The truth about pet insurance

I've debated in my own head the worth and value of keeping my pet insurance for years now.

The facts... my 11 year old yellow lab with the exception of a few minor bumps and scrapes has thankfully lived an incident free life.

Yet for years, I have, through guilt or whatever other rationale, have been paying monthly premiums for pet insurance to the tune of approximately $60 per month ~ $58.14 to be exact. And I just got a notice that they would be increasing my rates once my dog turns 12 in March. Think about that for a second. That's almost $700 a year on insurance that may or may not get used.

On a normal year, I take my dog to the vet once a year for his annual visit to update his vaccinations (if needed, older dogs only need new shots every 3 years), and go through his routine veterinary exams. How much do these routine visits cost? Depending on what battery of tests my vet convinces me to opt-in to, anywhere from $200 - $300 per visit. So where's the logic in that? I spent $700 on insurance and how much do I get reimbursed? After fees, deductibles and x% co-insurance, about $120 - $190.

Last year, my dog actually had an incident and had a benign growth removed from his leg. In total, that cost me about $1,000. How much did insurance cover? about $530. so what gives?

I have never broken even on my insurance costs. Granted, my premiums included additional cancer coverage and thankfully my dog has not gotten cancer, but i'm starting to doubt whether I will ever be paid any more benefit than the premiums I have already spent.

So why do I do it? Why don't I just cancel the coverage and save the money? Because I have to. As sure as Murphy's law will intervene, the second I cancel coverage, I know I will find something bad growing on my dog.

So for now, the pet insurance companies still win, and suckers like me still pay.

What does everyone else think?