Does Your Pet Need Health Insurance?

September is National Pet Health Insurance Month — and despite the not-so-lovely transparency of the industry's attempts to snag your attention (and your dollars) this month, the idea's definitely worthy of consideration for those of us living with companion animals.

Some 60 percent of American households include at least one dog, cat, bird or other companion animal. With projected pet expenses for 2010 at $47.7 billion, a financial safety net for emergency care sounds like an obvious strategy. The cost of veterinary services has gone up some 80 percent since 2000, in contrast to a 28.1 percent inflation rate for services in all other industries. And savvy pet owners recognize how quickly even routine expenses add up over time.

Still, even pet owners who warmly embrace their animals as members of the family sometimes hesitate to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on pet health care.  Their hesitation could actually be putting their own health at risk — that's right, because nurturing a pet means better health for you, too. Pet ownership confers a number of documented benefits, including a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, higher survival rates from heart attacks, significantly lower use of general practitioner services, a reduced risk of asthma and allergic rhinitis for children exposed to pet dander during their first year of their life, and better physical and psychological well-being for seniors.

Veterinarian and attorney Christopher J. Allen, DVM, JD, of Endwell Animal Hospital in Endwell, N.Y., is a pet health insurance convert. "I have disliked a number or aspects of the insurance industry ever since I was an insurance attorney in New York years ago," he says. "Today, the veterinary profession must include pet health insurance as part of the practice protocol. This is the most effective means to manage and assure optimized overall care. Pet health coverage is no longer just for the unexpected injury, illness or emergency."

Regular, preventive visits and even holistic pet care are becoming mainstream, offering pet owners more options than ever before. But are some Americans too poor for pets? We've reported elsewhere here at Change.org how nonprofits are providing financial aid to low-income families with pets, and Congress is considering the first-ever tax break for pet care. California is pressing for measures to increase transparency for pet health care plans, to prevent nasty surprises over pre-existing conditions or high-cost procedures.

Will measures like these be enough to make pet ownership a healthy, financially viable prospect for still more families? What do you think about pet health insurance plans?

Photo credit: Jesse Bikman