How to Buy Pet Insurance
Find the Cheapest Pet Insurance Quotes in Your Area
Pet health events are just like our own: They're hard to predict or control and can be costly to treat. Pet insurance can provide financial protection if your dog or cat gets hurt in an accident or develops a medical condition.
Deciding whether to purchase a pet insurance policy is the first step. Before you can choose one, though, you'll need to understand what is and isn't covered, whether your pet has any conditions that would be excluded and more.
5 tips for pet insurance
- Insure your pet sooner, rather than later: Unlike health insurance for humans, pet insurance policies don't cover preexisting conditions. So if you wait until your pet gets sick to buy coverage, it may be too late to get a plan that will pay for their diagnosis and treatment. And providers start phasing older dogs out of general medical coverage.
- A plan with both accident and illness coverage is often the best choice financially: If you're considering pet insurance, look at plans with coverage for accidents and illnesses first. They will be more costly, but it's reasonable to expect that at some point, your pet will need medical care for both types of health issues.
- Research your pet's breed history: See if there are any genetic conditions or illnesses your pet is likely to develop, and confirm that the insurer covers that medical event. Some plans will only cover hereditary or congenital diseases if your pet is enrolled prior to their second birthday.
- Read the fine print: Make sure you understand what's covered. Does the insurer cover vet office visit fees, the diagnosis and treatment fees and the cost of prescription medications? There can be significant differences among companies, so it is important to compare policies from the pet insurers you're considering.
- Understand the plan maximums: Is there an annual or an incident monetary limit? Is it a lifetime limit, or does it get renewed every year? For example, if your plan has an annual limit of $5,000, but your pet needs a $10,000 surgery, only half would be reimbursed — minus your deductible.
Find the Cheapest Pet Insurance Quotes in Your Area
Understanding pet insurance plan coverage and policies
To select a plan that provides the right benefits for your pet at the best cost for your financial situation, you should understand the key phrases and terms used by insurers.
For example, some plans will only pay out for accidents, while others also cover illnesses. Some pet insurers don't cover diabetes, while other companies do. One company covers hereditary and congenital diseases but doesn't cover hip dysplasia ( certain breeds are predisposed to it). Or, a provider might not insure pets in the general medical plan once they're older than six or seven. Instead, you may only be able to get them accident coverage.
Preexisting condition: Pet insurance plans will not cover a preexisting condition, which is an illness or injury that your pet had before the plan coverage started (or before the initial waiting period was over). It doesn't matter if a vet hasn't diagnosed your pet yet. So long as symptoms or the condition started before your plan or waiting period ended, it's likely not going to be covered. The silver lining is that some plans will treat any healable or curable disease after a waiting period.
Incident: This is a broad term that means any medical event. It can generally be broken into a vet examination/office visit, diagnostic materials, treatment plans, medications, hospitalization and follow-up visits.
Accident: An accident is typically an unexpected and unpreventable incident. Pet insurance for accidents can cover emergencies such as broken bones, burns, swallowed objects, poisoning and broken teeth.
Illness: An illness is any general sickness, disease, infection or medical problem with your pet that isn't an accident. Examples include allergies, diabetes, heart disease, stomach upset, skin bites and cancer.
Chronic condition: This is a medical condition that is diagnosed in one plan period but would require recurring care that spans future periods. Allergies, cancer and hip dysplasia are some examples of recurring issues.
Hereditary condition: Certain breeds are predisposed to specific kinds of illnesses. Plans may not cover hereditary conditions for your pet's breed at all or subject you to an additional deductible. Some insurance plans will even exclude associated or secondary (but related) diseases to the primary hereditary issues. For example, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and German shepherds tend to develop epilepsy more frequently than other breeds, so a pet insurer might not cover issues related to it.
Congenital condition: This is a defect or unique condition that is present at the birth of your pet. For example, congenital kidney disease, or familial renal disease, has been reported in shih tzus.
Alternative or holistic therapy: This can include chiropractic therapy or acupuncture. Some plans will cover any kind of care a veterinarian deems best to treat a pet, while others exclude these alternative treatments.
Wellness: Anything that generally keeps your pet from developing a health condition falls into this category, like routine and preventive care. Vaccinations, dental care and treatment for fleas, ticks and heartworms generally fall into this section. Typical pet insurers will have this as an optional addition or include it in their more comprehensive and premium packages.
Exclusions: Sometimes, the number of items excluded under insurance plans is bigger than the list of items covered. It's always worthwhile to look at the exclusions, because you might find unpleasant surprises. Common exclusions are declawing, accidents or injuries caused by pet owners, and administrative fees related to veterinary visits. An unexpected surprise we found was that diabetes was excluded in one plan.
Waiting period: There may be a waiting period before you can start getting benefits. It is about 14 days on average.
How much does pet insurance cost?
The average cost of pet insurance will vary based on your pet's species, breed and age. Most plans for dogs cost, on average, around $40 a month, depending on coverage and extra benefits. Cat insurance is a bit cheaper, at around $20 per month on average.
The cost of your monthly premium is also affected by where you live — areas with higher veterinary costs also have higher pet insurance premiums — and the policy specifics you choose.
Quotes and premiums: Insurance companies will provide you with a quote of your premium, which is what you can expect to pay per month for medical insurance for your pet. Some providers offer a discount if you pay the premiums in one lump sum at the beginning of each year.
Deductible: This is the amount you are responsible for paying before an insurance company will cover costs.
Make sure you figure out if this is an annual or per-incident deductible — or both.
Why? Let's say your pet gets into an accident in January, and veterinary costs are $200. This satisfies your $100 deductible, and you may expect costs to be fully covered going forward. But that would only be the case with an annual deductible.
If it's an incident deductible, and you submit for reimbursement for allergy treatments in spring, you would have to meet the $100 threshold again if allergy treatments are needed again in fall.
Co-pay or reimbursement rate: A co-pay is the percentage of a veterinary bill that you are responsible for paying. The reimbursement rate is the percentage an insurer will pay back to you. The two are inversely related. A 10% co-pay rate is the same as a 90% reimbursement rate.
Let's say you have an annual deductible that has already been met when your dog breaks his leg. The vet bill is $2,000. Your 10% portion means you're responsible for $200 and the insurer would reimburse you $1,800.
Maximums, limits and ceilings: This is the most an insurer will pay out. It can be for all accidents, all illnesses, anything covering a certain body part or some other parameter. Make sure to pay attention to whether the plan has incident limits, annual limits and/or lifetime limits.
- Time frame: There are two common time frames for maximums: 1) annual and renewable or 2) lifetime. Let's say your insurance company will reimburse you up to $1,000 a year for allergy treatments. That's a reasonable amount to cover per year for allergies, and you likely would not expect to get vet bills for more than that. But if it's a lifetime maximum of $5,000, and your pet is young, then you may eventually be stuck paying for care on your own.
- Scope: The scope determines how the maximums are calculated. They can be per incident, per category or per overall policy. For example, you could have a $10,000 maximum that covers all costs that happen during the year, or your policy may stipulate that you have a maximum of $5,000 for accident coverage and $5,000 for illness coverage. The total is still $10,000, but if you have one surgery for $6,000, you're only going to be reimbursed for $5,000.