It’s open enrollment in most American companies. My least favorite time of the year. HR Superstar writes a great ‘tongue-in-cheek’ post on how to screw up the process.
Now that I’m self-employed, I have some benefit questions. I just spent $659 on my cat, Lucy, who had her teeth cleaned and 17 warts removed from her body. Yes, that’s right. Feline warts along Lucy’s spine and tail. I swear to God, my vets won the jackpot when I moved to town.
I want pet insurance, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. Any insight or recommendations on a pet insurance program? Do you offer pet insurance to your employees? Do they like it?
I would love to do the math and figure out if the premium rates are less expensive than paying for the procedures outright, but I work in HR and I can’t do math.
Oh, and here’s what else I want to know: what’s the weirdest benefit you offer? The most luxurious perk? Give me the deets.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Oof, this one hit home. Just spent yesterday and $1100 at the ER with my dog, finding out she has a fungal infection in her lungs that has a poor prognosis and, if she makes it, will cost us about $400 a month in medication for several months. There goes my new Mac
I think pet insurance would be great. In fact, I think it would be more beneficial for more people than, say, a daycare. If you think of benefits in terms of which ones will drive engagement and (I know you hate this Laurie) retention, instead of how flashy they are, I think pet insurance would make the list, IF you had a relatively long list.
We have good (dare I say even great?) benefits at my company. Unfortunately, a great benefit in an awful culture, or for a shitty manager, can become a golden handcuff that ties someone somewhere they don’t want to be and reduces the value they bring. Jobshare is a great example. A jobshare is very hard to come by, very difficult to negotiate as an external candidate, and once you have one you never want to give it up, even if you’re miserable in the job.
The most guilt-inducing perk we have is that this past spring, in the middle of the rest of the world’s financial meltdown, we built a Starbucks in our building. (Now I will let you guess what industry I work in
We don’t offer pet insurance at our company (although I am working on it) but I do buy pet insurance for my two dogs through ASPCA. It is $1200 for the year for the two of them and I have been reimbursed for at least what I pay into it the three years I have had it. I have the top of the line insurance and it covers everything. I recommend it.
I wouldn’t call this a benefit, but it makes me giggle. At Christmas, we have retirees come in (we pay them) and wrap our employee’s Christmas presents. I have taken full advantage of this the last three years I have been with my company….now if only they did birthdays…
ugh… doing open enrollment right now
Our medical insurance is great. We get 100% coverage on everything, no deductible and a small $15 copay for dr visits. Everything else is paid. The premiums are reasonable and they don’t go up every year like at some companies. It is, however, killing the company. We have to reduce the benefits this year and I’m working on some kind of company funded HSA– but I digress…
We don’t have any golden handcuffs here. Mostly because we are a small company. I don’t think my employees would appreciate pet insurance. I think they would rather have raises and higher salaries… wait, maybe thats just me.
I have an English Bulldog and he is forever having something wrong. He is an expensive little f**ker but I love him so much and hate that people have bred these kinds of dogs to the point where they wouldn’t be able to survive without someone to take them to the vet. But pet insurance isn’t worth the premiums for me.
Best perk – all the free ice cream you want. 20% off home delivery. Employee store where our food is dirt cheap (last week I bought 5 pizza’s for 2 bucks and a box of ice cream sandwiches for 50 cents).
Other than that pretty standard stuff.
Laurie, my previous company wouldn’t offer pet insurance in a million years, but being the owner of FIVE dogs that I would essentially do anything for, I thought I needed and wanted it.
I researched many companies but settled one of the largest players in the field – Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI). My vet said he thought it was the best of the companies he dealt with and my former biz partner used it with his 3 dogs.
I ended up canceling the insurance almost immediately after I purchased it because I forced myself to do the math: the premiums were so expensive and the exclusions so great that I determined it wasn’t worth it. For example, the coverage excluded all knee/joint surgeries (like patella luxation). I already had one dog that had patella luxation surgery to the tune of 2 grand – so what was I buying insurance for?
Since that time one of my dogs has had TWO MRIs – each one cost almost 2500 dollars. I have made many trips to the ER for wound care (dogs play rough!) and each costs around 500-700 dollars. I think they built the animal emergency clinic within a mile of my house because they saw a sucker. I still don’t regret not having the insurance.
You’ve GOT to do the math and read the coverage and exclusions carefully before buying, because it can be a beneficial thing to have. Or not. Have someone help if necessary.
Hi Laurie,
Sorry to hear about the vet bills, I’ve been in your shoes. To answer your first question, we (The Motley Fool) do offer Pet Insurance, and there is no overhead to the company, you can just call VPI and arrange for an employee discount. It doesn’t cost the employer anything. It’s a cool perk for all pet owners.
As for our most unusual perk, we have a monthly event called “The Fools Errand” –all names of employees with one or more years of tenure are dropped in a hat (spreadsheet, actually)–your name goes in the number of years you’ve been here. We pull one name out, and that person MUST take two weeks off that month, no contact with work, and the following month, he or she must present to the company what they did. Ideally you can learn something, take a cool trip, do volunteer work, but we have a lot of new parents here who enjoy the extra time with their families.
It’s popular because it forces you to take a vacation, but it’s good for the organization to see if we have any single points of failure.
The company that I work for does offer pet insurance. It’s a great perk, when it works.
The problem with the benefit that many employees have run into is similar to issues with human health insurance. Depending on the company, the coverage varies. For example, it is my understanding that the provider that we currently partner with (VPI Pet Insurance) does not cover pre-existing or hereditary conditions. This means that when your pug has problems with her eyes, it won’t be covered because pugs are prone to eye conditions. The plan does cover some pricy treatments though. And the plans do have fairly low premiums (around $20-$30). So, depending on your needs, it can pay out.
The lesson here is to do some extensive research to determine whether or not the policy meets your needs.
@HRPufnstuf – 50 cent ice cream bars! I would weigh more than a mac truck, ice cream is my crack cocaine.
I have a golden insurance plan, a newly built $2,000,000 dollar relaxation center, 24 hour gym, massages, and a wellness center at my disposal. But the company sees a 140 million dollar savings if health care of any sort passes, they will drop our benefits like a hot rock. The upside is that there will be no reason to keep a position here unless: you love where you live, you love your work, or the pay increases to offset the loss of benefits.
With four dogs and a cat we should have insurance but we have not looked into it, but thanks to @InkedHR and this blog we will tonight.
I looked into Pet Insurance a few years ago for my dog & totally regret not getting it. At the time, I was worried about the costs, it seemed pretty expensive at the time. Since then, my dog (a rare endangered species of Beagle Dalmatian:-) has had more surgeries then I could imagine for these really gross benign tumors she gets, many rounds of meds for ongoing bladder issues (also gross) & the ultimate procedure this summer of amputating one of her toes. She’s lived far longer then I ever thought she would at 14 yrs & by removing the toe I think we’ve added more yrs to her life. If I ever get another pet, I’m totally revisiting the insurance thing, but it can be costly & they do look at pre-existing or hereditary conditions. I’m pretty sure though that my vet sent his kid to college on what he’s made from us so it may be worth it in the end. I do know that she’s been around a lot longer then most people in my life & I’ll do it all again if it keeps her happy & healthy, insurance or not.
My company overall has pretty good benefits, far cheaper with better coverage then anything else I’ve ever had. Also, I like that if I go back to school they’ll pay for it and if I want to work out I can use our fitness center. Which now reminds me, I need to call and schedule a Dr’s appointment.
I purchased pet insurance for the first year of my puppies life and after doing the math, it covered all the start up shots, including spaying, it worked out better then paying cash for everything even with the minimal monthly payment of I think $15? After the first year, it didnt make sense for me to keep it, so I dropped it. My company on the other hand is sooooo cheap…they offer no perks, we have horrible health insurance coverage, we have very few paid days off and we have to beg and explain why we want a day off and we still get grief when we return….but hey, I’m glad to have a job!
Well, I get a 10% discount off of anything sold in our stores. Other than that, nothing too unusual. A bunch of small discounts here and there and the standard PTO and health insurance benefits. My coworkers tell me the latter is not as good as it used to be in the past (of course, that’s academic for me until I’ve been here long enough to qualify for it). Partial tuition reimbursement too, which is nice since I’m in school part-time.
OMG Puf.. can i come work where there is free ice cream?
I promise to be a great ROI
No great benefits here– but my boss isn’t a micro-managing jerk-off– which can be the best benefit of all sometimes.
About the insurance– If the GOP & Blue Dogs have thier way– your cat will be turned down for a pre-existing condition and left to die– as they rub thier hands together and laugh while the campaign contributions roll in.
That’s the free market, baby!
@Kristy Ooooh, I’m so sorry about your doggie. I’m sending #nosetaps (as we say on Twitter) your way. What a tough diagnosis. Good point re: good benefits vs. shitty culture. PS — We had a Starbucks at Monsanto and Pfizer and it was very nice. I was caffeinated all day. Too scary.
@InkedHR Thanks for the ASPCA recommendation — & I love how you have retirees come back to work. That’s such a nice idea.
@teresa Hahahahaha, bulldogs are such a weird breed. Don’t you have to birth them via c-section? That doesn’t sound right to me, but they are so cute. I think you’re right: most people are like F–k fancy benefits, give me cash.
@Puf Holy crap, free ice cream? I’m moving there and going back into HR.
@Joan Thanks for sharing that story, and yes, I hear you. I cannot do the math, though. That’s why I blog.
@Kara Whoa, that benefit is awesome. Thanks for sharing that. I can see how it’s a good test of your organizational pressure points. If someone disappears for two weeks, it forces you to think about how you structure work.
@Andrew I love how animal pre-existing conditions aren’t covered. Sheesh.
@JohnC I had great benefits at PFE but no relaxation center. I’m trying to think of any company that wouldn’t dump their benefit package and stick everyone on the public plan. The employer mandate is so stupid, anyway.
@Amey Whoa that is one expensive dog. What we do for the least among us, right? You gotta take care of such an awesome mix of breeds. Dalmatian/Beagle must be an amazing bundle of energy!
@LatinaHR Holy crap you need a new job so badly. Let’s make that our goal.
@Tim I think tuition reimbursement is so important. Why more companies don’t do it? Beyond me.
@MattyMat Lucy is a socialist.
Hi Laurie, in my experience, it’s not worth it. I had it a couple of years for my cats, and I found that most things weren’t covered, and the things that were covered still required me to pay a majority of the costs myself. The premiums weren’t that high, but the experience was frustrating so I went back to paying for everything myself. Another observation is that you can’t take your animal into the vet with any kind of worrisome symptom without spending at least $500.
Laurie,
Yes to the C-section…
I didn’t want this one to end up in the cycle of baby makin’.
We offer pet insurance and I have it on 3 dogs and 2 cats. I have the “my dog ate the garden hose” plan, which covers catastrophic events. I’ve always thought it was worth it and have had to use it one time for a gigantic lumpectomy on one of the dogs. I was happy.
We offer free, confidential on-site healthcare three days a week, on-site massage therapy, and long service leave – 4 additional paid weeks off – after 1 years of service and every 5 years after that
Vet bills are suuuper expensive nowadays! Or so it seems like! Ahh. I luckily got pet insurance a couple years ago with Trupanion pet insurance. It’s kind of a newer company compared to VPI and such but the reason why I went through them is because I got to pick my own deductible! Like it ranges from $0 – 1,000 and if you pick a lower deductible the monthly premium is a little higher than what it would be if you were to pick a higher deductible. Also Trupanion pays 90% of the vet bill and that to me is just super crazy. If you are really looking into pet insurance, I would definitely recommend taking a look at their website. You can also do a free quote and you can compare other companies to one another. The website is: http://www.trupanionpetinsurance.com oh and if you want to look at reviews I would go to: http://petinsurancereview.com That website is pretty nice because you can see how other people have been treated what was covered or not!
Good luck!
@Alexandra I’m with you — I get the sense that it wouldn’t cover what I’m looking for… and since I’m too lazy to do the math, I’m also too lazy to do any more research about it.
@Jackbuilt I’m jealous. I want onsite massage — and I want @mrscrubby to offer it to me.
@teresa Good for you!
@Sandi Do you work for Trupanion? I wonder if companies are interested?
I don’t have pet insurance, per se, but my 3 dogs are enrolled in a wellness program with their vet that is very similar to an insurance plan. Though the vet is overpriced as hell, they are also super convenient and have great hours. Oh, and they let me drop the muts off to do all their vet stuff so I don’t have to sit there and cry when they get shots (yes, yes, I do cry during their shots). The cool thing about the plan is that you can opt into different tiers. I purchased the muddle tier because it would cover the cost of having the little dogs’ teeth cleaned twice a year, and blood/organ tests on the older dog. It made sense once I calculated what our regular maintenance costs are. The only benefit for emergency or extraordinary (surgery) situations are free office visits and discounts on meds.
Sucks having to calculate the costs, but it totally depends on the health of your pet and whether or not you’re the kind of person will do whatever it takes to care for your pet.
The wellness plan I use: http://www.banfield.net/optimum-wellness-plans
Hey laurie! Ha ha no, I dont work for Trupanion but I did ALOT of research when I was gettin pet insurance! I even did some calling and talked to different people! So if your serious about getting pet insurance, definitely do some research! Trupanion is the one that I thought suited me well, hope it suits you too!