I definitely believe in pet insurance although unfortunately for me there is none here. However, hopefully Gareth @BronsonTheBulldog will see your post as he should be able to recommend the best insurance company for Frenchies.
I have never had insurance. In my multi-dog days, I just wouldn't have been able to afford to insure them all. Fortunately, I never had any serious illnesses, and in those days the vets had fewer expensive treatments to offer anyway. Eddie has been my most expensive 'patient' having thyroid problems, and needing several bowel operations. Last year, I consulted a referral dental vet in an attempt to save a tooth that he had fractured. After investigating the possibility of a root canal, the specialist decided that he couldn't save the tooth, and extracted it - the bill came to £766.43. Three times what my own vet would have charged for an extraction! In retrospect, I do wish that I had insured this boy, but once the problems have shown up, there can be the problem of exclusions, and weighting of premiums - especially for older dogs.
In short, Bronson was with John Lewis first, until he had his BOAS (Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome) surgery, then they wanted double the amount so I switched to Bought By Many. But didn't include this condition as an ongoing part of my policy, as I didn't see the point once it was sorted. Best to go for unlimited lifetime insurance as it covers all manners of conditions (except dental, no insurance company does for any dog so bear that in mind in your contingency budget!) The benefits of lifetime is, you can get cover for up to as much as 15+ thousand and it resets every year and covers ongoing condtions more than once. But all that can be read in any companies policy documents. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions, and if I can answer them, I will. Just so your aware of the cost of not insuring your dog, a friend's Frenchie fell off the bed and it cost 4k to fix her broken leg because she didn't have cover!
Pet Plan is supposed to be a good one - although expensive. With all my dogs, I've just put the money away from them being pups into the bank instead of insurance. So far, it's worked out cheaper, but, of course, the unexpected can always come and bite you in the bum
