How to Make Sure Your Pet Gets the Care it Need

Speaker 1:           Welcome back to Good Day Kentucky. It’s no secret that Americans love our pets, but many of us get a dog or a cat without realizing just how expensive it is to provide healthcare for our beloved fur babies. Here today with some timely pet care solutions is Jennie MacNaughton. She is the president of USAA Insurance. Welcome to the show, Jennie.

Jennie M:            great to be here.

Speaker 1:           Now, let me ask you this, why is it important to have health insurance or a health plan for your pets?

Jennie M:            Pets are such an important part of many families and if there’s an unexpected accident or illness, it can be a real financial hardship for a family. For example, cancer treatments can be $5,000, a torn ACL could cost $3,000 to repair. At USAA, we believe that pet insurance is an easy and affordable way to take care of your pets.

Speaker 1:           Now, what are some healthcare options pet owners can consider?

Jennie M:            Whether you’re getting a new puppy or kitten for Christmas, or you have an existing pet family member that you want to cover, there’s options available. First thing you’re going to want to do is get a comprehensive plan that covers accident and illness. The next decision will be, what kind of deductible or reimbursement works best for your families budget? You’ll also want to think about whether you’d like to add a wellness plan. That would cover things like vaccinations and well, veterinarian visits.

Speaker 1:           Gotcha, and you know what? We do a lot of things to take care of our own families, but what should we have, or should we even have a health plan for our pets to? I mean, is it just as important to have that as well as the one for your own family to?

Jennie M:            Yeah, absolutely because a lot of common veterinary procedures can be really expensive. If your dog or cat swallowed something and it had to be removed, that could cost an average of $800, which could be really challenging for a family budget if it’s unexpected.

Speaker 1:           Very true, very true. What is the process for filing a claim for a pet?

Jennie M:            It’s very simple and straightforward. You’ll go visit the vet of your choice, have the treatment, and then you just file a claim and with the documentation and in as little as 72 hours, you’ll get reimbursement.

Speaker 1:           Gotcha. Now, please tell us about your survey of the top 10 military pet names. I thought this was interesting.

Jennie M:            Yeah, it’s fun. We thought it would be fun to go out to our members and ask them about their most popular names and because we insure the military, we expected a lot tough military names, but actually Bella turned out to be the most popular name, which actually means beautiful. Luna was second, and good old solid Charlie was the third most popular.

Speaker 1:           Oh good. Now, where can we also go to find out more information about pet insurance?

Jennie M:            The best place to go is usaa.com/petinsurance. There’s lots more information there.

Speaker 1:           Awesome. Well Jennie, thank you so much for being with us on the show today. We really appreciate all the tips and everyone, you are watching Good Day Kentucky. Keep it right here.