Increasingly, people are looking for job benefits that include their pets. Pet insurance is becoming a popular perk, as nearly half of Fortune 500 companies offer this to its employees.
It’s a given that our pets are like children. When they’re sick, we need to take care of them, and that bill isn’t usually inexpensive. Today’s workplace is reflective of this, as many employers have started offering pet insurance as a job benefit for their employees.
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According to Scott Liles, the chief pet insurance officer for Nationwide Insurance, about half of Fortune 500 companies offer some type of pet benefit coverage to their employees, and more and more employees are using the benefit.
Nearly two million pets were insured with some sort of policy in 2016, and by 2019, pet insurance is estimated to exceed $1 billion in market coverage. Liles said that employees view their pets as part of the family, and jobs that recognize that family relationship are on the top of prospective employees’ lists.
Pet insurance can cost $40-$100 a month if you buy on your own, and those policies typically cover accidents and illness, but not necessarily wellness visits or routine vaccinations. Having a job perk that helps or covers that is a relief to many employees, particularly when insurance is a bit of a gamble in that you may never need to use what you put in.
That said, Dr. Abe Van Beven with Petcure Oncology says that he doesn’t believe pets are insured enough because when you do need to access care for things like cancers, many humans cannot cover the cost for care. Treatment in situations like cancer or other diseases can cost a pet owner anywhere from $4,000 to $9,000, he says, and insurance is key.
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Personally speaking, and with a reasonably priced veterinarian, I’ve spent nearly $13K on my old golden retriever since last September. Between being diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease and having an unknown condition that brought us to removing one of her legs, I’ve often said that insurance would have been amazing. We currently have pet insurance for our puppy, and will forever.
That’s why I can see, as many others do, what a job perk pet coverage is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more companies followed suit!
