if
you saw it you probably thinkit's a golden retriever to you.
I was surprised exactly.
Kristen Lynch (32:50):
Just because it looks like that doesn't mean
that's what it is, so yeah.
Amy Castro (32:54):
And I'm not sure, just showing more and more that
pets that are mixed breeds arealso less prone to certain
conditions what do you think aresome of the things, and we may
I think we've hit on some ofthem, but I just want to make
sure we didn't miss anythingthat pet parents are kind of
surprised about when it comes toinsurance either.
You know, maybe it's thingslike oh, I thought it would have
covered that and I maybe I justdidn't read the fine print or I
(33:15):
didn't realize that was one ofmy benefits.
Is any anything in particular?
Kristen Lynch (33:19):
Yeah well, so first of all, insurance
companies are pretty friendly.
They have customer centers.
They're very geared aroundbeing transparent, answering
questions.
Most people don't read theircoverage.
Most policies today are writtenin plain language.
They'll say these things arecovered and they'll say these
things are not covered.
So one of the things I say topeople is get your pet insured
(33:41):
quickly and as young as possibledoesn't mean that if they're a
little older you can't stillcover them, and you can, but you
know that the cost is going tostart lower.
It may go up a bit as the petages and there are other things
that do go up, like they.
There are deductibles and thedeductibles can go up because
the likelihood of claiming ishigh.
(34:01):
And what?
And I also remind people thatone of the unique pieces of pet
insurance is its insurance thatyou use, people claim all the
time.
It's not like your carinsurance or house insurance
where you avoid claiming yeah,it's like you will claim if you
don't have to, yeah and if youdon't use it, you're super lucky
and you should feel really goodabout that.
You shouldn't go G?
Should I cancel my coveragebecause I've been super lucky,
(34:24):
right that's.
Amy Castro (34:25):
That's saying I'll stop wearing my seat belt
because I've been super luckyand not had a right, because I
haven't been in an accidentexactly.
Kristen Lynch (34:31):
But people do funny things so.
So we do that stuff and youknow what.
Look at and talk to a couple ofdifferent companies, see what
feels comfortable for you, tryon a few things.
It's just a couple ofconversations.
It's not super complicated, butwe make it complicated, you
know.
We Make charts and we comparethings, get the one that feels
right for you.
If your pet hasn't developed apreexisting condition, you can
(34:54):
continue to look, but you knowyou have that coverage in place,
you're safe.
Good point, so make a decisionquickly.
I know so many people that haveput it off and put it off and
said, oh yeah, every time, youknow, because I work in the
industry, they, theyautomatically say to me oh, you
know, I'm gonna get thatcoverage, and they don't.
And then they're Seriousillness and they say to me I
(35:15):
wish I had coverage.
And then the next time theyhave a pet they get the coverage
right away.
Right, and that's what we'reseeing, unfortunately, because
pets live shorter lives and weknow we're gonna have more than
one pet in our lifetime,sometimes at the same time.
It's that next generation thatends up getting insured.
Because it's just like my ownhousehold my pet is insured my
(35:35):
husband's pet isn't, because hedidn't know about it at the time
.
That yeah so, yeah.
So people need to really kindof think about those things
quickly, make a decision fairlyquickly.
You can always cancel thecoverage and get a different
coverage.
But get it in place and mosttimes you're gonna stick with it
because you're gonna use it andit's worth it to you.
Amy Castro (35:57):
Does not have tools on your website that will help a
parent, because people aregonna research, no matter how
much you tell him, you know,don't go crazy over the research
.
But I don't know that as a petparent.
If I just said to myself, okay,I need to get pet insurance, I
just got this new puppy or thisnew kitten or whatever, so I'm
gonna go out to Google and I'mgonna Google pet insurance and a
gazillion different articlesand companies and whatever is
(36:17):
gonna come up and it's gonna beoverwhelming, and then I just
shut the laptop and walk away.
Kristen Lynch (36:22):
Yeah, we have a lot.
So, first of all, under ourfind pet insurance tab you'll
see all the companies listedthat we have as members.
We estimate that we have aboutninety.
Ninety eight percent of thecoverage in the US is Offered by
our members, so that means thatthere's a couple of companies
(36:42):
that haven't joined us andthat's just because they're
starting up or May only be in afew states and they're not at
the national level yet.
But all of those companies havegreat products, have a range,
typically, of coverage, sothere's sort of lighter or more
comprehensive coverage you canchoose and it's very easy.
(37:02):
There's a little guide forquestions to Ask yourself and
ask your veterinarian and again,it doesn't hurt for people to
take a look at the websites ofthose companies, get a quote and
compare what kind of coveragethat they're looking at.
Do they need a big lump sum?
Do they want something in themiddle or do they just want to
(37:24):
have something like because theyknow that they just need that
little bit of help that monthand if something bigger comes,
then they can move things aroundand pay for it afterwards.
But just be honest withyourself about what it is that
you'll need when that crisishits and also remember that it's
gonna hit it's whether that pethits when it's young, when it
hits when it's, you know, sortof a couple years old, or
(37:46):
whether it hits later.
Yourself said you had cancerand it was treated.
Cancer and pets is beingtreated all the time and pets
continue to live for many yearsafter that.
So just a responsible thing toknow, and don't be afraid to
download policies.
Most companies have samplepolicies on their website, the
written in plain language.
(38:06):
You can look at them and readthem and then you can ask
questions about them.
You know my pet gets cancer.
Is that covered?
If my pet has this condition,would that be covered?
How?
How does this work.
Amy Castro (38:18):
Yeah, that is so.
I think that is so important asbeing willing to ask those
questions, because I think toomany times and I guess that I'm
facing this with my own, my owninsurance it's like the monthly
cost really gets your attentionand you kind of get focused on
that.
But what are you paying for?
You know, that's what'simportant.
It's not because that lowercost you may be kicking yourself
(38:40):
later on because it doesn'tcover the things that your pet,
that you could have predictedthat your pet was gonna need.
I mean, we can't predicteverything, but we want to make
the smartest decision wherewe're balancing our financial
good judgment with our pets.
Health care, I mean those,those are two, two things that
are hard to juggle.
So you want to make sure youmake a good decision.
Kristen Lynch (39:00):
Well, and you know, the other funny thing we
do is we have a tendency to liketo pay for the fun things, so
we think nothing.
I mean, I go down to the petstore on a Friday night and I
walk out with a chew.
That's you know fifteen dollarsfor my dog.
It's got a little salmon on itor something and I get sucked
into that.
And then I'll look at my billevery month and go, oh gee,
(39:22):
should I keep paying this?
You know, fifty, sixty, seventydollar, thirty dollar policy.
And I don't think about all thebells and whistles and things
that I've done throughout themonth and cutting back on those.
Instead, I look at the thingthat's the target of my credit
card statement or you know, onmy automatic withdrawal that
month, and you're right, wehyper fixate on that thing and
(39:45):
go, that's gonna make such a bigdifference for us.
It isn't in the big thing, yeahthings.
But that $3,000 hit, or eventhat 3,4, $500 hit in the middle
of a month where things aretight.
My mortgage payment just wentup and the interest is going up
in my mortgage payment.
You know it's costing more tofill my car at the gas station,
(40:05):
those types of things.
And then we look for that.
We think that little saving ofthis amount is going to be the
thing that saves us.
That's actually when you needyour coverage, is when you're
financially strained.
That's when you should bethinking boy, am I ever lucky
and glad that I got thatcoverage in place, because now
I'm protected.
Amy Castro (40:24):
That's such a good point is to really look at what
you're spending, because that issomething that we see and I try
not to be judgy.
I try very hard not to be judgyin rescue, but I sometimes will
see things where people willcall and they're looking for
maybe not to surrender their pet, but they're looking because we
do provide financial assistancefor pet owners to keep their
pets and it's like, okay, youwant me to pay for that, but
(40:49):
you've been spending your moneyon this, this, this, this and
this.
And I think you know, again,try not to judge, but when we're
judging ourselves, maybe weneed to look at.
You know how many times did Ibuy unnecessary clothes or toys
or things?
Kristen Lynch (41:02):
that might.
How often am I getting my nailsdone?
You know those types of things.
Amy Castro (41:06):
Oh yeah, stuff for yourself, yeah.
Kristen Lynch (41:07):
It's really surprising when people are
looking at those things, sayingthat they can't afford that but
they're carrying, you know,their expensive coffee.
When they come in and sayingthey're broke right, and I just
think a couple times a week thecup of coffee that you're buying
would cover your pet for themonth, 100%.
Amy Castro (41:24):
that's such a good point.
So make your coffee at home andcover your pet so you're not
crying at the vet's office.
Kristen Lynch (41:29):
I still buy that, but don't target that one thing
as the thing that you're goingto save your money on that month
, right?
Amy Castro (41:36):
Yeah, good point and .
Kristen Lynch (41:38):
I do say all the time the cost of coverage is
reflective of the cost of care.
If care is going up and again.
Not targeting veterinarypractices because I have
tremendous respect and empathyfor the work that they do for
the costs and impact ofinflation on their business
right now and the fact that youknow to go to a veterinary
(41:58):
school or to be trained as a vettech these days is like
sometimes hundreds of thousandsof dollars or, you know, many
thousands of dollars of debtthat they carry for many years.
They're not making the bestwages in the world.
They're not being paid what ahuman doctor is or you know even
what our average income thesedays.
So a lot of them are not makingthe best money, have debt and
(42:21):
are in this because they lovepets and they're very dedicated
to it, so no one's begrudgingthem that and their need to keep
their practice running and toprovide that important service
right.
So it's just where we all live.
The world is a riskier placeright now and it's a more
expensive place and it justhappens to be the environment
(42:42):
that we're in, and I think petinsurance is a really great way
to be proactive and plan forthose known costs we're going to
have to spend at some point inour pets life.
Amy Castro (42:57):
Good point.
So any final thoughts, anythingthat I missed that we want to
hit on?
Kristen Lynch (43:04):
I think that the biggest thing that I like to
remind people is that petinsurance companies are used to
talking to pet owners.
They talk to them every day.
It's an emotional product.
People are emotional whenthey're making the decision
because they're thinking abouttheir pet.
They're emotional when they'reclaiming because their pet is
sick and they're having to maketough decisions at a time when
(43:25):
they're dealing with theemotional impact and stress of
their pet's illness at the sametime as they're dealing with the
emotional and stress of theeconomic impact On their lives.
And you know, when we meet withregulators to talk about pet
insurance, it's emotional.
It's an emotional conversation.
People love their pets.
We care for them very deeply.
(43:47):
The people who work in petinsurance have pets, love pets
and they're in it because theystumbled into this really unique
little product and they end outstaying because they're
passionate about it and theyreally believe that it's a very
positive way to be able toprovide for a pet that you love.
So I just like to remind peopleto not put off those
(44:08):
uncomfortable conversationsaround money, not put off those
the reality of owning a pet andloving a pet and them being part
of your family and to look atpet insurance as an option for
providing that care that we wantto be able to provide, and not
hesitating to provide that care,not waiting it out.
Amy Castro (44:29):
Yep, that's good advice to leave everybody with.
Well, Kristen, thank you somuch for being here with me
today and taking the time toeducate us on the importance of
pet health insurance.
I really appreciate it.
Kristen Lynch (44:43):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm always happy to answerthese questions and you asked
some really good ones and I willprovide you with a couple links
to some pages on our websitewhere people can go and look at
all the different coverages thatare available.
You said you were surprised tofind out that USAA had one.
People might be surprised tofind out a brand that they
already know, love and deal withhas one that they might be able
(45:04):
to have access to.
Amy Castro (45:06):
Yeah, definitely so.
We'll add that to the shownotes for all of our listeners.
Thank you to everybody forlistening to another episode of
Starlight Pet Talk.
I hope that this convinced youthat you need to investigate pet
health insurance and pleaseshare this with other pet lovers
, pet owners, family members whoare shopping for a pet right
now, because it's a life savingdecision that you're going to
(45:29):
make for you and for your pet.
Thank you for watching the show.
If you enjoyed and found valuein today's episode, we'd
appreciate a rating on Apple, orif you'd simply tell a friend
(45:51):
about the show, that would begreat too.
Don't forget to tune in nextweek and every week for a brand
new episode of Starlight PetTalk and if you don't do
anything else this week, giveyour pets a big hug from us.
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