Just like your personal health insurance, pet insurance is something you never want to have to use. Depending on your pet’s needs, it can come in handy and save you a lot of money at the vet. There’s no denying that keeping your furry friend healthy can quickly add up financially.
The right pet insurance plan can help you save without compromising the quality of healthcare for Rover. Because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all option, we’ve done our research to find the best pet insurance companies available today.
We’ll talk about how much they cost, what’s included in the policies, and more. You’ll also find a convenient buyer’s guide that gives you everything you’ll want to know when comparing plans. Let’s get started with our most affordable option from Lemonade!
Most Affordable: Lemonade
On top of pet insurance, Lemonade also provides pet owners with renters insurance and homeowners insurance! They provide their services across the country. From our research, we’ve found that Lemonade is much more affordable than the competitors.
Most pet parents are looking to spend less, making this insurer particularly appealing. We love that they have a comprehensive mobile app that allows you to file claims, manage your pet’s health, keep track of your policy, and more!
A to Z Animals thinks it’s important to be transparent. At the time of writing this article, Lemonade doesn’t provide services to 15 states including:
- Alaska
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Minnesota
- South Dakota
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Lemonade Coverage and Cost
Lemonade provides a single pet insurance plan that includes diagnostic testing, hospitalizations, operations, cancer treatments, fractured bones or sprains, prescription drugs, and more for both accidents and diseases. Preexisting diseases, optional or cosmetic surgeries, and behavioral therapies are not covered by Lemonade.
Optional Add-Ons
For an extra monthly fee, Lemonade also offers a preventative care add-on to your insurance, which covers things like a wellness check, heartworm test, bloodwork, and three immunizations. You may also include coverage for veterinary visits and exam expenses, as well as physical therapy treatments like chiropractic and acupuncture.
Most Customizable: Spot
If you’re looking for something that you can customize and make as personal as possible, consider Spot. This insurance company has a plethora of insurance options, plan prices, and premiums available. They also conveniently have an incredibly affordable accident-only policy if that’s what you’re looking for.
Accident-only coverage is great for people wanting minimum coverage. With Spot’s plan, there are three compensation tiers, five-yearly deductibles, and limit options starting at $2,500.
One of our writers with two cats gave Spot a try because they offer a 10% discount for customers with multiple pets. Spot was impressive because they offer microchipping, which can make a pet parent feel at ease. One thing that we think this company could improve on is their waiting period for accidents.
It often takes around 14 days and Spot doesn’t cover pets under eight weeks old. While pre-existing health conditions, cosmetic operations, and breeding expenditures are not available in Spot’s policies, its two options cover either accidents or both accidents and diseases. It covers protection for exam and vet visit expenses, as well as two flat-rate wellness plan alternatives.
You’ll get to choose from a wide range of compensation choices, annual deductibles, and yearly coverage limitations. Pet parents can expect to spend between $10 and $25 a month, depending on if they have a cat or dog.
It usually takes two weeks, and Spot does not cover pets under the age of two months. While pre-existing medical issues, cosmetic procedures, and breeding costs are not covered by Spot’s coverage, its two choices cover either accidents or accidents and illnesses. It includes coverage for exams and vet visits, as well as two flat-rate wellness plan options.
Coverage and Cost
It provides both an accident-only and an accident-and-illness insurance plan for unforeseen injuries or other ailments such as dental problems, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and more. Spot, like many other pet insurance companies, does not cover previous conditions.
Optional Add-Ons
The Gold Package and the Platinum Plan are two preventative care alternatives that you can add to your pet’s plan. The Gold Plan Plan covers wellness services including teeth cleanings, immunizations, fecal testing, and more for $250 per year, while the Platinum Plan covers it all in the Gold Plan as well as spay and neutering, bloodwork, and more for $450 per year.
Best for Savings: Embrace
Embrace provides complete pet healthcare insurance and stands out for the extra savings it provides pet owners, such as a 10% discount for each added pet policy purchased, a 5% military rebate, and an employee benefit program that gives employees of companies offering Embrace pet insurance a 10% discount.
Embrace also has a Healthy Pet Deductible benefit, which gives pet owners a $50 credit against their co-payment each year they don’t submit a claim. This benefit might reduce your deductible to $0 if your pet does not become ill or injured for several years. Embrace’s affordable price is one of the reasons we recommend them in our pet insurance guide.
Coverage and Cost
Embrace has a single plan that covers your pet’s injuries, diseases, chronic problems, hip dysplasia, and other disorders that necessitate procedures or treatments including natural remedies, chemotherapy drugs, emergency treatment, operations, diagnostic tests, and physical therapy, and more. Preexisting conditions and elective treatments, among other things, are not part of Embraces coverage.
Optional Add-Ons
Embrace also has a Wellness Rewards Plan that covers preventative treatment for up to $250, $450, or $650 each year. Routine check-ups, vaccines, microchipping, bathing, spay or neuter procedures, anal gland expression, and other vet visits or treatments are covered. In Rhode Island, the Wellness Rewards program is not available.
Best for Unlimited Coverage: Healthy Paws
There are no annual, lifetime, or per-accident payout caps with Healthy Paws. Since Healthy Paws’ objective is to give you the greatest coverage at the lowest price, their estimate tool provides a comparison option that advises other pet insurance providers if your estimated premium is greater than average.
One of the most appealing features of Healthy Paws is that it resolves claims swiftly and provides direct deposit. We also like knowing that every time a pet insurance quotation is requested, they donate to homeless pets. A nice bonus is the 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee.
Healthy Paws only offers one accident and sickness plan, with no add-on options. This pet insurance coverage covers treatments for cancer, exams, surgeries, hospitalization, ultrasound imaging, blood tests, X-rays, emergency treatment, specialist care, alternative medicines, and prescription medicines.
As long as your pet’s illness occurs after the policy’s start date, it’s covered for hereditary, chronic, and genetic conditions. This dog insurance plan does not cover pre-existing conditions, spaying or neutering, dental care, preventative medicine, elective operations, or hip dysplasia treatments within the first year of coverage.
According to our study, monthly fees for standard Healthy Paws coverage are around $30–$65 for dog insurance and $20–$30 for cat insurance. To get a free estimate from Healthy Paws, use the simple online pricing calculator. If your quote is too expensive, you may compare plan pricing with other prominent providers when you have your quote.
Types of Pet Insurance Plans
Determine the sort of coverage you require before acquiring a pet insurance policy. Most companies provide accident and illness coverage, and some also provide accident-only coverage at a cheaper monthly price. For an additional monthly price, certain companies may provide an additional wellness care plan that can be they can apply to your coverage.
Here is some detailed information about every pet insurance plan:
- Accident-only plans: These policies are less expensive than accident and sickness insurance since they cover vet fees for accidents or injuries including shattered bones, ingested objects, and serious wounds.
- Accident-and-illness plans: These plans provide the most complete coverage, covering both accidents and diseases such as diarrhea, nausea, poisonous ingestions, as well as cancer and hereditary, prenatal, and genetic problems.
- Wellness or preventive care: Most providers provide wellness or preventative care programs in addition to your usual coverage. It’s common for insurance companies to include annual check-ups, immunizations, bloodwork, and feces testing. Wellness coverage is available for a set monthly fee from businesses like Lemonade. While wellness coverage add-ons from companies like Embrace are available at various pricing points. This supplementary coverage is especially beneficial for younger dogs. This is because immunizations and initial examinations are frequently more important for puppies and kittens.
Choosing the Right Pet Insurance
You’ll have to know your pet’s medical history as well as your income to choose the correct insurance plan. Before collecting estimates, develop a list of what’s most important to you. This can include the sorts of injury and illness you want to be insured. You’ll also want to consider the number of charges you can afford.
Get quotes from a handful of reputable providers. Then compare coverage types to get a sense of the options available within your budget. Pet insurance policies contain so many factors and tiny print that comparing one company to another might seem difficult. The three primary components of each company’s policies: coverage, benefits, and premiums, varied slightly.
Examine the plans thoroughly to verify that they cover the types of coverage you require. This may include accidents, diseases, test fees, prescriptions, and so on. Don’t be hesitant to ask questions. When it comes to submitting a claim, customer service may greatly affect your experience.
Here are a few insurance phrases that every pet parent should be familiar with before considering a policy plan:
Policy
This is your pet health insurance policy in its entirety, including coverage, benefits, fees, deductibles, copays, and so on.
Coverage
This is what the coverage will cover—unexpected veterinarian fees and related expenditures. Accident and sickness coverage is the most frequent form of pet health insurance. This might encompass everything from tests to treatments to prescriptions to fees, or it can be confined to just a few operations.
That coverage can be further restricted by eliminating specific situations. The insurer will cover any ailment and therapy entirely. Wellness coverage, such as regular veterinarian visits, flea treatment, and immunizations, is typically not available from pet health insurance.
Covered Conditions and Exclusions
The finest programs cover the widest range of illnesses and do not ignore common maladies. We advise against plans with a maze of exclusions, such as those that exclude genetic or congenital diseases widespread in particular breeds, such as Rottweiler hip dysplasia. Long waiting periods might be just as problematic as sweeping exclusions in some circumstances.
After you enroll your pet, coverage for various ailments will not begin until a waiting period is over. In most cases, the waiting time for injuries is simply a week or two, but other insurers will exclude some catastrophic ailments for up to a year.
Any claims made during that time will be classified as preexisting conditions, as well as any claims linked to them will be refused for the rest of your pet’s life. Likewise, some insurance carriers will deny reimbursement for removing swallowed items for pets who have a proven history of ingesting things they shouldn’t, in the year prior to enrollment.
Benefits
When you hear the term benefits in reference to pet insurance, it’s referring to the amount of money a provider will pay you for an insured occurrence or period of time, as opposed to how much you’ve spent for coverage. For accident or sickness claims, great benefits pay as much as feasible for a covered incidence and may include per-incident, yearly, or lifetime restrictions.
Premiums
This is the amount you pay each month for the coverage and services you receive. In general, the greater the premium, the better the coverage and advantages.
Deductible
This is the price you must pay first before the insurance company can repay you for a claim. The deductible expires yearly or applies to particular conditions during the life of your pet, according to the plan.
For instance, if your dog is treated for cancer, some plans would charge you only one deductible for associated treatment for the course of your pet’s lifetime, but other policies will charge you the deductible each year
Coinsurance
This is the portion of your invoice that you must pay, minus your deductible. If your policy’s coinsurance is 20%, that implies the insurance company will cover up to 80% of the medical bill, less the deductible, and any other prohibited costs. Some businesses list coinsurance rates as a percentage of what you’re liable for, rather than a set price that you’re responsible for.
Waiting Period
This pertains to the policy’s medical-exclusion term, which might run anywhere between two to thirty days for injuries or sickness. Only medical expenditures incurred after the waiting time will be paid, and problems detected during the waiting period will not be covered.
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