Smilingcat, I agree with you in theory. But my last three dogs had many $2000/month vet bills, not $2000/year, and while I can "afford" it, it's at the expense of bolstering my savings and retirement accounts. I'm spending over $150/month for EACH of my current dogs' medicines.

If Sammy follows the health path of my previous dogs, I'll come out ahead paying insurance premiums. But it's a crapshoot, and I'm not a big fan of insurance in general.

Thanks for all the thoughts. I'm leaning away from routine coverage, because as I read more about it, I found the max it will cover is $400/year. It's the big expenses I want to have covered, I think.

I'd love to hear about other folks' experience and ideas. Thanks again!