I use healthy paws, and definitely recommend them. I had Trupanion for a year, but that was a mistake. They are infamous for doing a "bait and switch", giving you a competitive, attractive deal when you sign up, then when they've got you, jacking up their prices to a ridiculous extent. If you're interested in researching various options, there is a site for that:
http://www.petinsurancereview.com/cat.aspNote that I don't completely trust the info or reviews on there. I think there is a lot of bogus stuff on there. But it's a really good starting point, and lets you know what the options are. My advice is to get illness and injury coverage only. The preventative care stuff is always a bad deal. And make sure that your insurance pays based on actual costs, not some table of allowed costs.
The trouble with using savings is that you don't know when something catastrophic will happen, or what it's extent will be. It could be the first week you bring your kitten home, or on your cat's 20th birthday. You just don't know. But even if you do have sufficient savings when the event occurs, then you could still be forced with a tough choice: clean our your savings, or save your cat's life. Sometimes it's an even tougher decision than that: clean out your savings to try something that *might* save your cat's life, or let your cat die. I've been there, and don't ever want to be in that situation again.