Employee Benefits Going To The Dogs and Cats
Regardless of how dog-eat-dog some may feel the working world seems, employers are increasingly looking out for their workers' pets.
That's the word from business-trend watchers who say that more companies are offering pet health insurance as part of their voluntary employee benefits package.
The insurance can be used to cover qualified medical expenses for pets-a cost that can rapidly add up over the lifetime of a dog or cat.
In fact, the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) reports that routine veterinary visits cost an average of $211 for dog owners and $179 for cat owners each year.
In addition, emergency surgery and emergency veterinary visits (which one in three pets needs every year) cost, on average, $575 for dogs and $330 for cats.
Implementing A Plan
Generally, when companies include pet health insurance as a voluntary benefit, employees who enroll receive a 5 percent discount on their base medical plan, in addition to any multiple pet discounts. Also, most companies let workers deduct their pet premiums directly from their paychecks.
Companies such as VPI Pet Insurance eliminate much of the traditional costs and overhead faced by employers looking to implement new benefits by handling all of the back-end administration for them.
The company's pet medical plans-which are the only ones in the nation to include birds and exotic pets-cover a multitude of medical conditions as well as optional Pet WellCare ProtectionSM for routine care.
Healthy Pets,
Happy Employees
There are more than 70 million dogs and 90 million cats in the U.S. Surveys show that, increasingly, their owners consider them part of the family-especially young professionals without children and older workers whose children have left home.
Employers are introducing pet insurance as a low-cost way to attract and retain many of these employees.
The number of companies offering VPI Pet Insurance, for example, has increased from 800 to more than 1,600 since 2003, and companies ranging from Washington Mutual and Viacom to Ford Motor Co., Navy Federal Credit Union and the National Association for Female Executives, now offer the insurance.
"Everyone who has it, including myself, finds it valuable and easy to use," explains Ann Dowell, executive director of human resources for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., a company that's offered pet insurance to employees since 2005. "It offers great peace of mind for any health issues affecting our furry family members."
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