How Pet Insurance Helped Cover Vet Bills From My Dog’s $62K+ Heart Surgery

GoodRx Health

When David Lippman's dog Sadie needed heart surgery, it could have easily cost him more than $60,000.

But he didn't have to pay that kind of money to save Sadie's life. Instead, David learned the critical role pet insurance can play when it came time to get care for Sadie, a dog he inherited 6 years ago from his late father-in-law.

David, a 64-year-old attorney and devoted owner of three dogs in Sherman Oaks, California, first bought pet insurance for the dogs in 2019. It has paid off.

"It is important for pet owners to sign up early for pet insurance," David says. "Unlike human health insurance, pre-existing conditions are still excluded with pet insurance. If we had waited until after Sadie's diagnosis, her heart murmur would have been excluded as a pre-existing condition, and our ability to afford the expensive surgery she needed would have been affected."

A vet detected a heart murmur during a routine dental visit

It all started when David and his wife took Sadie for a regular teeth cleaning. The vet did a routine heart check and informed them that Sadie had a mitral valve heart murmur.

"He told us at that time that it was not very severe but to keep an eye on it," David says.

At first, the murmur seemed manageable. But it soon worsened for Sadie, a nearly 11-year-old mixed-breed dog.

"That prompted us to take Sadie for an echocardiogram with a veterinary cardiologist, who officially diagnosed her with degenerative mitral valve disease," David says.

He began to fear that losing Sadie was a real possibility. "Her mitral valve, which controls blood flow from the left atrium of the heart to the left ventricle of the heart, appeared to be degenerating at a pretty quick pace," he says.

Pet medications and a shortened life expectancy

After Sadie's echocardiogram and blood work, her vet prescribed her a medication called pimobendan, which is meant to help strengthen the heart muscle. Still, David says, Sadie's condition continued to decline. She had her first congestive heart failure event. Her vet prescribed her Lasix, a diuretic for dogs. Even then, her progress was not good, David says.

"We were told that, on average, dogs will live for only about 6 months to 18 months once they are started on the Lasix," he says. "It was at this point that we really began feeling hopeless because of the apparent inevitability of Sadie's much-shortened life."

A costly surgery could save their dog

David was determined to explore every option to save Sadie. His search led him to the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital, one of the few places offering an advanced surgical procedure capable of repairing Sadie's heart valve.

"Once I looked into it, we moved quickly to get Sadie accepted for surgery," David says.

While he was relieved that he had a good medical option, he was still worried about the risk of an open-heart surgery. And the financial implications of Sadie's treatment were daunting.

In total, the costs exceeded $62,500, covering multiple emergency hospitalizations, extensive pre-surgical assessments, and the surgery itself.

Pet insurance became a lifeline

David and his wife have Embrace Pet Insurance, which reimbursed them nearly $40,000, covering most of the surgery expenses. This financial support alleviated a significant part of the financial burden.

In addition to the surgery claims, the pet insurance covered some additional expenses and related vet care.

"All in all, we have incurred total costs of about $62,500 and have been reimbursed by Embrace (for a significant portion of that)," David says. "The Embrace policy definitely made this possible for us to do."

Post-surgery, Sadie is living her best life

Sadie was one of the first dogs in the U.S. to undergo this heart valve surgery at the University of Florida. David says that no matter the cost, he was committed to saving Sadie. But he is grateful for the financial relief that pet insurance gave him and his family.

"We were able to easily submit our claims over the Embrace app, the claims were quickly processed, usually within a few days, and the reimbursements were deposited directly to my account within a few more days," he says.

David is pleased to share that Sadie is now doing well. She has returned to her normal energetic self, with no further need for medication. Her cardiologist is optimistic, expecting Sadie to live a full and healthy life.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.