How to Choose Pet Insurance

Pet care can be expensive, especially for a surprise illness or injury. Consider that the cost of emergency surgery on a cat or dog ranges from $1,600 to $10,000. But you don’t have to stress—pet health insurance can help curb costs.

Choosing a pet insurer, however, can be tricky because they vary in policy pricing, coverage, and services offered. A company could be great for one pet owner but work out less well for another. To help you find the right fit for your furry friend, here’s how to choose the best pet insurance.

#1: Pick a Type of Pet Insurance

The first step to selecting the best pet insurance company is deciding on the type of coverage you want and need. While accident and illness coverage is the most common type of pet insurance coverage, an accident-only policy may be the only option if your pet doesn’t qualify for an accident and illness plan or you can’t afford a more comprehensive policy. If you’d like to reduce your ongoing preventive care costs, look for a provider that offers wellness coverage, too.

Here’s additional information on what the different types of pet insurance cover.

Accident and Illness Coverage

Standard pet insurance helps cover vet costs from unexpected illnesses and accidental injuries. Unexpected illnesses can include conditions like:

• Allergies
• Arthritis
• Heart disease
• diarrhea
• Skin infections
• Cancer

On the other hand, accidental injuries can include things such as broken bones, cuts, snake bites, heatstroke, and ingested items.

If one of these unfortunate situations occurs, pet insurance often covers some or all of the vet services your pet will need such as:

• Emergency vet clinic care
• Specialist care
• Hospitalization
• Surgery
• Diagnostic testing (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, etc.)
• Prescription drugs

Overall, accident and illness coverage provides an affordable way to prevent large vet bills when your pet is accidentally hurt or sick.

Accident-Only Coverage

Accident-only coverage, also known as “emergency pet insurance,” only covers accidental injuries that your pet incurs. This coverage is often a last resort for pet owners whose pets don’t qualify for accident and illness coverage or who can’t afford an accident and illness plan.

Wellness and Preventive Care Coverage

Preventive care coverage helps pay for the typical costs of keeping your pet healthy. For example, it may cover some or all of the costs for wellness exams, vaccinations, health screenings, microchipping, fecal tests, flea control, and deworming. It can be offered as an add-on to accident and illness coverage.

#2: Assess Your Pet’s Needs

Along with knowing the types of pet insurance available, common policy exclusions are important to be aware of as they can drastically reduce your pet’s coverage.

Breed and Age Considerations

Pet insurers assess the health state of pets before approving them for coverage and may deny a pet coverage due to its age or breed. For example, Embrace won’t cover pets until they are six weeks old, accident and illness coverage is only available until age 15, and pets 15 years and older are only eligible for accident-only policies.

Insurers may also refuse to cover common conditions associated with certain breeds. For example, VPI Pet Insurance won’t cover your beagle if it gets amyloidosis or narcolepsy. You’ll need to find an insurer that covers your pet’s age and, ideally, the common conditions for its breed.

Pre-Existing Conditions

Most pet insurance policies exclude pre-existing conditions that aren’t considered cured. However, some insurers will cover your pet if their condition is considered curabl” and hasn’t required treatment for a certain amount of time, such as the previous 12 months.

Waiting periods also play a role. If a condition appears during a waiting period, it may not be covered. Most insurers have different waiting periods until accident coverage and illness coverage kick in. Further, some have longer waiting periods for certain types of conditions. For example, Embrace has a 48-hour waiting period for accidents, a 14-day waiting period for illnesses, and a six-month waiting period for orthopedic conditions.

#3: Research Pet Insurance Companies

Pet insurance companies vary in coverage types and amounts, pricing, exclusions, customer support, and other features. So, shop around to make a short list of the pet insurers that best fit your situation. Be sure to look for those that offer the coverage type(s) you want and the fewest exclusions that apply to your pet.

Best Pet Insurance Companies

We selected the best pet insurance companies based on cost, coverage, reimbursement levels, maximum out-of-pocket expenses, waiting periods, pre-existing conditions coverage, vet-direct payments, and more.

#4: Compare Pet Insurance Quotes

With a shortlist in hand, head over to the website of each insurer and get a quote. Most providers have quick and easy online quote systems. But what should you be looking for? Cost and coverage are key.

Consider Pet Insurance Costs

Pet insurance costs will naturally be an important factor, and there are many to take into consideration, including:

• Monthly premiums: The amount you pay per month to maintain coverage.
• Deductibles: The deductible is the amount you’ll need to pay out of pocket before your insurance will cover any costs.
• Reimbursement levels: The reimbursement level is the percentage of covered vet care costs the insurer will cover once your coverage goes into effect. You’ll need to pay the remaining balance.
• enrollment fee: An enrollment fee is charged by some insurers to start your policy.
• Monthly service fee: A monthly service fee is charged each month by some providers on top of your premium.

It’s important to consider all of the costs and insurer charges. One may offer a low cost on one end but a high cost on the other, so you want to ensure you’re seeing the whole picture.

Choose a Deductible and Reimbursement Level

Many insurers let you adjust your deductible amount and reimbursement level up or down to increase or decrease your monthly premium amount. Higher deductible amounts will lower your premium but may cost more depending on how often you visit the vet. The right balance will depend on if you’d rather pay more over time and less in the event of a claim or vice versa.

Compare Pet Insurance Coverages

While pet insurance policies tend to offer similar coverages, what those coverages are and what they actually cover can be confusing. Here’s a list of common coverage features you’ll encounter as you choose your pet insurer:

• Pet types insured: While most insurers offer coverage for dogs or cats, only some cover exotics like birds and horses.
• plan types: You’ll often see accidents and illness, illness-only, and preventive care as options.
• Annual benefit limit: The maximum dollar benefit you can receive in a policy year.
• Services covered: The pet care services included in the plan such as exam fees, dental care, preventive care, prescription medications, lab tests, etc.
• Pre-existing conditions: Coverage of pre-existing conditions may be available under certain circumstances and usually involves a waiting period.
• waiting periods: The number of days before your pet’s coverage goes into full effect.
• Vet-direct payments or reimbursement: The way the insurer covers payments, such as reimbursement of costs you pay or payment of costs directly to your veterinarian.
• Other coverage types: Coverage for behavioral problems, supplements, alternative care, and prescription food.

The best pet health insurance for your situation will offer the coverage you need at a competitive price.

#5: Review Policy Terms and Exclusions

Once you’ve found a few insurers and policies you like, review each policy’s terms, limitations, and exclusions before buying. As you go through the quote process, insurers should provide a link to the full policy details. This is where you’ll find all the information they may or may not advertise clearly on their website.

Finalword

Finding the best deal on pet insurance requires some research and comparison shopping. There are many pet insurers on the market and each has its own twist on coverage and pricing. Further, if your pet is older or a breed that has common health conditions, you’ll need to pay close attention to policy exclusions. By familiarizing yourself with the ins and outs of pet insurance and carefully reviewing costs and coverage details, you can find a policy that will help keep your furry friend healthy and happy and your costs under control.

Methodology

In order to determine the best pet insurance companies, we evaluated 43 distinct criteria across 25 pet insurance providers in the following categories:

• plan options: 33%
• company features: 29%
• fees, limits, and discounts: 23%
• coverage details: 13%
• company information/state availability: 2%

We also surveyed 408 people who have pet insurance (23% of respondents), are considering buying pet insurance (56.4%), or have had a pet insurance policy in the past (20.6%). We used their responses to prioritize which features consumers want most in a policy and appreciate having in a policy.