Pet Insurance? Is it worth it?

I am not sure. I was about to take out insurance and one of my dogs got ill. It has cost me out-of-pocket before the end of this month is over ... close to a grand. While just asking my vet about this last week ... he poo-pooed the idea stating that most of the insurances don't cover anything I have had to have done in the last two weeks? He thinks it is not worth it? I am also confused. :/

I only had office visits, x-rays, a barium, and some blood work and a urinalisis done and a one day stay at the hospital. He claims these would not have been covered anyways? This did not include medications or prescription dog food.

I would like to know too.

EDIT: Also ... if there is a pre-existing condition or a breed specific condition I am told insurance will not cover either and some have a clause about the breed specific conditions .... fine print.

I don't really know anyone personally that has it, and I worry a lot about the things not covered. Of course, reading the fine print would clear some things up, I'm sure. Personally, I keep an extra spare cash fund for the dogs. I adopted 2 puppies and part of the contract was neutering within 3 months, so I was putting away a lot of money before that, keeping it separate from my regular money. Even now, I have a "secret dog money stash," which I go to for dog food if I'm low on money, and that I am mostly saving for unexpected medical bills.

That's what gets you, I think. I mean, you expect certain things like checkups and shots and can prepare, but I keep the extra cash for anything I can't prepare for (lilke when mine had bloody stools, and I had to get exams and stuff to find out they had tapeworms, and then I got the meds for that, as well as accidents (god forbid) and things like infections). If you read the fine print and think it'll cover a good deal of that stuff, or their regular meds (rx dogfoods, flea/worm stuff, or whatever) it might be, but I think you need to weigh the costs and benefits. For me, i feel like I'm better off just paying cash for the bills.

I've gone back and forth about this. If you're going to do it, I STRONGLY recommend doing it before you even get the dog, because the companies I've looked at have really broad definitions of "pre-existing condition." For example, one of them will exclude ALL allergy treatments if the dog had previously had an ear infection, and will exclude treatments for problems with both legs if there was a sprain on one side. Ridiculous, in my view. So I would buy the policy before you get the dog, to avoid all that. I would also read very carefully to see what they do for "genetic" problems and for problems caused by competition, if you think you might want to do any kind of dog sports. Several companies exclude that stuff. I know someone who had insurance and still had to pay out of pocket for cherry-eye surgery on her Cocker Spaniel because it's considered to be hereditary, and her policy excluded it. Expensive! I have also heard that the insurance company won't always pay for the "best" option, e.g. if your dog needs knee surgery the company might be willing to pay for something, but not for the best specific procedure for your dog.

Most companies exclude basic care (including spay/neuter), vaccinations, medications -- unless you pay extra for a policy that covers it. At this point, we've had Biscuit for 9 months and I feel like tons of things would be excluded anyway, so we've just been socking away the money every month.