Rational Thinking and Pet Health Insurance
Our view or opinions of an outcome often retroactively determine the merits of the decisions we make. Deftly diving out of the way of a speeding car would logically seem to be a smart decision. Landing in the way of another oncoming car, in retrospect, takes smart out of the equation.
Your choice was the same either way. You jumped out of the way of a speeding car. But the results dictate the apparent intelligence of the decision you made. If that’s the case, then we’re all subject to fate when it comes to measuring the virtue of our choices. But there’s another way of looking at things.
A very intelligent man once explained to me that the virtue of a decision can’t be judged on the simplicity of the decision itself but has to take all variables into consideration. Don’t worry, I had the same deer-in-the-headlights look you may have right now when he said it to me. But he went on to clarify things.
He paused and then asked me what I would do if he offered me an investment opportunity that could convert $5,000.00 of my dollars into $50,000.00 in ten years. Would I take it? To get me to think further he proposed that I’d have about a 50% chance of making that $50k and better odds of making only $30K or $40K. Regardless, I could rest assured that I’d almost certainly get my full investment back if things didn’t work out but I’d still have to wait 10 years. I considered the question and replied that I might take the opportunity if I had disposable cash handy and nothing pressing on which I felt it should be spent.
“OK,” he continued, “now what if I told you I might be able to make you $5 million dollars and all you’d have to invest is $5 for the purchase of a lottery ticket?” Well that, I thought, was a no-brainer. I’d hand over the $5 with hardly a thought.
He then deflated my confidence a bit by explaining I’d just made the same bad decision thousands of lottery ticket purchasers make every day. The mistake I was making being the failure to consider the odds in assessing the value of the investment simply because I was so impressed by the potential return relative to the amount I’d have to pay to get in on the deal.
But the point we’re trying to make here isn’t about gambling on lottery tickets or dodging oncoming traffic. What this article focuses on is the sometimes difficult choice we face when considering the value of purchasing veterinary insurance for our pets. If you’re in the market, you already know that it isn’t always a cut and dry decision.
As with the example of an investment vs. a lottery ticket, we struggle to make a smart decision when it comes to pet health insurance because we’re considering an investment in an unknown potential outcome. How will we feel spending hundreds of dollars each year if our pet never requires a costly medical procedure and, instead, dies peacefully of old age? Won’t we have made a bad decision and wasted our money?
On the opposite side of the coin, emotions prevail. What if we don’t purchase the insurance and wind up unable to afford to pay for an emergency? Will that mean we didn’t love our pet enough? Are we wrong for assigning a dollar value to the health of our animal?
Both of these approaches are wrong. The first thought process is a waste of effort. You can’t know the future. Your pet may well never need a medical procedure. Perhaps it’s a particularly healthy breed. But even the healthiest of breeds can have accidents, eat something it shouldn’t have or be hit by a car.
In relying on emotion in the decision making process, the second approach is no better. A financial decision should never be grounded purely in emotion. Your financial circumstances might simply dictate that you can’t afford the monthly fee for health insurance. That doesn’t mean you love your pet any less, it’s just a fact of economics.
Your decision to purchase veterinary insurance should be grounded in sound, rational thought. Take the facts into account and go from there. Consider what you’d face in a health emergency if you didn’t have pet insurance. Would your savings carry you through? If you are well off financially and are good at leaving your savings untouched except in emergencies, pet insurance may be completely unnecessary.
Consider your pet’s age and potential breed-specific health concerns. If you have a puppy, don’t live in a dangerous area with heavy traffic, plan to keep a close eye on your pet when it’s outside and have a generally healthy breed, postponing the decision to get health insurance until it is older may be the rational approach. Just don’t discount the potential for emergencies in your choice.
Does it make more financial sense to you to pay a monthly fee just in case? For many, the monthly expense of insuring a pet is preferable to the possibility of an unexpected hit to their savings. Job stability, the balance of your savings account and your own tolerance for risk should be the factors that influence your decision.
After reviewing all the facts absent attempts at prognostication and absent pointlessly kicking yourself emotionally, you’ll be able to make a smart decision. That means the right choice at the time regardless the unanticipated outcome down the road. A rationally grounded decision will leave you content with the knowledge that you did what was right at the time. Save the random, emotionally-based attempts at predicting the future for your trip to Vegas.