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Pet insurance
is becoming more and more popular among pet owners. In a recent survey, nine out of ten veterinarians recommend pet insurance. Unlike human’s health insurance, however, pet insurance is usually a form of property insurance. As such, insurers reimburse the pet owner after the pet has received care and the owner submit’s a claim to the insurance company. Otherwise, pet insurance works the same as human health insurance, in that it pays the veterinary costs if one's pet becomes ill or is injured in an accident. Some policies will also pay out when the pet dies, or if it's lost or stolen. Pet insurance helps ease the minds of pet owners by preventing them from incurring significant expense to treat ill or injured pets. As veterinary medicine progresses and increasingly employs expensive medical techniques and drugs, the cost of treating an ill pet also increases. Owners also have higher expectations for their pets' health care and standard of living in today’s world, considering their pet to be a true member of the family. Therefore, the market for pet insurance has increased.
The first pet insurance policy was written in 1890 by Claes Virgin, who was the founder of Länsförsäkrings Alliance. At that time he focused on horses and livestock. Then, in 1947 the first pet insurance policy was sold in Great Britain. As of 2009, Britain had the second-highest level of pet insurance in the world, with Sweden being in the number one spot. In 1982, the first pet insurance policy was sold in the United States for television's Lassie by Veterinary Pet Insurance.
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