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Podcast Episode 32: Wagmo Provides Insurance for Dogs with Pre-Existing Conditions

Welcome to Wear Wag Repeat Episode 32: Christie Horvath & Trina Pappadia of Wagmo are talking about their pet wellness business that’s going to make your next vet visit more affordable. If you’re looking for insurance for dogs with pre-existing conditions, Wagmo could be a great option for you! Although it’s not traditional insurance, it’s a wellness plan that reimburses you for many of your dog’s routine medical and health expenses.

In our converstaions we cover a lot of topics from how I’ve had to manage Burt’s epilepsy drug costs to underground marketing strategies that work well for Wagmo. If you’re looking for a way to cut down on costs of your pet care, this episode will help you out!

 

Health Coverage for Dogs with Pre-Existing Conditions

When you sign up for Wagmo, they will ask your location and your dog’s name, but never to they ask for your dog’s health history or records. Thats because they cover 100% of pets. It doesn’t matter if your dog has pre-existing conditions, Wagmo will take you on and reimburse you for all of the covered expenses.

Many pet insurance companies claim to cover pets with pre-existing conditions, but when I do more research I find that none of them will cover dogs with neurological disorders such as epilepsy. That’s why I use Wagmo for both of my dogs. Due to Burt’s epilepsy, he will never qualify for other traditional insurance plans. Wagmo covers pet who don’t usualy qualify for insurance.

Click here to check out Wagmo and get $10 off your first month!

(00:00) Intro
(00:30) Introducing Christie Horvath and Trina Pappadia of Wagmo
(02:15) How Christie came up with the idea of Wagmo
(04:16) Christie shares a story about how pet insurance saved her thousands of dollars
(05:26) Tori opens up about how her dog Burt has epilepsy
(08:40) What is the difference between Wagmo and pet insurance plans
(09:44) How does Wagmo make money
(11:20) Where to find lower vaccine costs
(13:33) The best part of starting your own business
(18:23) Christie talks all things hiring
(20:58) Christie shares more about her dog Aspen
(21:54) Trina shares about her pup Louis
(22:43) Christie + Trina shares a grassroots marketing technique

wagmo alternative to pet insurance

Podcast Episode 32: Christie Horvath & Trina Pappadia of Wagmo

Christie Horvath, Wagmo Founder

Christie Horvath is a dog-obsessed insurance nerd originally from Colorado. After working in finance for over 6 years in Manhattan, Christie and her dog, Denver, packed up their NYC apartment and moved to Cambridge MA to get an MBA from Harvard. She took all her classes on entrepreneurship, spent her summer researching the market and hanging out with dogs, and in October 2017 started working on Wagmo out of the Harvard innovation lab. Christie has a BA in Economics from Northwestern University, a masters from Harvard, and now has an 8-month-old puppy named Aspen.

Wagmo covers Routine Vet Visits 

Christie: Wagmo is a wellness plan for pet parents. What we’re ultimately trying to do is make it a little bit easier and affordable to be a responsible pet parent. It started with my dog Denver, who at seven started having seizures really bad. It turned out he had an inoperable brain tumor where our only choice was to do radiation. We did MRI’s, saw an oncologist, saw a neurologist, and ended up spending a ton of money to diagnose. He was my dog child and I had to put him down when I was in business school. It was terrible and traumatic for me. What I learned after that is how important routine care visits are. 

Pet Insurance for Emergency Vet Visits

Christie: We did have pet insurance which is why I feel so strongly about the going in this direction. Actually, when I first got Denver, he ate an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies off the counter and was so sick. And of course I freaked out, calling the poison control hotline. They told me to take him to the ER which cost me $5,000! Emergency vets are like quadruple the price. They had to pump his stomach, spend the night, feed him charcoal – the whole workup. Thankfully, I had insurance and only ended up paying $500.

What does Wagmo cover?

Christie: We have three plans. The basic one is pretty much the stuff that you’re paying for anyways as a pet owner. That includes exam fees, vaccinations and routine blood work. These are things that traditional pet insurance today doesn’t cover, but we do.

Our legit plan is $30 a month and covers all the same stuff as the basic plan plus flea, tick and heartworm medication and grooming. It’s $330 a year for that plan and we cover $100 worth of flea, tick, and heartworm meds that most dogs need each year. We reimburse you for all of that. And then we have the Extra plan that covers even more grooming plus dental care. 

Click here to check out Wagmo and get $10 off your first month!

How Does Wagmo Make Money

Christie: The short answer is we’re not making money on these plans. We’ve raised some money to be able to support the discounts that we’re offering. But most startups will tell you that what’s important in the early days is getting traction. Our first priority is to get our name out there.

But the real underlying business model here is that we take the pricing data that we collect based on our user’s vet visits and use that to help make pricing more transparent. For example, if we’re getting bills for your dog and see that there’s a clinic down the street from you that’s offering the same services at a considerable discount, we could say, “Have you considered going down the street? This clinic’s much cheaper.” And at scale that data is quite valuable! 

insurance for dogs with pre existing conditions

Podcast Episode 32: Christie Horvath & Trina Pappdia of Wagmo

FIND CHRISTIE + WAGMO:

Learn About Wagmo
Insta: @meetwagmo
Facebook: facebook.com/meetwagmo
Twitter: @meetwagmo

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You can also see all the episodes on the Podcast page of my site.

 

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