Review II: Nationwide Pet Insurance (After 5 Years So Far)

You may recall last year that I wrote about a couple pet insurance claims with Nationwide for my dog Lucy that involved removing a bunch of benign masses from under her shoulder.  Well unfortunately, 2024 included three more claims: one for my cat Benzi and two for Lucy...

OPERATION #1 (BENZI - STOMATITIS):

Benzi was born with some pretty unfortunate luck.  I didn't blog about it, but back when Benzi was 8 months old, he actual developed Acute Kidney Failure and had lost so much weight, down to 4.5lbs after not eating for days.  I honestly thought he was going to die.  I took him to St. Mary's Animal Clinic because it was close to my house and the vet Dr. Laura Maillard diagnosed the condition.  Dr. Laura was great and offered me an affordable, at-home treatment to help save my cat's life and Benzi made a full recovery from that.  You can read about my review on Google here if you're curious about it.  Dr. Laura eventually left St. Mary's but I followed her to Bernarda Veterinary Hospital and will basically follow her now wherever she goes.  The kidney failure was before I acquired pet insurance for him, so that $1,000 in diagnostics and treatment came out of pocket and since this is a pre-existing condition before the insurance was activated, no future kidney failures can be claimed.  Let's hope it never happens again...

I've known about another condition for a while now called Stomatitis, which basically involves Benzi's teeth and gums.  He was unfortunately born with it and now that he's 5+ years old, Dr. Laura suggested it was time to treat his mouth.  The operation was successful and I submitted Benzi's first ever claim, which was reimbursed for $1,190.44 after my $250 annual deductible and omitting the dental cleaning.

Nationwide Insurance Claim #1 - Benzi (tuxedo cat), Stomatitis

OPERATION #2 (LUCY - VALLEY FEVER):

I went out of town for Labor Day weekend and left my dog Lucy in care of a friend who had never taken care of her before.  The friend would end up taking Lucy on all kinds of trips, for example to Mt. Lemmon or the nearby apple orchard farm.  When I got Lucy back, she stopped eating for a couple days and I it was near impossible to get her to eat anything, even boiled chicken (which most dogs will always scarf down).  After two days of her not eating, I had to take her to Urgent Vet, which is unfortunately more expensive than my normal vet because it is urgent care.  The vet couldn't tell what was wrong with her at first, but asked if I wanted to pay for additional diagnostic tests.  The nice thing with having insurance is that you stop thinking about how much medical care costs, because there is some peace of mind that it will be reimbursed later.  So I opted for the additional tests and one of them was for Valley Fever, which turned out to be what Lucy had!  If I didn't have insurance, I might have opted not to run the test for $100 and it would have taken longer or more to find out what Lucy's condition was.  It's likely that Lucy picked up Valley Fever from those excursions during my friend's care for her, from spores in the air or dirt.

The treatment for Valley Fever is simple, it just lasts a while.  I pick up bottles of Fluconazole that cost about $50 for 2 months worth and I give Lucy .4mL by mouth twice daily.  I am told from Dr. Laura that this treatment will last 6 months before we are able to revisit her levels and see if she's fully recovered.  But at least Lucy is fine and eating well again!  Here is Lucy's second ever claim, which was reimbursed for $895 after the $250 annual deductible.

Nationwide Insurance Claim #2 - Lucy (terrier dog), Valley Fever

OPERATION #3 (LUCY - MASS AND TOOTH REMOVAL):

Poor Lucy.  While she was diagnosed with Valley Fever, I also discovered a mass growing on her skull.  My vet had done some research about Lucy's "breed" of dog when the first mass appeared and learned that they are just a factory for developing these masses, albeit benign.  This one was on her skull however, and I definitely didn't want it to grow any larger, so I scheduled surgery a few months after the start of Valley Fever treatment to give Lucy some time to recover from that.

Here is Lucy's third claim, which also included a removal of some of her teeth since they were in a pretty poor condition.  We opted to do this now since it was inevitable and Lucy would be sleeping from the mass removal anyway.  The total reimbursement for this operation was $1,632.75, which only omitted the dental cleaning since my annual deductible from the previous claim had already been met.

Nationwide Insurance Claim # 3 - Lucy (terrier dog), Mass & Tooth Removal

A POST-ANALYSIS OF INSURANCE COSTS VS SAVINGS:

A lot of people will ask me if pet insurance is worth it.  Honestly, it's like any insurance in the world: it's worth it if you use it or if you have trouble setting aside money for when things go awry.  It's up to you to decide if you'd rather save chunks of money for when your pets eventually get sick or if insurance is something that can work for you.  I will say however that like in Operation #2 with Lucy's Valley Fever, it was nice to have the reassurance that insurance would cover the additional diagnostic tests that I may have not elected for had I been paying out of pocket.

When I first started the pets on insurance, it was $18/mo for the cats and $30/mo for the dog.  Now it is $23/mo for the cats and $44/mo for the dog.  The monthly insurance went up for the cats as they are getting older (or maybe inflation?) and I'm not sure if the increase for the dog is higher because of the previous claim or age/inflation or both...

Regardless, we can "estimate" if pet insurance is worth it by doing some ballpark math.  I don't know exactly when my rates changed, but let's just say it was $18/$30 for the first 3 years and $23/$44 for the next two years, just to give us an idea of how much I'm spending versus saving:

Benzi = ($18 x 42 months) + ($23 x 24 months) + ($250 deductible) = $1,558 paid over 5.5 years.  With $1,190 reimbursed, that means I'm -$368 for Benzi so far and 1 operation.

Ember = ($18 x 38 months) + ($23 x 24 months) = $1,236 paid over 5 years.  This means I'm -$1,236 for Ember so far and 0 operations.

Lucy = ($30 x 28 months) + ($44 x 24 months) + ($250 deductible x 2 claims) = $2,396 paid over 4 years.  With $1,147 + $934 + $895 + 1632 = $4,608 reimbursed, that means I'm +$2,212 for Lucy so far and 4 operations.

So there you have it.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...your pets will eventually get sick.  So far the pet insurance has definitely been worth it and I'm happy that I went with Nationwide's Major Medical Plan for all three pets!

Review: Kaisar Garage Door Replacement

The week before Labor Day weekend was a little crazy.  I came home around 9pm from pickleball league on Wednesday night, with intentions to pack for my trip to Minnesota with a 5am flight out the next morning.  My garage door had opened just fine, but when I tried to close it, it suddenly got stuck.  The two wheels on the bottom panel of the door had come off the track.  My garage door was pretty old, in fact it was the door that came with the house (built in 2000), so about 24 years now.

However, I was in a rush to get the door closed since I had to leave for a flight in less than 8 hours, so I frantically tried to fix the wheel/track/door myself so I could just get the door closed.  Unfortunately, the axle for one of the wheels was off the bracket, and there was no way to get it back in without completely removing the bracket.  As I tried to fix the door, it just got worse and worse.  A lot of it has to do with the door being old and a poor design.  It also had to do with my ignorance and not having the proper tools to keep the door held up while I worked on it.  As a result, my door looked like this after an hour of making things worse:

As you can see from the pictures above, all of the door had completely fallen off the track on both sides and by the end of the night, it was only hanging by the motor at the top of the garage and a single wheel on the left track.

I was extremely stressed out and couldn't leave my garage in the shape it was, so I canceled my flight out to Minnesota.  I woke up at 6:30am on Thursday morning to call garage door companies in my area.  I started with Kaisar Garage Doors & Gates because it was a company I used in the past to replace my motor and fix a bent panel.  They were really affordable and did a good job, plus the house actually came with a Kaisar garage door that had lasted some 20+ years.  When I called Kaisar, they told me that they could come out 10am.  I really wanted to the door fixed in the same day so I could possibly still make my trip out to Minnesota.  So I called up another company called A1 Garage Door Service, which was also one that my friend Jenny had given a good review on Yelp.  A1 told me they could come between the hours of 11am-3pm.

I got a call from Kaisar that an appointment had canceled, so they came to see me even earlier at 8am.  The salesperson's name was Scott and was there to give me an estimate on the price and work required for the door.  I wanted a full replacement of the door.  Scott first just wanted to help me get the door off the motor and track so that it didn't cause any damage or possibly fall off and hit my car.  So he helped me detach it and move it outside safely for free.  He said he could have charged for something like that, but he was just a normal human being who wouldn't want that on his own garage and it was a fairly simply task to do (with my help holding the door and pushing it away from the car as it fell down).  He told me a full replacement (door, tracks, springs) would run me around $1700 and that the earliest installation would unfortunately not be until the following week.  He also did a very interesting but cool thing, which was refer me to a friend who might be able to get it replaced same day had I really wanted it fixed in the same day.  However, it wasn't going to be an established company, more of a private practice, so I was hesitant.  Still very honest of the guy, which I loved.

A1 proceeded to come by at around 11:30am.  The technician did their measurements and then asked me to come out and hear the estimate.  He called a salesperson at the office and put them on speaker phone.  They were not short and to the point and kept asking me silly side questions about how I like the service or is so-and-so treating me well.  The salesperson on the phone finally gave me a quote for a full replacement (door, tracks, springs) and told me a price of $3700!  He even said he gave me a $500 discount.  The technician who was live in person started nodding his head and said afterwards "not too bad!".  I felt like this was a sleazy company and the price felt very marked up.  I think they were trying too hard to present "pleasant" customer service and make me feel like I was getting a good deal and treated well.  I told them I would think about it, and then the salesperson on the phone started asking me "what are the things your thinking about"?  Inside my head I was like, "I really don't have to answer that", but to be friendly I simply responded with things like "time of installation is going to be important for me".  They finally left but there was no way in hell I'd use them as a company.  Now I just really want to talk to my friend Jenny and learn about her experience with them.  How did they earn such a good review from her?

With the garage door off the ceiling and stowed away to the side safely, my garage was completely exposed.  I decided I could still make my trip to Minnesota, so I booked a new flight on Delta for $400 that would get me there at 1am on Friday, effectively only missing a half-day of my trip.  It was an extra $200 to make it out, but sometimes this shit just happens and you gotta pay the difference to make up for emergencies.  I then put all valuables from my garage into the house and backyard.  I texted my neighbor, telling them my situation and if they could help watch my garage for me while I was gone for some 5 days.  They actually agreed to help by having her son and nephew park their cars on my driveway during the weekend (instead of in the street) to help make it look like people where at the house at all times, which was really nice!  I would eventually reward my neighbor and her family with some cookies from Nosh Tucson, which is a bakery my friend Tina owns.  I then took a rideshare to the airport so that my garage would be occupied with my car all weekend and give an illusion that I was home all the time.

I proceeded to go to Minnesota (for the rennaissance fair and to witness my friend proposing to his girlfriend of 8 years) and while I was nervous leaving my house with the garage door open, I felt somewhat safer knowing that it was being watched by friends and the neighbor.  I also have a camera for the cats inside the house, so I would know if someone made it inside and past the locked door.

The installation for my garage door wasn't scheduled until Friday of the following week, but Kaisar knew of my situation and called me on Tuesday and told me they could install it on Wednesday since an appointment had fallen off!  They came and got it installed in about 2 hours and I was so happy to have a brand new garage door.  This one also has a much better wheel and track design, so the chances of it falling off the track are not so easy now.

In the end, it also only cost me $1600, which was really close to the ball-park estimate that Scott had given me.  I then picked up some paint and supplies from Home Depot for about $100 and painted the door later in the week.  We're finally back up and running!

I would 100% use Kaisar Garage Doors & Gates again.  It felt nice to work with a company who just seemed really down-to-earth and honest.  And I can't complain with the price either!