JORDAN BOLTON
Whether you’re traveling abroad for the holidays or just want to keep them safe and sound at home, your pets rely on you for their health and well-being. This is why pet insurance is so important. From saving you thousands of dollars on vet bills to saving your best friend’s life, the best pet insurance can be a godsend at the right time.Many pet insurance companies offer deals for the holidays, making this an ideal time to give your pet the care and attention they deserve. Wondering what pet insurance covers, who it’s for, and how much it costs? Check out our complete guide to this important product to find out exactly how pet insurance works and where to turn to when your dog, cat, bird, turtle, hamster, or other fluffy friend needs help. You can also use this handy chart to compare pet insurance carriers at a glance.
Pets Best
Pets Best Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting periodGenerally between 3 days and 6 months
- DeductibleChoose from $50, $100, $200, $250, $500, $1000
A member of NAPHIA, PetsBest, is one of the best pet insurance carriers around. It offers comprehensive coverage with all of its plans, including accidents, illnesses, and diagnoses. You’ll even get coverage for more advanced things, like cancer treatments, emergency care, hospitalization, and ongoing conditions. PetsBest also offers travel insurance, so you can keep your coverage even while you’re away. And you can also include routine care into any plan.
What’s more, PetsBest understands that your pet is loved regardless of their health status or age. That’s why this carrier covers older pets, hereditary conditions, and even behavioral conditions. Plus, you can see any vet you want.
Spot Pet Insurance
Spot Pet Insurance Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting period14 days
- Deductible70%-90%
One of Spot’s major highlights is its flexibility. Its customizable insurance plans provide pet owners, or “pet parents,” as the site calls them, to pick and choose the benefits that best meet their pet’s needs and their own budgets. This is a somewhat rare feature and allows you more control over the amount you spend and the coverage you choose to receive.
Aside from that, Spot offers competitive rates and reimbursement models. The waiting period is on the longer end of the spectrum, but Spot is underwritten by the United States Fire Insurance Company, a firm that’s been around for nearly 200 years and has proven itself to be responsive and dependable.
Spot has enlisted Cesar Millan, a well-respected dog behaviorist, to join its ranks to provide customers with a wealth of free advice and pet-care tips, another feature that many of its members find attractive and helpful.
ASPCA
ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting period14 days
- DeductibleAnnual
ASPCA is a well-known organization among pet owners. A nationally-acclaimed advocate for all animals, the ASPCA is an obvious choice for best pet insurance provider. It offers a Complete Coverage plan that covers just about anything man’s best friend will ever need, including accidents and illnesses. The ASPCA offers high annual limits, fast reimbursements, and up to 90% coverage on many common procedures.
You can easily submit claims with the ASPCA handy smartphone app. The app also has other great features, like finding a vet fast, setting up direct deposit, and paying your bill digitally. And as you would expect, ASPCA has a website that’s loaded with useful information and tools for pet owners. The ASPCA partners with a huge nation-wide network of professional veterinarians, so you’re never far away from someone who can help.
EMBRACE
Embrace Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting period2-14 days
- DeductibleAnnual, choose between $200-$1000
Embrace is another good choice if you’re looking for pet insurance. It offers up to 90% back on all covered items, lets you use any vet you want, and provides flexible wellness plans for every type of situation. Embrace also has plans covering the spectrum from kittens and puppies to senior pets for complete lifetime coverage.
What’s more, Embrace does its best to make things as affordable as possible for pet owners. For one thing, you’ll get reimbursements for preventative care, grooming, and training with no limits. And Embrace has a diminishing deductible feature that makes the cost of pet insurance even more affordable. You’ll get $50 off your annual deductible each year that you don’t make a claim. This is a recurring feature, so it can significantly reduce your insurance costs.
PetPlan
PetPlan Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting period15 days, can be waived
- DeductibleAnnual or incident
PetPlan is a comprehensive pet insurance carrier that offers a pretty wide range of coverage, including behavioral therapy and diagnostic testing. It also covers some less frequently covered treatments such as holistic medicine and alternative therapies, like acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic treatments, and homeopathic therapy.
PetPlan also offers flexible plan options. You can choose your deductible and even the type of deductible. So, you decide whether you pay per condition or annually and how much you are going to pay for each visit. Speaking of flexibility, PetPlan allows pet owners to stick with the vet of their choice as long as they’re licensed in the US or Canada.
Nationwide
Nationwide Review
- Pets CoveredDogs, cats, birds, rabbits, reptiles, exotic pets
- Waiting period14 days
- DeductibleAnnual, $250
Nationwide is a pet insurance provider that is really trying to make it easy for pet owners to get the coverage their pets (and their wallets) need. It offers a comprehensive plan that covers the basics, like accidents and illnesses, but it also covers exams, wellness, and ongoing diseases that are often not included in coverage. Coverage also includes prescriptions and dental surgeries.
Trupanion
Trupanion Review
- Pets CoveredCats and dogs
- Waiting period5 day accident, 30 day illness
- DeductibleChoose from no deductible or anywhere from $50-$1000
If Trupanion’s goal is to break the mold of pet insurance providers, then it seems to have succeeded. With forward-thinking policies such as direct-pay to vets—a first in the pet insurance industry—and a condition-based deductible policy, Trupanion has proved to be an innovative provider with a refreshing approach designed for long-term pet coverage.
This is most evident in its Vet Direct Pay policy. By paying the vet 90% of costs within 5 minutes, Trupanion frees its customers from having to fill out paperwork and wait days or weeks to be reimbursed. Another unique feature is its lifetime condition deductible, which allows you to pay deductibles by each of your pet’s conditions rather than on an annual basis. Furthermore, the company has no limits on claims and does not discriminate based on age, another testament to its commitment to lifetime pet insurance.
As far as the price, Trupanion’s costs will depend on your pet’s age, breed, gender, and location. The costs tend to be higher than other providers, but with extensive coverage and progressive policies such as Vet Direct Pay and condition-based deductibles, Trupanion makes a case for itself especially for owners insuring their pets for the long-term.
Prudent Pet
Prudent Pet Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting period14 days
- DeductibleChoice of $100, $250, and $500
Prudent Pet is making it easier for pet owners to care for their pets properly. To begin with, you don’t have to go to a specific vet. You can stick with the one you are already using and are familiar with as long as they are a licensed veterinarian in the United States or Canada. This includes specialists and emergency care facilities.
Second, Prudent Pet gives you the ability to pick your plan, so you’re not paying for things that don’t interest you. Choose from accident and illness or accident-only plans, and then include either prime or basic preventive add-ons. Basic preventative includes things like dental cleanings, wellness exams, and deworming. Meanwhile, the prime preventative care plan has options like heartworm prevention and blood tests.
PetFirst
PetFirst Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting periodNext day-14 days
- DeductibleChoice of deductibles ranging from $50-$500
PetFirst lets pet owners shop à la carte for their pet insurance plans. There’s the base plan, and then you can add to it the coverage you want, like preventative care, behavioral issues, and prescription food. PetFirst’s basic plan covers a lot, including exams fees, diagnoses, x-rays, and hospitalization. The basic plan also covers things like alternative medicine and dental coverage.
PetFirst coverage extends across the United States, so you can travel with your pet freely across the country. And to make things a little more affordable, PetFirst offers a wellness discount for every year your dog or cat remains claim-free. There’s also a multiple pet discount and an annual bill pay discount. What’s more, PetFirst lets you enroll any dog or cat that is 8 weeks or older. No discrimination against older pets.
PetPlacePetInsurance.com
PetPlacePetInsurance.com Review
- Pets CoveredDogs and cats
- Waiting periodNext day-14 days
- DeductibleChoice of $0-$1000
PetPlace is the new kid on the block, but it comes with an impressive backing. It’s underwritten by the Independence American Insurance Company, an A.M. Best A- rating insurer. Beyond that, PetPlace has a solid offering for owners of dogs and cats of every age and range.
PetPlace also excels when it comes to giving you options. You’ll get to choose between a whole slew of plans from accident and illness to routine care, accident-only, and vaccinations. There are several others you can discuss directly with the insurer. PetPlace also has pretty fast coverage, sometimes even as soon as the next day. The deductibles are your choice, ranging from $0 to $1000, and the reimbursement is also flexible (ranging from 70%-90%).
